Sybil Gibson

Born Sybil Aaron in Dora, Alabama, to parents Lenora Reid Aaron and Monroe Aaron.[2][1] Her father was a wealthy coal mine owner and farmer, he owned and operated the Sulphur Springs Coal Company.[3] She was one of eight children.[2]

She was educated at Jacksonville State Teachers College, earning a B.S. in Elementary Education, before going on to become a teacher.[4]

For much of her adult life she had no interest in painting, having had her ambitions crushed when a college art teacher told her she had no talent.[5] However, on Thanksgiving Day 1963, aged 55, Gibson took to creating her own wrapping paper designs using tempera paint and brown paper grocery bags. This led to a fascination with creating art which lasted until her death.[6]

Howell Raines wrote in June 1971 that "the paintings are not over-powering, they are truly fragile in the best sense. The colors are very delicate, and while Sybil Gibson's work is figurative, her realism is tempered with a certain dream-like quality."[7] Gibson chose to paint limited subject matter - mainly concentrating on the human form, particularly faces, as well as flowers, birds and small animals[8] Her style is considered 'folk art', and she is regarded as an outsider, or naïve artist.[4]

In May 1971, shortly before the opening of her first art exhibition, at the Miami Museum of Modern Art, Gibson disappeared, leaving drawings strewn about her yard.[9] An eccentric woman, Gibson disappeared several times.[6] Around 300 of her paintings are believed to exist in museums and private collections, although many more have been destroyed after being strewn around outside her home when she disappeared.[6]

Gibson's work has been exhibited in more than fifty one-woman exhibitions.[10] Her work is featured in various public museum collections including at the Montgomery Museum of Fine Arts;[2] the Museum of American Folk Art;[11] the Johnson Collection;[12] Birmingham Museum of Art,[13] and the New Orleans Museum of Art.[14]

She married her high school boyfriend Hugh Gibson in 1929, with whom she raised a daughter.[2] By 1935, she was divorced from Gibson and her parents were caring for her daughter while she went back to school.[2] Despite her prosperous upbringing, she spent much of her adult life living in poverty.[9]

In the late 1940s she moved to Florida due to a sinus issue.[2]

From c. 1950 to 1958, she was married to David DeYarmon, the marriage ended when he died.[2]

Late in life her daughter arranged for Gibson to return to Florida, where she had an operation to restore her sight.[2] She died on January 2, 1995, in Dunedin, Florida, aged 86.[2]