Nellie Mae Rowe

In this post I would like to pay tribute to one of my art heroes, Miss Nellie Mae Rowe (1900-1982). I love her work for it's childlike colorful appearance. Nellie Mae was the daughter of a former slave who lived in the south. She was the 9th of 10 children and only started making art after her husband died. She is considered an 'outsider artist' because of her lack of artistic training. I was first exposed to her work at the Dallas Museum of Art many years ago where I saw some of her handmade dolls on display. She was so creative with her materials, some of her dolls are made from only chewed up bubble gum! Her drawings are usually made with crayons. There is so little written about her, I have a fantasy of collecting all of her dolls together and making a coffee table book about them.