February 17, 2020

Childhood Saturdays in the South

I just packed these two paintings up and sent them off to their special new home. “Soul Train Saturday” and “Bell Bottoms and Wide Ties” were inspired by childhood Saturdays sitting on shag carpet in front of the big, veneered floor model tv at my Grandparents’ house, watching cartoons.

Before kids’ networks existed, what did you do?

That was back in the day when there was literally a four or five hour span (only time all week), when there were shows just for kids! It was so exciting! (there was no Disney channel, no Nickelodeon, no entire kid channel like my children enjoyed, and certainly no Netflix or YouTube)... I can still remember theme songs and intros from my favorites (The Jetsons, Land of the Lost, and Fat Albert were a few). And signaling the end of the morning kid shows, was “Soul Train.” Don Cornelius with his deep, smooth voice narrating, and perfectly proportioned, scantily dressed teenagers dancing to all the latest hits.

I sat glued to the tv (as long as my Grandmama didn’t catch me and tell me to ‘get outside, I’d had enough tv’) dreaming about sporting cool outfits, and dancing as well as they did (especially on those high platforms- shoes, and actual structures)! Soul Train was the transition from kiddie tv to teenage tv.

Things keep changing. But isn’t it nice to have the memories that take us back and let us sit there for awhile.

About the Artist

As a southern inspired artist, Shawn Haynes finds herself immersed in all of the beauty - stretching from the palm trees of the Low Country to the swamps of the Pee Dee region. During the COVID-19 Pandemic, she buckled down and got to work, expressing a variety of personal emotions through her abstracts, landscapes, and even still lives. Have you seen her past work? Check out archives to see some of her favorites from the thick of the pandemic and beyond.