Painting, Essie Ward - "Believe This"ll Do Miranda"
Object number2017.015.01
Date1972
OriginMarshall, Arkansas
MediumMasonite and Oil
Credit LineOld State House Museum Collection
Terms
Essie Ann Treat Ward was born on October 20, 1902 in Nubbin Hill, Arkansas. Since childhood, Ward was creative and artistic, constantly drawing, creating toys and sculptures. She attended school through the eighth grade and did not receive any formal artistic training. In 1922, she married Jesse Carrol Ward and had seven children, therefore, her life focused around providing for and raising her kids. In 1959, Ward was diagnosed with cancer and from there on she focused on her art, capturing Arkansas’s rural life and culture on masonite. Her paintings focused primarily on a pioneer couple known as Miranda and Hezzakiah, but she also painted farm animals, landscapes, and wildlife. Ward painted six days a week, usually completing a painting a day. Her trademark, two white marks resembling rabbit ears, appears in every painting. In 1970, she participated in the Smithsonian Festival of American Folklife in Washington, D.C., and she was also chosen as one of the top ten folk artists in Arkansas. Ward passed away on July 23, 1981 and is buried in Canaan Cemetery. Today Ward is referred to as “Grandma Moses of the Ozarks” due to her contribution of her pictorial history of Arkansan rural life and culture. Currently, fifty-five of her paintings can be seen at the Shiloh Museum of Ozark History in Springdale, Arkansas.
Status
Not on viewCollections
