Willie White was born on December 25, 1908 in Cranfield Mississippi near Natchez.
The son of a farmer he grew up in this rural area and went to school through the third grade.
In 1929 at age 19 he moved to New Orleans to work on the "quarter boats" on the Mississippi River, repairing and securing the river levee. Later, White worked as a waiter and then was employed as a janitor in a night club on Canal Street. It was here in the early 1950's, after observing artists in the French Quarter, that he began to draw and acquired his interest in painting . With house paint, he at first attempted to imitate the work he had seen other artist do but quickly developed his own ideas and techniques. White decorated his porch and fences with his first art works. At first his subjects were neighborhood churches and crosses. Later he derived images from television and his dreams, creating a visual vocabulary of dinosaurs, horses, fantastic birds, watermelons, skyscrapers, rocket ships, and planets. In the early 1960's he began to work almost exclusively with felt markers and white poster board and used canvas only when it is provided.With simple shapes and primary colors drawn with bright markers, he painted a variety of subjects:  prehistoric creatures,  strange animals, and birds; the earth, moon, and stars; religious images, houses, cactuses.  Works by Willie White have been shown at the New Orleans Museum of Art and in other folk art shows throughout the country.
Wille White died on December 26, 2000 and was buried back near Natchez.

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