Jessie Lavon

Jessie Lavon

Artist Jessie Lavon speaks of herself as a sharecropper’s daughter. She remembers that very sharecropper, her mother, as the best friend she ever had. She remembers a lot about the old days when she was a child on the farm in southern Alabama. She remembers details about the old ways of getting things done back then, and she remembers the simple pleasures that brought joy to her as a child.

But she hasn’t always remembered. In 1989 a cerebral hemorrhage left her with a huge gap in her memory. She recognized her mother, and started to recall her childhood. She began to paint what she remembered, and as she painted, she remembered more and more.

Her young childhood had been spent surrounded by relatives. The family raised, prepared, and preserved all their own food, relying on even the smallest members to do their part. There was a mysterious ritual passed down from her Native American ancestors to assure the rain would come when the crops were dry. The Snake Tree Ceremony involved a hollow tree, the killing of a snake, and secret incantations.

When farm work, housework, and schoolwork were done Jessie and the other children had fun catching lightning bugs, picking dandelions, and fishing. One of the relatives ran a general store where they spent their pennies on candy. Jessie’s little dog Augie was a part of all her adventures and so he usually makes an appearance in her paintings. Eventually Jessie relearned some basic skills that she had lost - reading, writing, arithmetic - but not at her prior level.

Now, years later, she no longer has a shortage of stories and she continues to paint every day. A cheerful grandmother of many, she spends her time gardening, canning, painting, and enjoying life.

Jessie Lavon shares some of her stories and her line drawings in her recently published book “Of Time n’ Places: The Story of a Sharecropper’s Daughter.”