Jesse Howard, Sorehead Hill, Fulton, MO

Jesse Howard, Sorehead Hill (site view, n.d.), Fulton, MO, c. 1940–1983. Photo: Seymour Rosen. © SPACES—Saving and Preserving Arts and Cultural Environments.

Jesse Howard at Sorehead Hill (site view, n.d.), Fulton, MO, c. 1940–1983. Photo: Seymour Rosen. © SPACES—Saving and Preserving Arts and Cultural Environments.

The Site

In the 1950s, Jesse Howard began covering his twenty-acre property in Fulton, Missouri, with biblical scenes and model airplanes decorated with patriotic messages, raising the ire of his neighbors. After numerous vandalizations of his works, Howard erected an ever-growing series of hand-lettered signs proclaiming his views of the world, predominantly interpretations of biblical verse, commentary on local and national politicians, and condemnation of vandals who stole his signs. Neat capital letters in black or red paint, set within carefully ruled lines on whitewashed wood or metal panels, spell out the artist’s outrage, the words often spilling over to the next line as if articulating a breathless screed.

The site, which Howard called Sorehead Hill, was soon brimming with hundreds of works of art. His fence, house, yard, and several outbuildings overflowed; as signs were stolen, Howard made more. Despite the ongoing battles with his neighbors, his work achieved national recognition.

When Howard died in 1983, the Kansas City Art Institute became the steward of his signs. It worked with Kohler Foundation, Inc., in 2016 to add 187 objects from its collection to the John Michael Kohler Arts Center’s holdings of Howard’s work.

Jesse Howard

1885–1983

Jesse Howard was born in 1885 in Shamrock, Missouri, the youngest, along with his twin sister, of ten children. After roaming the West for a few years, he spent most of his life in nearby Fulton, where he made his living doing odd jobs and manual labor.

In the 1950s, Howard began filling his property with hand-painted signs and objects that expressed his views on the contemporary world. Despite local disdain for the site, which Howard called Sorehead Hill, it attracted widespread acclaim. In 1968 Howard’s signs were featured in artist Gregg Blasdel’s influential Art in America essay, “The Grass-Roots Artist,” and later, in exhibitions at the Walker Art Center in Minneapolis and the Philadelphia College of Art. In the 1970s, the Kansas City Art Institute purchased a major collection of works by Howard and became the steward of his signs after his death in 1983.

In 2016 the Kansas City Art Institute in partnership with Kohler Foundation, Inc., transferred 187 objects from its collection to the John Michael Kohler Arts Center. The eighty signs, six sculptures, and over fifty archival documents joined twelve signs already in the collection. The Arts Center received two additional Howard signs in 2017.