March - Joe Shelton and Bill Abel

Biography

My name is Joe Shelton. I was born in Columbus, Mississippi in 1951.

One of my earliest recollections of my enjoyment of art was when I was in the first grade. The school district had only one art teacher to serve all its elementary schools. Therefore, once a week for only an hour, I was led in an art project which usually involved the use of finger paints and crayons. I still recall the feeling that would overcome me as I immersed myself in that week's art project. I later realized that what I was feeling was the creative spirit being awakened in me.

My parents operated a small cafe (the Cream Bowl) on the campus of Mississippi State College for Women (later renamed Mississippi University for Women). In the early 1960's, the college built their Art Department directly across the street from the cafe. I was immediately drawn to this place and the creative activities taking place within. I especially enjoyed roaming the gallery, which was quite large and modern. I spent many hours viewing the art work of students, faculty, and visiting artists.

With little art education offered in public school, it wasn’t until I enrolled in East Mississippi Community College that I was able to obtain any noteworthy art education. While at EMCC, I enrolled in a drawing class taught by Mr. Jon Whittington. The motivation and inspiration provided by Mr. Whittington led me to the decision that I would pursue art as a profession.

Upon graduating from EMCC with an Associate of Arts degree, I enrolled at Mississippi State University. The Art Department there was in its infancy at the time. Even so, I received inspiration from a number of professors including Mr. Ken Clifford, who became my mentor at MSU.

I was drawn to the graphics art medium while at MSU. Under Mr. Clifford's guidance, I gained a wealth of knowledge and insight into the technical aspects and creative possibilities inherent in the printmaking process. My studies culminated at MSU in my earning a Bachelor of Arts degree in Studio Art in 1975. Also in that year, I was awarded the Undergraduate Painting award at the Mississippi Collegiate Arts Competition held in Jackson, Mississippi.

In 1976, I was accepted into the MFA Printmaking program at Northern Illinois University in Dekalb, Illinois which had one of the leading university art programs in the nation. While working toward my Master of Fine Arts degree, I studied with Mr. David Driesbach, an internationally known intaglio printmaker as well as other professors who were experts in lithograph and serigraphy.

Returning to Mississippi in 1979, I continued to draw, paint and produce prints.

In 1981, I became interested in the craft of stained glass making. I apprenticed myself to a local glass craftsman and learned the techniques used in creating stained glass windows.

Bill Abel grew up in the Mississippi Delta town of Belzoni, where he learned how to play the raw gritty juke joint country blues first hand from local blues men such as Paul 'Wine' Jones, T Model Ford, Cadillac John and many others. Having toured Europe and the US for the past two decades, he has had the privilege of playing guitar on many award winning recording projects with blues legends such as Hubert Sumlin, Big George Brock, Sam Carr, T Model Ford and many others, and has been featured in blues publications here and abroad.

He was the recipient of the Blues Musician of the Year award in 2006 by the Mississippi Delta Blues Society of Indianola, and has been nominated for an Independent Music Award. He has also been a finalist in the 2012 International Blues Competition. His most recent CD is Celestial Train recorded in 2015.

Since receiving a BFA from Delta State University in 2003, he has also made his living from painting plein air landscapes and making functional high fire stoneware ceramics. The Plein air paintin,g which he learned from Sammy Britt, who taught the Henry Hensche language of Seeing and Painting, has been his approach to still life and landscapes. This involves painting light keys at particular times of the day under the same conditions. His high fire stoneware pottery is thrown on the wheel and altered in form, and is based on the Mengi Folk movement of Japan and the Korean Yi Dynasty.

Bill currently lives in Duncan, MS, where he is making pottery and studying the landscapes of the Mississippi Delta.