Artisan Grady Byrd Sees the World as a Palette
Master illustrator Grady Byrd sees the world a little differently and that uniquely detailed vision has served him well as one of the most prominent artists on the Gulf Coast since 1970 – despite being color blind.
As a youngster growing up in Bogue Chitto, Louisiana, Byrd fell in love with drawing and painting and that’s when someone noticed his color scheme was a little off. Soon after, Byrd underwent a vision test and it turned out, he had a color vision deficiency known as Color Blindness, the inability to distinguish certain shades of color.
“I was told, ‘You can’t be an artist because you can’t mix colors the right way, but you can be an illustrator’ so from then on, I aspired to be an illustrator,” he said explaining he can see red, blue, and yellow, but secondary and tertiary colors are indistinguishable. Following his art aspirations, Byrd transferred to a high school in Jackson and garnered an art scholarship to Mississippi College.
“But I kind of wanted to see the world, so I joined the Marine Corps,” he said, adding he was a staff artist for Leatherneck magazine. “That was my dream, dream, dream job,” he said. “I learned so much from the people that were there, and my art director was really funny. He would come and look over my shoulder every couple of weeks and said, ‘Yeah, we’re getting there.’”
Later, Byrd was a combat artist for “Camp Lejeune Globe,” and he learned a lot about drawing and illustration during his years in the Marines. After serving seven years, Byrd left the Marines and accepted a civil service job at Keesler Air Force Base in 1967.
His main job was creating illustrations for Keesler News. His tasks included designing illustrations for stories, he noted subjects such as child abuse and alcoholism needed a subtle hand.
He and his family settled in Ocean Springs, and he spent countless nights creating his artworks that went to galleries. “My art is meaningful,” he said. “It always has a story to tell.”
He created and mastered an original medium he named water black, which is similar to watercolor, only with different shades of black ink.
One of his most renowned pieces in the medium is a portrait of Mother Teresa which holds a special place in his heart. He had a vision of the nun in 1984 while in his mother’s hospital room and later created, “Mother Teresa.” The Catholic church embraced the portrait for widespread use, and it’s found throughout the world.
Byrd retired from civil service in 1987 and has continued to win art awards and be featured in magazines and books. Today, he’s still creating art from his studio on the 11th floor of the Villa Maria in Ocean Springs. The 400-square-foot studio is perched high above downtown Ocean Springs and is filled with hundreds of canvases depicting more than 50 years of his work, philosophy, and life.
“I’ve been all over the world and out of everywhere I’ve been, Ocean Springs is the best place in the world,” he said. He donates much of his art to local and international charities but prints of his works can be found at the Walter Anderson Museum of Art, the Maritime & Seafood Industry Museum, the Ohr-O’Keefe Museum of Art, and Ocean Springs Mercantile.
He’s currently colorizing some of his previous works with the help of his long-time girlfriend, Audry Yglesias. Yglesias, a retired Ocean Springs High School art teacher, is helping Byrd to master color.
“Audry is the love of my life, my soulmate, and the sweetest person I’ve ever met,” he said. “When we first got together, she thought the only color I could see was blue so she always wore blue so I would see her in color. I always hide her name in my artwork.”
“Flowers for Lucille” is the first piece with color additions and “Porch People” will soon follow.
His advice for young artists is, “The pendulums of opportunity and preparedness swing with the same rhythm. Learn from your favorite artists and create your own style.”
