Book excerpt: "Exuberant colors, bold strokes, and everyday images typify Clementine Hunter's folk art. Born in 1887 on a plantation in Louisiana, Hunter spent most of her life working in cotton fields at Melrose Plantation. It wasn't until she was in her fifties that she began painting, and it was several more years before her talent was recognized. Focusing her work on what she experiences, her paintings exemplify the simplicity of life in rural Louisiana." --Dust jacket.