Creating Art in the Deep South

I'm originally from Maine, but have basically lived in Mississippi since I was about 11 years old. Ever since I was a youngster, I have done various forms of art ranging from realistic depictions of nature to cosmic, trippy adventures into my subconscious. And really, the latter is my true love.

I call my art style "Subconscious Meandering" because I basically let my mind wander when I create, with little thought to subject matter or composition. During the course of creating a piece of "art", various ideas begin to coalesce and take shape before my eyes. I definitely enjoy this process, and even though I do many things in a similar style, every single thing I do is an unexpected adventure.

Living in the Deep South of the United States can be challenging for a creative person because many residents are conservative in their ideologies, and they often don't understand or even like things that are different. Ironically, I draw lots of inspiration from those same people and their viewpoints on life.

For me, being non religious in nature, I find it extremely interesting that so many people believe in fantastical gods and that they believe magical creatures control their lives. That those same people find my art to be bizarre is particularly interesting to me! This region is chock full of creative individuals, which I attribute to the history of the region.

Despite the fact that many people in this region think of my art as weird, I have had great success in selling my art here and have had lots of support from people for both my own art, and the art created by my 21 year old son Joseph H. MacGown. Over the last few years, we have been spreading our art and the art of others around our region in any way we can by showing art in galleries, in competitions, in small group shows, at university campuses, in pop up shows, festivals, art walks, even live painting at bars! Despite the plethora of creative folks here, there has been a vacuum for artistic opportunity. We have silos of food, but are starving. This presents a unique opportunity in which we can almost do whatever we want!