This was one of the greatest days ever. You remember the post of Angelia and me taking the boys to see the Vital Body Exhibit in Columbia, SC. We had a secret mission as well. Several weeks ago I went to Angelia's house to hang some art. One thing I hung was this AWESOME painting of a chicken. I flipped out. I loved it for the sole reason of the existence of the Reefcup Girls Club and our mascot Benny. I decided I wanted some of this art. Wouldn't it be great to take each of the Reef Cup Girls an original piece of art with Benny painted on it? This is where the story begins.
The artist is known as "The Chicken Man". He is rather famous in South Carolina. His work hangs in the SC Capital as well as the state museum. The Chicken Man is VERY hard to track down. He paints out of his truck and can be found on any given corner in Columbia on any given day. The only way to find him is to go to Columbia, go to a corner that he frequents and start asking people, "Do you know where the Chicken Man is today?" Well, I was BENT on altering the rules. (I know you can't imagine ME, Mrs. Type A, trying to change rules.) I called EVERY gallery in SC that represents his art. I Googled, I Facebooked, I Tweeted. I covered every angle of trying to find the Chicken Man before leaving Greenville so the trip would not be in vain. Body Vital Exhibit be damned!
Twelve hours before departure I am able to contact a "man" who "knows" the Chicken Man and has seen him at such and such corner in the past two days. The "man" says he will drive by the corner and tell Chicken Man I am coming and call me and tell me where he will be. I was SO excited! But the "man" never called back.........
The next morning we departed Greenville with NO information. Going blind. Out to find the ever elusive "Chicken Man". Twenty miles down the road my phone rings. It's a number I don't recognize. I answer.......It's "The MAN". He KNOWS where the Chicken Man is going to be. I have him on the speaker phone and I motion for Angelia to grab a pencil and piece of paper to write the directions. It is at this point where all excitement vanishes. Honest to goodness a comedy writer could not have written a better skit for a sitcom. "You want to take the exit BEFORE downtown Columbia. When you get to the end of the ramp you are going to turn right or left." We were on the phone with "The Man" for at least ten minutes trying to glean SOME sort of valid information. In the end we had maybe four key names of streets as CLUES. We were determined.
You can see from the photos we DID find him. It was SO MUCH FUN! I fell in love with Ernest Lee, The Chicken Man. When we pulled in and started talking to him he said, "You that lady from Greenville they say was lookin' for me?" I showed him various photos of Benny and while we were at Body Vital he painted up a storm for us. (After I ran to Wal Mart and bought him some paint.)
If anyone ever wants to find The Chicken Man, I now have his cell phone number. I'll give it to you if you like.......but honestly the hunt made it much more fun.
Ernest gave each of the boys a painting. Notice in the background the painting are just laying on the ground. I've since learned his paintings are worth MORE if they have some grass and grit dried on them.
Me Ernest and Benny
Angelia and the Chicken Man
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