{"person":[{"sourceId":{"label":"Source ID","value":"3374"},"lastName":{"label":"Last Name","value":"Bowlin"},"endDate":{"label":"Death Date","value":"1995"},"displayName":{"label":"Name","value":"Loy Bowlin"},"objects":{"label":"Objects","value":{"objectTitle":"Untitled","objectNumber":"2024.12.1","objectID":"9181"}},"geographyDied":{"label":"Died","value":["McComb",""]},"biography":{"label":"Biography","value":"From his embellished blue 1967 Cadillac to his bejeweled dentures, Loy Bowlin made everything in his life dazzle. This included his small house in McComb, Mississippi, which he called the Beautiful Holy Jewel Home, every inch of which was painted and patterned with glitter, construction-paper cutouts, and Christmas ornaments hung from the ceiling year-round. The sparkling transformation of the ordinary objects in his day-to-day life, including his Western-style polyester outfits festooned as grandly as Hollywood Nudie suits, was part of his metamorphosis into the self-anointed Original Rhinestone Cowboy.Locals got to know Bowlin as he drove around in his distinctive car\u2014its hood crowned with a pair of longhorns\u2014and danced, played his harmonica, and sold autographed photographs at area fairs and flea markets. (\u201cThe teeth are what really get people,\u201d he once said.) Few likely knew that this boisterous persona was a response to a particularly low point. Born in 1909 in Franklin County, Mississippi, he grew up on a ranch and later had a hardscrabble life as a farmer. A divorce and a bout of depression made him feel isolated. As he related, \u201cI was layin\u2019 on my bedside just as lonesome as I could be. I was by myself and so lonesome the tears just come in my eyes. . . . I prayed and said, \u2018Lord, give me something to make me happy.\u2019\u201d The answer came in a song, the 1975 Glen Campbell hit \u201cRhinestone Cowboy,\u201d especially the lyrics \u201cBut I\u2019m gonna be where the lights are shinin\u2019 on me / Like a rhinestone cowboy.\u201dSign painter Paul Maurer regularly helped Bowlin realize his dream by performing such tasks as painting portraits of Bowlin and magnolias\u2014the state flower of Mississippi\u2014on the suit jackets. In the mid-1980s, when his energy for traveling declined, Bowlin mostly spent time on his house and creating smaller works, including geometric patterns on paper with aluminum foil, markers, and, of course, glitter. When he died, in 1995, the future of his kaleidoscopic home was uncertain. It was saved from potential demolition by artist and collector Katy Emde, with the requirement that it be removed from the property, and was acquired by the Kohler Foundation in 1998. The entire house was disassembled and relocated to Sheboygan, Wisconsin, many miles from where it was first envisioned but still shining with Bowlin\u2019s optimism that a few plastic rhinestones could bring light into the darkness.Allison C. Meier, 2025Text written as part of \u201cRethinking Biography,\u201d an initiative supported by the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS)."},"geographyActive":{"label":"Active","value":["McComb",""]},"geographyBorn":{"label":"Born","value":["McComb",""]},"beginDate":{"label":"Birth Date","value":"1909"},"firstName":{"label":"First Name","value":"Loy"},"primaryMedia":{"value":"https://collection.folkartmuseum.org/internal/media/dispatcher/27444/full"},"names":{"label":"Names","value":["Loy Bowlin","The Original Rhinestone Cowboy","Loy Allen Bowlin"]},"displayDate":{"label":"Date","value":"(1909\u20131995)"},"id":{"label":"Id","value":"151702"}}]}