sam ezell

Sam didn't consider himself an artist until he met renowned folk artist Bernice Sims. During their visit, Sims instructed him to go home and "paint me a picture." Sam protested, saying, "I can't paint a wall," but he gave it a try. He uses bold shapes and bright colors to make joyful paintings of happy times. People are dressed up and having fun. Skies are blue, the sun is shining, birds have houses, and chickens come in lots of colors. A few years ago, Ezell woke up one morning with a black cloud enveloping his vision. The doctors confirmed that he had permanently lost vision in his right eye, but that doesn't keep him from his art. Since then, he's added large scale nonobjective paintings to his repertoire.