LISA GARRETT
Martinsville, Virginia | lisagarrettfineart@gmail.com
Lisa Garrett is a self-taught artist that loves to paint and draw horses and pet portraits. She uses various mediums including oils, acrylics, watercolors, pastels, and colored pencils. She is married to Chris and lives in Henry County with their two dogs. She is the President of the Lynwood Artist and a member of Bull Mountain Arts. She has won several awards at the Rock Spring Art Show at Reynolds Homestead and the Expressions Exhibit at the Piedmont Arts.
ABOUT THE PIECE
The idea is to paint the story of the Granny Witch in the Appalachian Mountains. People living deep in the Appalachian Mountains were very self-reliant but they would go to the Granny women for healing and magic. It was not easy to get to a doctor and there was a Granny close enough to fetch for help in an emergency. These women used a combination of herbal medicine, folk magic, faith healing, and superstitions to aid the people in remote regions. As European settlers arrived in the colonies, they bought with them traditional folk magic and healing from their home countries. As they settled in, they met Native American neighbors who taught them about the plants, roots, and leaves indigenous to the Mountains. Granny magic included many different practices. Dowsing, the practice of looking for water with a forked stick or a length of copper. They often tended to the needs of women as midwives and assisted in the birth of new babies but they could also be counted on to provide herbal remedies if a young woman did not want to become pregnant. They worked as a healer, crafting poultices, salves, and teas with curative properties. Because of the religious environment of the Appalachian region, which were staunchly Protestant, most people practicing what we today call granny magic would have disagreed that what they were doing was witchcraft. In fact, many charms and spells included invocations of psalms, prayers, and verses from the Bible. Music was a large part of Appalachian Granny Magic traditions, and many of the spells were sung and danced. The tools used by Granny witches varied a bit but you could find “The Wand “, often called the “rod” for dowsing, mirrors, candles, brooms, pottery, and baskets. The Cauldrons, for making potions and herbal remedies, were found in the front yard like an “open for business sign”. The healing and magic of the Granny witches still exists in the Appalachian Mountains. It is passed down from generation to generation and the Granny knows instinctively which member of her family is the next healer, and encourages that child to learn.
Artist Collection Presented by Bull Mountain Arts and Pickle & Ash
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