The Search

Beginning the search for the artwork of my artist friend, Donna May Hatcher, who recently passed away, has been a challenge to say the least. It is an honor to know that I was named in her Will to find, document, and sell her artwork. I will have to say that it has been quite emotional walking through what was to her, so very sacred. Even though I have permission to search these hidden, revered spaces upon Hatcher Hill (farmland owned by her family in Baconton, Ga., for generations), it has felt as if I were somewhat trespassing. Searching through discarded even forgotten objects of the past, her artwork would emerge, as if it were playing a game of hide and seek. The old structures I have been walking through, 100 year old farmhouses and barns, beautifully weathered by Mother Nature, seemed to protest my search, creaking and groaning at the weight of my footsteps as I carefully inched across their old pine floors. It's truly heart warming finding pieces of her brilliant, gentle soul. Every piece I would discover seemed to radiate an energy of her sheer presence and strength.

Pictured below are images of her nephews, Will and Douglas Hatcher posing in front one of the old houses on Hatcher Hill

Pieces of Donna

It seemed more like an excavation as we sifted and dug through old, discarded and forgotten things from Donna’s past. Items like old hats and boots, figurines from her travels, books, family photos, puppets, and other collected objects of interest were piled throughout the old farmhouse up on Hatcher Hill in Baconton, Ga. Donna’s Nephews (Douglas and Will), her father, Douglas, my husband, Tracy, me, and her good friend Rhonda, weathered the hot, humid heat and cobwebs while gasping in excitement and fondness upon finding, what I like to call, pieces of Donna. One by one, stunning, jaw dropping works of art, wrapped up in yellowed newspaper, were pulled out of twenty year old cardboard boxes. Each soulful creation we would uncover revealed intriguing stages of the eccentric, fascinating, and enigmatic life of Donna May Hatcher. Occasionally, her nephews voiced memories shared with Donna and chuckled as they stumbled upon paintings, that as children, were strange, and unusual. “Visiting Aunt Donna was exciting, stated Will and Douglas, and spending time in the old house when we were small on Hatcher Hill seemed like a funhouse filled with oddities and mysterious art.” “I can’t believe the amount of artwork Aunt Donna had created over the years, stated Will, it’s going to take a while to find all of her artwork.” “Yeah, we are going to have to search several of her art hide outs…. we may never find all of her art,” stated Douglas.