Woodie Long (born 1942)

One afternoon in 1988, Woodie Long picked up a paintbrush for the first time and created three colorful and expressive paintings depicting memories of his childhood. His need to paint, which has continued since that day, is derived from a strong desire to capture and preserve his recollections of women, children, musicians, and farmers from his past. Long, born in Plant City, Florida, was one of twelve children. His father, who abandoned the family when Long was a teenager, was a sharecropper. Long struggled with his schooling but eventually graduated from high school when he was twenty. He worked as a house painter and in the mid 1970s he got a job working as a painter for a construction company in Saudi Arabia. It was there that he met his present wife, Dot, an artist. In 1980 they returned to the U.S. and settled in Andalusia, Alabama. Long continued house painting until 1988, at which time the work began to affect his health. Impressed by Long’s natural talent for painting, his wife showed his work to her art teacher. Soon thereafter, he was given a one-man exhibition at the local junior college. Long was confident that he could make a living as an artist and over the past ten years he has gained recognition and success. He employs his colorful palette and rhythmic brushstrokes to create lyrical scenes on wood, paper, and tin. Women with purses, children at play, and jazz musicians are themes that Long explores in his work. Long is one of the artists featured in the book, “Revelations: Alabama’s Visionary Folk Artists,” by Kathy Kemp and Keith Boyer.

 

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