One memorable evening

One memorable evening, a few people began to paint a mural, everyone pitching in to create whatever images they wished. Homer Casteel wrote a legend in Spanish across the bottom of the wall, using every double “l” word he could think of, so that the letters would all point upward: mi caballo ballo mi lleva……no great message, but a fine design device. Before the evening had ended, instructor Alvin Sella had been routed out of bed to come join the creative fun. Johnnie and Dot liked the mural so much, that they preserved it, hanging a floor to ceiling curtain over the wall area, for those times when the occupants of the Hen House might not be art aficionados.

On another evening, there was a mysterious “happening”, which culminated in Halcyone Barnes’ being borne down the hill on a mattress, supported by six or eight people. The workshops were not all “work”.

Bill Rowell was our next Director, following Bob Richerson. By that time, the Mississippi Art Colony was about to move to nearby Laurel. Johnnie and Dot Blanks had sold their place to a man who tried to make a roadhouse-type operation of the restaurant. This was not too successful, partly due to the construction of Interstate 59, which drew off most of the traffic. Seeing that its “home” was about to close, Colony went searching for a new base of operations.