Norell Gudaitis

About the Artist

Norell has been deemed Connecticut's “Grandma Holy Moses.” A self-taught artist who started painting at 72, using natural materials such as pine needles and clover blossoms as paint brushes, she once painted nearly 200 works in a period of creative revelry. Now 90 years old, Norell continues to sing and paint, always guided by the powerful spirit within her. Born to share croppers in rural Opelika, Alabama, Norell vividly remembers sitting on Cab Calloway's lap at the age of five while he sang to her. It was the Jim Crow 1930's and her elder sister was working in the theater where Calloway performed when she invited him home for a family dinner. Much of Norell's artwork centers around Calloway, dreams and visions, self portraits, biblical figures, UFOs, fantastical landscapes and wild, colorful abstracts. Norell has been a feature of many Connecticut newspapers and television broadcasts including CPTV Connecticut Journal.

Norell says about painting that she “enjoys doing it, it makes me happy and keeps me young."