By Nancy Green
Kosciusko folk artist L.V. Hull, who had a unique touch with the paint brush, died Tuesday at Montfort Jones Memorial Hospital following an illness. She was 65.
Funeral services are incomplete. Winters Funeral Home will announce arrangements.
L.V., self-taught, painted on anything that was available. She transformed bottles, jugs, cardboard cartons, shoes, hats and other items into art treasures she painted or decorated. The yard at her home on Allen Street in Kosciusko was filled with her art, ranging from brightly painted shoes and hats to discarded ceiling fans, tires, vacuum cleaners, pots, pans, telephones, television sets, and a myriad of other articles.
The interior of her home was no different from the yard. It too, was filled with similar art all in bright colors.
In addition to her talent of combining colors, she used Mardi Gras beads, discarded jewelry, buttons, braid, etc. which she glued onto surfaces to fashion another form of her art.
Friends gave her many of the materials she used. She was a master at turning “trash to treasure.”
L.V. became known nationally. Volunteers at the information center on the Natchez Trace Parkway often directed visitors to her home, and she graciously showed them through the home offering her work for sale and asking them to sign her guest book. Visitors often made return visits. Through the years, she was featured in a number of state and national publications including Southern Living. She was listed in a German travel guide as a unique spot in Kosciusko. The German group was attracted to the Trace because of their love of forests and often visited L.V. when in the area.
During the Olympics held in Atlanta, a television crew from Australia came to Kosciusko to film L.V. as a Mississippi highlight, and as a side trip was offered visitors attending the Olympics.
L.V. was a native of McAdams and had lived in Kosciusko more than 35 years. She is survived by her mother, Mrs. Lou Willie Bentley, and a sister, Mrs. Q.T. Tinnin, both of Memphis.
