The life of Lallah: a tribute to Mississippi artist Lallah Perry is set for April in Jackson.

Inspiration is the influence exerted directly on the mind and soul of humankind. Acclaimed Mississippi artist Lallah Perry has achieved this definition in all aspects of her life. To paint the portrait of her life, each stroke would be unique yet interwoven to create an exquisite picture that would not be considered "cute" but technically sound. "She does a piece of artwork for the pure joy of doing it," says Glenn Sanford, owner of Southern Breeze Gallery in Jackson, where a retrospective of Perry's work will be on display April 10-23.

The colorful part of Perry's life is the established artist she has become. She studied with artists including Marie Hull and Homer Casteel, and over the years, her artistic style has evolved from expressionistic "mood" pieces to vividly colored semi-abstract works. "I have explored many media--oils, watercolor, acrylic, and mixed combinations, enjoying the process of making pieces, and making comments rather than recording events and scenes," she says.

Perry's pictures hang all over the world, stimulating the minds and emotions of people from all walks of life during exhibitions at such noteworthy places as the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C., and the U.S. Embassy in Morocco. Her paintings have also hung in the Birmingham Museum of Art, the Delgado Museum in New Orleans, the High Museum in Atlanta, the Brooks Museum in Memphis, and the Society of the Four Arts in West Palm Beach, Florida.

The enriching part of her life is her background of service as an educator. She has taught art in the Choctaw Indian Schools, at Delta State University, and at Meridian Community College. There is a wealth of knowledge in this woman, from history of our nation to history of Mississippi. She is an intriguing person who is aware of her surroundings and history and how if affects her. "I am one of those who can remember exactly where I was when the news of Pearl Harbor came, when I heard F.D.R.'s fireside chats, heard ... Martin Luther King's 'I Have a Dream' speech ... too much history, but history needs to be remembered," Perry says.

Lallah Perry has always been her own woman, not letting any circumstance stand in her way. She has always stood by what she believed, even if no one stood with her. She has a sketchbook full of drawings she created while sitting in a Philadelphia courtroom following the deaths of three civil rights workers, and she was instrumental in reorganizing the Mississippi Art Colony in February 1964 after a fire at Allison's Wells destroyed the group's original home. She was the first interim director of the colony and introduced the custom of putting the colony artists' work together as a traveling exhibit.

"I remind myself of that line from Don Quixote where he 'jumped on his horse and rode madly off in all directions,'" Perry says.

Along with Perry's two daughters Margaret and Pippa, Southern Breeze Gallery manager Bill Jones, and gallery owner Sanford, Mississippians are invited to pay tribute to this woman, now in her late 70s, and her life's work. An artist's reception will take place at Southern Breeze Sunday, April 10, from 1:30-4:30 p.m.

To view Lallah Perry's work and for more details on the gallery tribute, call 601/982-4222 or see www.southernbreeze.net.