In the mid-1980s, Paul Patton returned to Rix Mills in Muskingum County and was shocked to find the beautiful village of his childhood practically decimated by strip mining.
Patton, who had recently begun painting, decided to get serious about using his art to preserve his memories. Eventually, he produced more than 500 folk-art works that capture the events and traditions of daily life in Appalachian coal country between the first and second world wars.
The artist died in 1999, but his acrylic paintings live in the book Rix Mills Remembered: An Appalachian Boyhood, published posthumously in 2003.
Eighteen of those paintings will go on display on Friday in the Short North’s Lindsay Gallery.
Click to read the full article on The Columbus Dispatch’s web site.
