THE FAULKNER PROJECT

ROWAN OAK, OXFORD, MISSISSIPPI EXHIBIT DATES: Sept. 1, 2026 thru Feb. 28 , 2027

in 2025, William Griffith, the curator of William Faulkner’s house invited me to exhibit at The Gallery at Rowan Oak.

I first became aware of William Faulkner as a high school student in Tupelo, Mississippi. Tupelo was less than sixty miles from William Faulkner’s house in Oxford, Mississippi. Occasionally I would ride my motorcycle to Oxford and stop at Faulkner’s house hoping to catch a glimpse of the famous Mississippi writer.

Faulkner died the year I went off to college in Memphis. After his death I would still stop by his home and visit his grave. Once, I summoned the nerve to walk onto the grounds of Rowan Oak. The caretaker was gracious enough to show me around. William Faulkner’s horse was still in the stable. I admired the grounds and the rose garden. This was the first of many visits to Rowan Oak.

In 1989 Jimmy Faulkner, a nephew of William Faulkner, gave me a tour of Rowan Oak and the cemetery where Faulkner and his brother John are buried.

In 2009, the director of the University of Mississippi Museum, Albert Spareth, offered to take me to see Greenfield, William Faulkner’s farm. The photographs I took that day, and the day with Jimmy Faulkner, became the source of many of the paintings in The Faulkner Project.

ONE DAY WITH JIMMY FAULKNER

In 1989 I had the opportunity to spend a day with William Faulkner’s nephew Jimmy Faulkner. We toured William Faulkner’s home, Rowan Oak, and the cemetery where William Faulkner and his brother John are buried. The photographs I made that day are the subtext upon which the painting of Jimmy at Rowan Oak was made.

2026 63X48”

GREENFIELD #3

William Faulkner owned a farm, Greenfield, in the country outside of Oxford, Mississippi. I went there in 2009 and photographed the dilapidated buildings and the property. When I had the opportunity to exhibit my work at William Faulkner’s home, Rowan Oak, I made two paintings of the ruins. One, Greenfield #3, is in the exhibit at Rowan Oak.

2025 40X50”

GREENFIELD #2

2025 40X50”

GREENFIELD #1

The first painting in the series is of a branch I picked up off the ground at Greenfield. The painting is superimposed over a photograph of one of the ruined buildings I found there.

7.75X20.25”

BEAR LAKE 60X20"

One of William Faulkner’s most highly regarded short stories is The Bear. This is a painting of Bear Lake near Dundee, Mississippi.

The image is painted over a subtext of my photographs of the Mississippi Delta. The photographs are of subjects, such as Indian mounds, Faulkner might have seen.

2025 64×20”

ROWAN OAK

During the pandemic I began to make paintings of eccentric magnolia branches in the yard. I remembered that Rowan Oak had some large magnolia trees. I drove to Oxford and photographed this magnolia branch and vine They are painted over photographs I took in 1989 of Rowan Oak, which I printed onto canvas .

2024 64X20