Mildred Ballard

 

This site was created to preserve and expand the artistic legacy of Kernersville folk artist Mildred Ballard.  My name is Chris Ballard and Mildred is my great-Aunt.  My wife Amy and I have assembled a collection of photographs of her artwork as well as copies of the numerous newspaper articles written about her over the years.  While most of the “old timers” in and around Kernersville know who Mildred is, it is our hope that we can expose her extraordinary talent to the younger generation as well.  Although I have always had an appreciation for Mildred’s artwork, I have only vague memories of the artist herself.  I remember that as a child my mother used to take me to visit Mildred at her studio.  I recall that it was cluttered and overflowing with canvases.  Many of her paintings were finished but some were inexplicably stopped mid-stream, as if while working she was suddenly gripped with some new vision of a place or scene that caused her to quickly move to a bare canvas before the vision had left her mind.  She seemed to work with lightning speed, churning out paintings in record time.  Beyond these few fleeting childhood memories the majority of what I know about Mildred comes from the articles we have posted on this site, so this endeavor has been a very valuable learning experience for me.  We welcome feedback so please feel free to email us your comments, personal stories about Mildred or photographs of her artwork that you would like to see posted on site.

 

Best wishes,

 

Chris and Amy