Willie White was born on a farm in Nachez, Mississippi in 1910 and attended school only through the third grade. He left home as a teeneager, finding work on the river repairing it's levees. Willie settled in New Orleans where he waited tables in the French Quarter for two decades. He later worked as a janitor and a sign painter. He was inspired to paint after seeing the artists at work around the Quarter. He quickly developed his own unmistakable style -- bold colors and compositions depicting animals, birds, dinosaurs, crosses, trees, fruits and vegetables. His chosen medium has consistantly been markers on posterboard. Willie White has been included in many major exhibitions of Southern Contemporary Folk Art, including "Passionate Visions" which was assembled by the New Orleans Museum of Art and traveled to many other North American Museums between 1993 and 1995.