About the FestivalSouth featured artist
FestivalFeatured Artist, Darryl Anderson was born in Los Angeles California in 1967. His parents divorced when he was 4 years old, and with his father returned to Mississippi. Darryl graduated from Provine High school in Jackson.
While sketching at his desk as switchboard operator at the Hinds County Detention Center, then sheriff Malcolm McMillin noticed Darryl’s talent and gave him a watercolor set to just “try something new. “ A friend gave him a book by Mississippi artist Wyatt Waters and Darryl loved his unique style. Sheriff McMillin soon contacted Waters who was teaching Adult Enrichment classes at Millsaps and asked if there was a spot for Darryl. Those adult art classes were filled with local ladies, mostly housewives that took him under their wings like “mother hens.”
Falling in love with scenes of the South as a child, Darryl, translated those scenes with watercolor hues and a brush. He now travels throughout the south with a vagabond approach to each painting. According to Wyatt Waters, “Darryl was motivated to find his passion and pursue it.” Darryl says” If you’re an artist, just paint, just do it! Don’t worry about what others think!”
Darryl now has his own gallery, the D. Anderson Gallery, located in Hazlehurst, Mississippi.