Since 1958, Glendora native McArthur Chism has been making things with his hands.
As a young boy, he had poor eyesight and little money in his pocket, so the arts never seemed to be a viable path for him, but as he spends his days in the Oxford Rehab and Health Center, Chism is accomplishing the improbable.
Chism is a reputable artist with a signature style of making everyday things out of wire and bottle caps. He is also legally blind.
Glendora native McArthur Chism holds a birdhouse that he made out of bottle caps. Chism, despite being legally blind, creates artwork using wire, bottle caps and pliers.
With a pair of pliers and a lot of thick wire, Chism folds shapes and objects into life with a series of precise modifications. He then covers the surface of each work with different colored bottle caps to give it a backwoods flair.
“It’s something I just picked up on my own,” Chism said. “My first thing I made was a vase. My mother had some vases made out of bottle caps … Since then, whenever I think of something, I sit there and draw it, then put it together.”
While he treats his work as sort of a hobby, simply working on items in his spare time, he certainly considers all his work to be art, something that became evidently clear to him when he was first approached by a dealer about his pieces.
“She seen it. She said, ‘What can I get for the house?’ I said, ‘$15.’ She said, ‘Oh no. You ain’t getting enough for your work.’ And I said, ‘Well, then let me make them and you sell them,’” Chism said. “I really don’t know how (she heard about my work) … She just showed up to my house.”
Chism continues to gain notoriety throughout the state, even obtaining a grant from the Mississippi Arts Commission to continue his hobby and represent the state in the arts.
“It helped me with my work,” Chism said. “They wanted me to do a little traveling for my work after getting the grant, but it brought me the stuff that I needed like my wire and paint.”
Chism hopes to obtain a second grant to continue his work sometime in the near future, and fully supports the Mississippi Arts Commission as an instrumental facet of the state as a whole.
Chism spends most of his time now in the rehab center assembling new items to be sold to art galleries or whomever may be interested in buying. The walls of his small room are lined with his most recent creations, ranging anywhere from birdhouses to a napkin holder.
Chism said his eyesight has never been a problem when it comes to his work.
“I was born with bad eyes,” Chism said. “I can see my way around, though. I have trouble reading or watching TV, which actually doesn’t bother me as long as I stay close to the TV… I’m able to feel my way around and make things pretty easily now.”
Southside Gallery is currently exhibiting a variety of Chism’s work on the second floor.
