Stories You Won't Believe (Paperback or Softback)

Lonnie E. Brown was born in Russell Springs, Kentucky, February 28, 1937. Lonnie had three sisters and two younger brothers. His family, along with other relatives and neighbors, got together often and joined in the Kentucky tradition of storytelling. An accomplished musician and golfer, Lonnie enjoys nature, reading, and doing paranormal investigations with Roberta and their friends.

While living in Bowling Green, Kentucky, during the 1970's, among other work, Jill Baker painted the only extant portrait of Thomas Merton done from life. During the 1970's, she illustrated with pen and ink and with block prints, books of poetry for Kentucky poets, Frank Steele, Jim Wayne Miller and Lee Pennington. She illustrated several of Lee Pennington's books and some of his published articles. In 1975, she lived for a year in Florence, Italy, painting the local landscapes, which were later purchased by friends in Kentucky. She attended the Academia di Belle Arti, and exhibited her collages at the Incontro di Stranieri in the Palazzo Strozzi. She was made an official "Kentucky Artist" in 1976. She began to exhibit her large paintings in New York in 1975 in midtown Manhattan galleries, such as Goethe Haus, Automation House and Ward-Nasse Gallery. She was also in group shows and galleries in New York and elsewhere from 1975 onward. In Bowling Green, KY, where she lived, she taught art for the Recreation and Parks Dept. and helped found the Southern KY Guild of Artists and Craftsmen. In l977, working under the auspices of the U.S.I.S., she lived in Seoul, Korea, where she traveled to visit famous South Korean artists, held workshops in Fine Arts. After having traveled throughout the Orient to gain insight into the art of the Orient, she exhibited the resulting artwork, about 50 pieces, in a show at the old U.S. Embassy in Seoul, South Korea, which was received with great success by the public and newspapers in Seoul. In 1979, she moved to New York City to exhibit at Ward-Nasse Gallery and to attend graduate school. She lived in Westbeth, an artist's housing building in Greenwich Village in Manhattan, and in 1980 bought a loft on Broadway, which she owned for 17 years. She earned her M.F.A. degree from Pratt Institute in 1981 in Painting. Meanwhile, she was represented by galleries, such as the Speed Museum in Kentucky, in New York and Texas, and exhibited in juried exhibitions internationally. After graduation from Pratt in 1981, she worked for Institutional Investor, a magazine on Madison Avenue. She continued to be represented by galleries in New York, Louisville, KY and Houston, TX. She was invited to exhibit her work in the American Show at the Palais Royale in Paris. Her graphic work for companies in Kentucky and New York was very much in demand. Besides illustrating articles for Self Magazine and Institutional Investor, she eventually illustrated 14 books, including 3 of her own. From 1982 to 1991, she lived in a Los Angeles loft and painted and exhibited in L.A. galleries. She exhibited her paintings and collages at galleries in Los Angeles, as well as curating and judging numerous art exhibitions. In 2000 she began to work for Vanderbilt as a web designer and graphic illustrator. She also taught art privately in her studio. She taught Art History and Humanities at the University of Phoenix, Nashville Campus from 1996-2001. In 2006 she taught Drawing and Introductory Art for the Art Institute of Tennessee--Nashville, In 2007 she moved to New Harmony, IN, opened a studio there and showed locally. She taught for the Art Department at the University of Southern Indiana, beginning in 2009, and is still on the faculty Jill continued illustrating books, including her own books, My Turn, Poems of Accord and Satisfaction, and Elba Journal, published in 2009. She illustrated books for the Poet Laureate of Kentucky, Lee Pennington in 2016 and 2017. You may see more of her biography in Who's Who In America, current issues of Who's Who in American Art, Marquis' Who's Who of American Women Artists, An Encyclopedia of Twentieth-Century North American Women Artists, Who's Who in the United States (Strathmore), and Female Artists in the United States: a Research and Resource Guide. She is also listed in Community Leaders of America, 1980-2006.