of families gathering in the front yard and canvases
with crabs scurrying on tops of Old Bay Seasoning
cans. “I always wore Buster Brown shoes,” she says
pointing to the little girl bouncing up the steps of her
grandmother’s house. “We always had chickens running
around and always had to do chores.” One chore
included making sweetgrass baskets. “Gullah culture
is known for rice,” she says, shaking the basket as
women would do as they picked the rice. “Sweetgrass
baskets were used to kick off the dust. This skill
was learned and passed down from generation to
generation; it was a lot of labor, and we learned how
to create.”
During the pandemic, she created by painting every
day. “I was so angry about COVID,” she remembers.
However, it was her daily ritual that changed her and
progressed her art. “When it turns on,” she says of
inspiration, “I’m joyful.”
Rivers had dabbled in painting before but never as
a full-time artist. “I paint in my head, and say, ‘God,
why am I doing that?’” she says. Crediting everything
to her Gullah heritage and ancestors, Rivers’ life is
full of options because of the way she was raised.
“There were always rules and you never talked back.
We learned how to do everything. We were well-disciplined,
and we respected our elders,” she rattles
off what was expected. “I can do all kinds of things
because I learned these things growing up.”
On St. Helena Island, the Gullah Geechee Visitors
76 LAKE OCONEE LIVING | SUMMER 2021