Jesse Howard

Jesse Clyde Howard was a folk artist and farmer who created thousands of provocative signs declaring his beliefs about religion, morality and politics during the later decades of his life. While Howard’s work wasn’t appreciated within his own community of Fulton, Missouri, during his life, his signs and sculptures fascinated an international audience who viewed them as groundbreaking works of contemporary art. 

Jesse Howard was born the youngest of ten siblings in 1885 on a small farm in rural Missouri. With only a sixth-grade education at age eighteen, Howard left home and spent two years traveling the United States, working temporary jobs on farms and railroads. After returning home, he married Maude Linton in 1916 and continued working as a farmer while raising their children. After World War II, he and his family purchased a property in Fulton named "Sorehead Hill." Howard then began helping a man named Ed M. Peacock put on weekend shows of antique farming equipment that drew visitors from miles away. The experience profoundly affected Howard, inspiring him to transform Sorehead Hill into a tourist attraction. 

Howard originally envisioned a space where visitors would come to view handcrafted curiosities and learn lessons from the Bible. Among his first creations were seven symbolic burial mounds for religious figures, a version of Jacob's Well, and a replica of Haman's gallows from the Old Testament. Yet Howard's ambitions were soured by hostility from his neighbors. Howard created his first sign after one of his hand-carved model airplanes was destroyed. As theft and vandalism of his work continued, Howard created more and more signs, covering his property with expressions of outrage and indignation. As time went on, his signs became more contemplative, frequently quoting newspapers, the Bible, a farmer's almanac, and a dictionary in an attempt to express his beliefs.

Jesse Howard was eighty-three years old when his first artistic recognition came in the form of an article titled "The Grass-Roots Artist," published by Gregg Blasdel in Art In America. After Blasdel's article, Howard began receiving waves of visitors and exhibition offers. Dale Eldred, William Volkersz, and other professors from the Kansas City Art Institute regularly visited Howard and held exhibitions of his work. Other young artists like Roger Brown saw Howard as a visionary. By the time of his death in 1983, his signs and sculptures were preserved in the collections of many major art museums, and since then his work has been exhibited widely.