PROJECT ONWARD

Theolia Norwood b. 1936, Benton County, MS

Theolia Norwood started making art as a child and started creating in earnest when he was 17. Planning to move to New York City to become a famous artist, he made it as far as Chicago before he ran out of travel money. The art and architecture of Chicago inspired him and he became serious about making art. Theolia worked in the fashion industry at Saks Fifth Avenue and Bloomingdale's as well as modeling. When he retired he became a full-time artist. Ideas came from the nature, and memories of his childhood in the South.

Severe burns from a studio fire crystallized Theolia's goals as an artist, he wanted to work fast, and in as many different directions as possible. "They told me I would never be able to paint again, or live independently, on my own." Now he savors and uses every minute of his time, making artwork and sharing his stories.

Norwood creates atmospheric landscapes reminiscent both of the early Impressionists and of the Romantic painters. Scenes of forests, wetlands, and dramatic rock formations, many inspired by Norwood's boyhood memories of rural Mississippi, depict nature at its most sublime. But Norwood's compositions, in pastel, charcoal, or washes of color, appear on flattened cardboard boxes, discarded shipping containers and cartons. The materials he employs are the stuff of refuse; the vision he sets down upon them is the stuff of fantasy and fine art.