Putting a Face to Al Urness

Al

Day 11 (12/28/14)

Recently I was able to put a face to the man who I have spent so much time in the last two years thinking and writing about. I had of course seen some old newspaper images but most were of Al at a distance and had been taken from archives of newspapers from the fifties. Thanks to Charl Agiza (formerly Charl Roach) I have, not only, been able put a face to Al but also see a great variety of his art work. Charl apparently ran across my blog while doing a Google search of Al. Again I am going to as much as possible let Charl tell her own story:

While visiting my family for the holidays I got to looking at these paintings that were done by Al Urness. In our Information Age I thought I would Google his name and see what I came up with and was so surprised to read the stories and clippings on your blog. Thanks so much! He came and stayed with my family in Arkansas and painted several paintings, one of which I am sending in this email and the others to follow. I shall try to find a photograph I believe we have around here. He was the free spirit that is described. Al was a simple man traveling with few possessions and painting along the way.

On my blog site she wrote:

I have sent several images of paintings by Al Urness and photographs we had of him in our family album to your email durness1@wi.rr.com (if you have a new email let me know and I can resend them).
We met Al in the 70s in Lake Village, Arkansas and later he came and lived with us for several months in Jonesboro, Arkansas after we moved there. I was 15 at the time and studying and performing various ethnic dances. He did a large painting of me in my Middle Eastern dance costume. He worked from a photo but he also did a sketch which must be around here somewhere. My Grandmother was an artist as well as my Aunt and myself. Of course now I sit and look at his work with a different eye. Looking back after reading about him in your blog I see why I had such a resonance with him then and realize he left a great impression on me. We exchanged correspondence after he left and I might even have some of those letters. Even though he was older when he came into our lives his spirit was young and playful and we enjoyed each other's company. Thanks so much for bringing his spirit to life again. I think as artists we always hope our work will survive and someone will ask “who painted that?"

I am honored and humbled to have stumbled upon the story of Al Urness. I must apologize that I am not really a writer. My skills like those of Al fall more in the area painting and kayaking. It is a story that warrants telling however and it has been my pleasure to have met so many people, if only in cyber space, inspired by Al. For the time being I have exhausted my available information. I would not be surprised nonetheless to have other people step forward with stories of their own. I certainly hope that is the case and to everybody who has already contacted me I want to offer a big heartfelt thank you.  

Another Picture of Al

Al the Teacher

Al at work Sketching

Al Painting

Finished Painting

Devils Tower by Al Urness

Domestic Life

The Dancer by Al Urness

Detail from the dancer

Another detail