Mississippi Artist Larry Moore

Drawing On Talents

When Mississippi Artist Larry Moore gets to work in the mornings, he takes a small hand-held pencil sharpener and begins twisting pencils in it: ebony, light, brown, charcoal. When his first customer shows up, Moore's hands go to work. He draws a long curve here, several short lines there and a mass of lines transform themselves into a nose. After about eight minutes, he pulls the finished picture, a profile protrait, off the easel and hands it to his subject. The customer smiles at the likeness; Moore smiles; too. Moore's artistic talents developed early. "I started (drawing) as a real small child. My mom used to spank me for drawing on the wall, the refrigerator, and the floor. Anywhere I could draw, I would draw, as a child." His affinity for art eventually led him to quit school. "I dropped out in the sixth grade. One reason I dropped out, I remember this well, I felt I was wasting my time. I remember sitting around just like all the other students, but I always wanted to create, draw, doodle." So he did. One of his first drawings was of Jesus Christ for his aunt Virginia Evans. The work was done on a peice of particle board. Evans covered it in plastic and put it over her fire-place. Although Moore never had formal training in art, he said, "My whole life has been involved with either a paint brush, a pencil, or a pen, for the most part" From 1969 to 1974, the self-made artist worked with a furniture company, that was "about as bored as you can get." He gave it up for art full time. However, he added, " I learned how these skills came about, about three years ago. "I'm reading the Holy Bible after an accident in Lawerence, Mississippi; I was almost killed. I read the part about Paul that said 'Neglect not the gift that God has given thee by laying on of hand from birth.' Right then it dawned on me what had happened to me at birth; that had been a part of me all the time, which I had ignored and even avoided. Moore has worked in almost every medium available, including drawing, sculpting, wood carving, scratchborad, charcoal, pastels, watercolor, and oil paints. "I enjoy it all," he said. Moore draws people because, he said, they're the most challenging. "When I was an adolescent I'd go out and see what I couldn't draw; there was absolutely nothing. So , I figured my toughest subject would be people." The challenge is " to be able to distinguish the different characterisitcs in people's faces. To be able to distinguish the minute differences, the differences that most people can't even see," he said. "No two people are alike. I've done people from all over the world. I've done Orientals, German, French, Italians, Hispanic, African. You've heard the old term, " They all look alike;' to me every single person I've met- and I've met literally thousands, every single one of them is different. This story was originally printed on page 10B The Meridian Star, Friday December 10, 1993. In the "People" Section. This has been reprinted by his 14 year old daughter Yarrl Moore and as we go along there are many more storys I will share with you the public from magazines and newspapers about my famous dad, Mississippi Artist Larry Moore. By the way my dad was born Feb. 13, 1949 in a little town called Lawerence, Mississippi. He is the second child of eight and he is also the father of nine of the most beautiful daughters and sons you have ever seen. There are 7 girls and 2 sons. I'm Yarrl Moore. I am an artist and my dad has taught me alot.