Nellie Mae Rowe

[2] Her family was burdened by financial pressures and she left school after the fourth grade to work in the fields with her father, a former slave, Sam Williams.

Adorned with dozens of objects from dolls and stuffed animals to household bric-a-brac, her home emerged as a site of transformation.

[4] Years later, while describing her artistic process, Rowe stated, "I started doing it way ago, right after my husband died.

[7] One visitor, who first saw Rowe's house in 1979, later recalled, "It was a densely packed hodgepodge environment that would make your mouth fall open.

Through inventive use of color, space, and form, Rowe realized fantasy-like landscapes in her drawings and paintings.

While human and animal shapes are repeated throughout Rowe's works, she often created "hybrid figures such as dog/human, a cow/woman, a dog with wings, and a butterfly/bird/woman.

[4] Rowe's sculptures often took the form of dolls or bust-like figures, made out of old stockings or hardened chewing gum.

Rowe adorned her dolls, made out of old stockings, with elaborate outfits and yarn wigs and glasses.

Rowe's altered photographs reflect her facility in using multiple mediums to create sympathetic portraits of close friends and families.

By coloring in particular objects or figures or by adding a patterned frame, Rowe repurposed traditional black and white portraits for her own artistic purposes.

Notably, on November 9, 1974, Herbert Haide Hemphill Jr., the prominent folk art curator and collector, noted after visiting Rowe's playhouse, "What a wonderful time!

"[12] During final years of her life, Rowe's artistic career culminated in nationwide attention and considerable financial success.

The Atlanta Historical Society 1976 exhibit, "Missing Pieces: Georgia Folk Art 1770-1976," marked Rowe's debut.

It was here that Judith Alexander, a young art enthusiast and collector, first met Nellie Mae Rowe.

[13] Notably, in 1982, after being featured in numerous prominent galleries in New Orleans to Chicago, Rowe's work was included in the landmark 1982 exhibit "Black Folk Art in America, 1930-1980" at the Corcoran Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C. Posthumously, Rowe's work continues to enjoy remarkable success.

Four years after her death, The Studio Museum in Harlem exhibited "Nellie Mae Rowe: An American Folk Artist."

In 1989, the Guerilla Girls, an anonymous group of feminist, female artists, recognized Nellie Mae Rowe along the ranks of the Frida Kahlo, Edmonia Lewis, and Georgia O'Keeffe.