Thelma Lynn Simmons (American/Louisiana, 1934-2022), "Southern Fried Chicken", oil on canvas, signed, titled and inscribed en verso, 52 1/4 in. x 58 1/4 in., unframed. Note: Born in Benton, Louisiana in 1934, Thelma Lynn Simmons attended Louisiana Tech, Bossier Community College, University of Houston and the Glassell Museum of Fine Arts School. Simmons raised 3 children in Haughton, Louisiana and was a full-time bus driver and substitute teacher in Bossier Parish but also tended to her love of art by studying with artist Louis Sicard, Jr. Simmons moved to Houston, Texas from 1972 to 1982 where she received two certificates from The Museum of Fine Arts Houston. While residing there, she participated in several solo and group exhibitions, one of which traveled to New York City. In 1985, she was invited to show some of her work in Paris, where she initially intended to spend only two weeks. Instead, she purchased a home and stayed for over two years. Simmons returned to Louisiana in 1988 where she taught art in Caddo Parish, Bossier Parish public schools, Centenary College, Louisiana State University Shreveport and Bossier Parish Community College. Bright, saturated colors typify Simmons work. In the canvas presented here entitled “Southern Fried Chicken,” Simmons demonstrates the interconnection between land, particularly the swamp landscape of Louisiana, and the people that live off of it. The viewer is represented by the figure to the left of the scene, standing behind a translucent tree watching a woman slaughtering a chicken whose blood runs into the earth transforming into the red blooms in the forefront. The rich color and shape of these flowers mimic the flames around the pot while the smoke from the fire directs the viewer’s eye back to the woman in the center of the work creating a circle or cyclical reminder of life and death.

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