Cover Artist: John Sperry

By Gina Malone

For 15 years before he became an artist, John Sperry says he “unhappily worked in the insurance industry.” His wife Danette, also an artist and a former Cover Artist for The Laurel, was selling antiques to a shop in Atlanta that also featured folk art. Sperry saw the work there, was smitten and wanted to give the genre a try.

“Armed with an old piece of tin, a paintbrush and a few old tubes of paint, I started,” he says. “My first painting wasn’t much, but I progressed extremely fast and quickly developed a recognizable style.” That was in 2000. Folk artists that inspired him include Jimmy Lee Sudduth, Mose Tolliver and Howard Finster. Previously, Sperry pursued ceramics from his teen years through early college years.

It didn’t take long for people to begin to notice Sperry’s paintings and to ask to buy them. “Two months after starting to paint, I quit my corporate job,” he says. “I just knew I had to paint. Luckily, I had my wife’s full support and encouragement. I would not be as successful without her.”

Soon after he began creating folk art, a fellow artist asked how long he had been painting. When he told her six months, Sperry says, “she replied, ‘You just exploded, didn’t you!’” Initially, his subjects were scenes of the rural Black South and blues musicians.

Sperry finds inspiration for more recent paintings of quirky scenes and critters in the many living creatures around him, including dogs and cats that have been pets, and turtles and other creatures close to home in Georgia and in the world at large. “More recently, my wife’s efforts at creating a backyard bird sanctuary have led me to focus on painting birds,” he says. But he also taps into his imagination, including with the abstract paintings of people that he calls “talking heads.” Those “are meant to be humorous,” he says. “I feel people take themselves far too seriously and that everyone is unique.”

Bringing smiles, laughter and an overall sense of joy to those who view his art is important to him. “I feel the greatest quality of my art is that it is vibrant, whimsical and humorous,” he says. Because he experiences mild to moderate depression, he finds creativity to be a way to escape those feelings and to focus on something more lighthearted.

“My paintings are created on cabinet-grade plywood which I first paint black,” he says. “The images are made with oil sticks. I paint the images first and then the background. People say that this gives the painting a 3-D effect.”

Because he had grown tired of the expense of traveling to art shows, the pandemic shutdown gave him a reason to stay home and actually proved a boon to his business. “People were home so much they started to redecorate,” he says. His work may also be found at galleries in Georgia, Florida and South Carolina.

Regionally, Sperry’s work is represented at American Folk Art & Framing (AFA), in Asheville. “His work comfortably fits right in with the rest of our folk art family, and yet he is obviously standing out from the crowd,” says AFA owner Julia Mills. “Many of our regular clients have been asking about the new addition to the gallery, and his paintings have been very popular. John’s bold colors and funky characters are just so easily charming. You can’t help but smile!”

John Sperry’s studio, Primitive Folks, is located in Maysville, GA. Visitors are welcome by appointment by calling 678.316.6442. Learn more about his work at AmeriFolk.com, or at Instagram and Facebook (John Sperry Folk Art). American Folk Art is located at 64 Biltmore Avenue, Asheville.