Bernice Sims

Bernice Sims was born in 1926 in the south Alabama community of Hickory Hill. She was the eldest of ten children, and grew up mostly with her grandmother. Sims herself married at sixteen and had six children. After her children were grown, Sims went back to get her high school diploma at the age of 52. During class excursions to museums, she was inspired to paint, something she had not done since she was eight years old. She is a memory painter, capturing the activities and events of her life and community in Alabama. She paints scenes of farming, church activities, cotton picking, and making cane sugar. She also paints compelling images of struggle, including police turning dogs and hoses onto people in the streets of Birmingham; and the Selma, Alabama march during Civil Rights struggles.

Sims memory paintings present strong color, movement and energy; her people seem to be interacting. Her subject matter is far more interesting than that of many memory painters.