Artist - Bonie Bolen Since 1995 Bonie has been painting backdrops, creating t-shirt designs and volunteering for the BJFM shows and festivals. She is a self-taught artist living in Ohio who has been creating artwork for most of her life. Some of her music-based artwork has since been featured with the Columbus Blues Alliance, The Parkersburg Art Center as well as private individuals. Working in pencil, pastel, oil, tempera, watercolor and latex she creates fine art, murals and decorative or faux painting. When asked about her work for the BJFM she replied, "The idea to start doing the backdrops originally was to add more art to the shows. The musicians are amazing enough but we wanted to give the audience more of an experience, something that they could not get just anywhere. Having had the privelege of being born into the BJFM it has been an honor for me to be a part of the shows." Please see more of my murals below and thanks for taking the time to view my work for the Blues, Jazz and Folk Music Society. Bonie's Murals for BJFM: |
Bonie working on a Mural for a Celtic Concert presented by the Blues, Jazz & Folk Music Society |
The Cadillac Shack Located on the Hopson Plantation, three miles from the
legendary Crossroads, Highways 49 and 61 in Clarksdale MS. |
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Where the Southern Crosses the Dog The Southern was a railroad. It was later bought by the Illinois Central. (The fabled City of New Orleans ran on Southern rails, and for many in the Delta those rails were the road out of poverty, heading north to Chicago--spreading the blues along the way.) Another railroad, the Yazoo Delta, was more popularly known as the Yellow Dog. The Southern tracks crossed the Yazoo Delta railroad in Moorhead, MS. W.C. Handy was at the train depot in this northern part of the Delta, and he overheard another guy singing a song about "going where the Southern cross the Dog." Handy (who lived in Clarksdale) had never heard harmonies like this. This is the first documented use of blues harmonies. (What's more, the guy was playing guitar using the back of a knife as a slide--first slide guitar ever to make it into the history books.) The blues had been forming in a rich stew of influences up and down the Delta. This was their first contact with someone who wrote it down. Created for the 2008 Columbus Blues Alliance Tradfest. |
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Blue Cotton . |
There are a lot of regulars at the annual blues festival. Victoria and Robert Pearson of Florida have been coming up every year for the past several years for the show. They asked me to create a juke joint scene depicting Billie Holiday, Alberta Hunter and Big Mama Thorton. The canvas is 7' x 6' and hangs in their home. Top |
Performer - Paul Geremia. Original BJFM Logo BJFM Original Logo When the BJFM Society formed in 1987 one of its founding members, Keith Gatto, had commissioned the artist Roland Dempsey to design a logo for the Society. The result was a beautiful pen and ink of musicians and a local harbor scene.
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Beale Street For the 2004 River City Blues Fest the BJFM board members asked me to design a backdrop that would celebrate Beale Street. The blues, and later rock n roll and soul, have a deep history here. Although the roots of blues go further back into American fields and African countrysides, a truly unique form of American music was created here on Beale St. in Memphis, TN. Initially it was the music of W.C Handy that sparked this revolution in American blues music, with artists like Muddy Waters, Furry Lewis, Alberta Hunter, Albert King, Memphis Minnie and B.B. King soon to follow in the clubs on Beale. For the backdrop I was inspired by the Memphis photographers J&D Richardson's version of Beale Street. Their photograph was so colorful and exciting I thought that it would work well behind the show. Please see more of their work at www.jdrichardson.com. They are stock photographers for the Southeastern area of the US. The canvas is 9' x 13' and painted in latex. Special thanks to James Richardson, Peggy, Anne and Ted. |
The Ohio For the 2003 Blues Festival I painted The Ohio, a 14' x 8' latex canvas depicting a view across the Ohio, Muskingum, Allegheny or other river systems in our area of the country. The mural is meant to show the dichotomous relationship between area families and industry. The health and beauty of our unique people and landscape is often in jeopardy with our necessary need for income to local families.
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Maxwell Street
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Cypress Trees Other music styles the BJFM Society highlights are Cajun, Zydeco, Reggae and World Beat music. Swamp Stomp and Reggae In May are two growing annual events. For the 2002 Reggae show I painted a riverbank scene of baldcypresss trees and spanish moss. These trees are typically found in deep Southern US swamp areas. The backdrop is painted in latex on 14' x 8' of canvas.
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Performer - Gizzae. Cypress Tree Mural. |
Performers - Cephas & Wiggins. "Going to Chicago" mural. |
Going to Chicago At the 2001 River City Blues festival many of the featured acts were from the Mississippi area and had migrated north to Chicago, Nashville and St. Louis. Going To Chicago or Paris Mississippi is a painting about the migration to northern cities like Chicago due to the unemployment in southern plantations brought about through industrialization. Much of Chicago's rich blues history has origins similar to this.
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Traditional Instruments For the 2001 Celtic concert I painted a backdrop of traditional instruments. I wanted to show the physical beauty of the instruments; wood, string and skin. In the painting they are arranged on a wooden wall. I was trying to achieve the effect of the inside of a barn just before or during intermission of a barn dance. The backdrop has personal interest for me because some of the instruments are painted directly from my family's collection. I grew up hearing them regularly. The mural measures 14' x 8' and painted with latex. This backdrop is badly cracked. A note to anyone painting a folding canvas. If you do use latex paint, use exterior latex. It is much more flexible than interior. The early backdrops I painted in interior latex began cracking after the first move. |
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The Crossroads was painted in reference to the myth of Robert Johnson's legacy. It is painted with latex on a piece of burlap measuring 16' x 8'. It was first used at the 1999 River City Blues Festival. |
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Special thanks to... If you would like to e-mail me I'm at boniebolen@gmail.com.
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