Wayne Hall

Interview by NeFesha Ruth

As issue 01 of Black Folk Art, Art and Culture Magazine was shared, I received an email from a woman named Patricia Pelehach, founder of Gallery Wah Wah in Corsicana, Texas. Patricia connected me with David Searcy and Nancy Rebal who connected me with Wayne Hall. Most of my correspondence before connecting with Wayne, was with the writer, David Searcy. David sent me over pictures of Wayne’s work and an article that he had written on him in the Oxford American. I was excited to connect with Wayne and hear more about his story. At the time Wayne was in the hospital dealing with what he called, his disability. You will read a bit about that in this interview. I am thankful for the village that connected me to Wayne. If you are in the Corsicana area, please be sure to visit David and Nancy at their art studio. They have an artist residency that I recommend you check out at www.corsicanaresidency.org. Now, let’s get into my conversation with the artist, Wayne Hall:

You’re from a town called Corsicana, Texas, is that correct? How long have you lived there?

Well, virtually my whole life really. I was born in a small community right outside of Kerens County called just like

Samaria, like in the bible. And yeah, it's really small. I mean it's like maybe 200 people. So, everybody knows each other. Kerens is the town, so, if you wanna go shopping or anything, you have to go to Kerens.

Do you know how you all migrated to Texas?

My mom’s side of family are from Zimbabwe. I went way back with my geneology. I found all of this out when I went to school. I went to School at West Texas A&M and I used their database. Years of research. For our people, anything before the Civil War is hard but it can be done if you keep at it.

I like to look up some of the old funny stories, you know that you’ll hear.

Like the folktales?

Oh yeah. Some make you kind of wonder. There was one that my grandfather was telling me one time. He said that him and two other of my relatives went out to this field when somebody told them that they buried some gold one time and in the process of digging for the gold, there's an old wivestale that says if you're digging for gold and you hit it and somebody uses an expletive, then it sinks further. And so, they hit it. And one of them said, “Oh S-!” And it started sinking and they kept digging for it and digging for it and it went farther. Then the next day they went out to dig for it and a big red bull showed up and so they gave it all up, all together.

So, years later I was at a friends house and there were people at that house that did not know who I

You know my grandfather told me about a relative we had who was a slave. He said that the master used to whoop Jake whenever he did wrong. So, one day he had Jake in the time square and he beat him until he was almost at an inch of his life. So, Jake’s son came to him and he looked at him and said, “Son, I love you. Bye.” Then, my grandfather said, Jake left and went to Canada. It was sad but at the same time, Jake was saving himself.

It's hard to believe stuff like that would actually happen

And the stories seem to be endless. People that had to leave to go north. You keep digging and you’ll find more and more.

Yes, I love history and I hear a lot of these stories, like the guy that mailed himself to the north, and it really touched me because people went through stuff like that and found unique ways to get themselves out of it.

And yet, we can’t find the simplest way to get out of things.

Yes, you have to get innovative. There seems to be a complacency in our culture. I’m 36 years old and I am from New Jersey but my family on my mothers side are from the Gullah Geechee people and on my fathers side, they came up from the Maryland eastern shore. My dad’s side are descendants of Harriet Tubman. So, we have this very fruitful heritage and I feel it like a weight on me to go back and document and talk to our people. I feel that stories like yours that are important, I do not want them to go and wither, and not be told. You have gems to share with the upcoming generations. So, thank you for being willing to talk and share some of those gems with us.

I really want a lot of our people to understand. I had a young

Black lady that I talked to one time, and I asked her about the movie Harriet, had she seen it, and she asked me how I could see Harriet Tubman as a hero. She said, Harriet killed people. And I asked her, “What version of history did you read?” But a lot of people will tell you, “don’t read that part of the book,” and many are just happy not to read that. It’s in the books. We are complacent. Don’t be complacent. We’ve done that all of our lives.

When did you start making art?

I started in 2010. I did it really as a way to get my motor dexterity going. It was something that my mom liked, and she would tell me to keep it up and then David ended up seeing it and it was born. It was more fun than anything.

You can definitely feel that. There is a sense of play in your creations. What did you study at West Texas A&M?

Everything! Psychology, Theology and Forensics. I’m a deacon, so theology was natural. I grew up in the church as a Baptist Christian. You know, the thing about it is that Christian is what we call it after Christ died but before Christ, it was called The Way.

Do you feel like your environment has influenced your art?

It has. Since I haven’t really been anywhere outside of Texas and I have a lot of thoughts of places outside of Texas in my mind. Like being able to go to different places in

Texas and meet different people from different states and different countries, they’ve given me different visualizations. A lot of different views of life and it has shown me that there are so many things that we don’t know and so many ideas of people that we think we know.

What did you do for work?

When I was younger, I was a security guard. I was a librarian. I worked in a computer lab. You name it I’ve done it. Now, I’m disabled. I have hydrocephalus. What that old people used to call, “water in the brain.” I still do art but when I am in the hospital I just sketch, and I to write. I love to write. I love to write poetry. I’ve been writing poetry since I remember learning how to write. My sister used to take my work to school and tell people that she did it.

When did you meet David and Nancy and how did y’all meet?

Corsicana was the first place on this side of the Mississippi river where they found oil and they celebrate it every April 30th with a festival and fair. I was selling my art and I wasn’t doing that great of a job and so I figured I’d pack up and go. Then there was this man that looked like of like my version of John the Baptist, and he wanted to buy this and that, and those and these. He came back and he purchased a couple hundred dollar’s worth of stuff. They have been great ever since. They have a little exhibit of my work behind their house and people can go in, look around, and buy a bit if they want to.

Where was your first art show?

It was downtown Corsicana at Nancy’s art gallery. It went well! It went a lot better than I expected. I think all together I sold 13 pieces. Next thing I know, I’m known in New York. It was like I fell asleep and woke up and all of a sudden, all these different people know me. It makes me feel good.

What is your creation process like?

My favorite thing to work with is macaroni because when it is wet you can bend and mold it in different ways and let it dry. I also like to use scorpions. I actually use them while they’re alive. Early in the morning I will go out and turn over boards or stones and because they sort of hibernate at night, I spray them while they’re still in that waking up stage and by the time they wake up they’ve suffocated and so I can take my fingers and mold them however I want and I can spray them or mold them however I want.

My dogs like to bring up turtle shells and what I do with them is find fire ants and bury the turtle shell near them. The fire ants will clean it up and dig it back up a few weeks later and they are clean. If you find a snake or lizard you can do the same thing. They’ll clean it up and take care of the body for you.

I basically put things together and find unique ways of doing it by mix matching parts. My art is like putting together a puzzle and I make pieces fit. I relate my art to my disability because I look at it as, my disability is something that was given to me, and I had to find a different way to use the same thing that is already there and that is how my art is. The stuff that I use, like old cans and things like have to repurpose it and use it for something else.

Have you always had such a positive outlook on life?

Oh yea. There have been times where it gets tedious but when it I think about all the people that I have rooting for me. Life is too short to sit up here worrying about what you can’t fix. Why not let God fix it and I just take care of the little

That’s where faith comes into

I’ve thought many times hard and long about life and the have and it could all be gone any minute. You don’t know how long you’ve got. Why spend the time on this earth worrying about “Am I going tomorrow or the next 5 minute.” It’s not in your control. You never can tell. God has pulled me back from the brink of death. I can’t even tell you how many times. Just the last year. There was one time where David and Nancy could tell you, they thought I was going and to tell you the truth, I kind of did myself but I was able to make it through, back doing my artwork

Wayne Hall’s art can be found at www.nancyrebal.com