Local artist and poet Bob Coleman was spotted last week in various stores on Main Street in downtown Yazoo City.
The 89-year-old has been keeping himself busy by making signs and other advertising artwork as well as showcasing his calligraphy skills in locations such as Black and White Department Store, Tom's On Main, and Downtown Marketplace.
Coleman's artwork can be found in multiple locations around Yazoo City, ranging from storefront windows downtown to murals in the Justice Court Building.
John Chisolm of Black and White, says that one of Coleman's first jobs in Yazoo City was when he hand painted the store’s glass windows back in 1955.
"He told me that he did it from the inside, so that he actually had to paint it backwards, and he free-handed it all, which is pretty incredible," said Chisolm. "He is probably the most creative person I have ever seen."
Robert Ellis Coleman was born on June 15, 1928, in Doddsville, about five miles south of Ruleville in Sunflower County in the Mississippi Delta.
Coleman grew up attending school in Doddsville and Ruleville and later played football at Mississippi Delta Junior College and Delta State University in the late 1940s.
After losing his scholarship due to an injury in 1949, Coleman began farming cotton, corn, and beans as well as raising hogs.
Four years later, Coleman had lost everything and began using his artistic talents to earn money making signs in the early 1950s.
Coleman credits his artistic ability to God, saying "It seems like when people go through tough times, the Lord gives them something."
Over the next several years, Coleman set up shop in his own business making signs, and also continued to work on storefronts of businesses all over Yazoo City, such as The Yazoo Herald, Webb's Pharmacy, and other locations.
In the 1970s Coleman took an opportunity to move his family to Houston, Texas, where he took on a job at a sign company which he later owned and renamed Coleman's Signs.
Striving to return to his art, Coleman closed down his business in 1982, taking only what he could carry, and began to focus on studying the art of the old masters and calligraphy.
"I did things that I never had the opportunity to do cause I was painting signs," said Coleman.
While still living in Texas in 1983, Coleman's life changed forever when he rid himself of the guilt he had been harboring and became closer to God, developed what he calls a "clean slate," and started dedicating his life and his talents to the Lord.
Coleman takes every opportunity that he can to speak to people about God and uses his art to get people's attention.
"I witnessed to people who had a lot of guilt,” he said. “The Lord told me who to talk to, and I witnessed to them. Lives were changed there, and down here it's the same way. There are people who come in and you can tell they have a lot of guilt. Some will start crying cause they ain't got rid of it. When a person feels guilt, it shows that the Holy Spirit is inside of them, and when you forgive yourself, it’s evidence that you believe in Jesus and know that he died for your sins on the cross. That means that you’ve got a clean slate."
Coleman moved back to Yazoo City in 1988 and married his best friend Linda, who has been a constant supporter of his work as an artist and a poet.
In the year 2000, Coleman began his New Millennium Art, based off a doodle he once made during a sermon at church. A few examples of this Picasso-like artwork can be seen in Tom's on Main downtown.
Over the Years, Coleman's artwork has been included in art shows all over Mississippi and surrounding states, he has recited his poetry on programs such as Viva NashVegas, and he has also published a book of poetry entitled Rays of Light.
Coleman has been painting since the age of five and has been using the same paint brush for over 60 years.
"All of my work as just been a growing, spontaneous thing," said Coleman about his artistry. He mentioned that his least favorite thing to do is portraits because there is so much demand from the client.
"If I do one, I'll do it like how I feel," said Coleman.
Coleman said that creativity is a way to express your feelings while living in the present.
"I want people to see what's in them. When they get to creating and see what's inside them and start doing things, they are not in the past or the future, they are in the right now, they are alive, alert, and they are creating." said Coleman.
Coleman is an example of a person who has lived their life to the fullest, despite many struggles and hardships, and has devoted his life to God through his talents.
Robert Ellis Coleman shows that a lifetime of creativity can begin anywhere; that even a doodle on a small scratch of paper during church can lead to something great.
