Water Rails & Oil - Historic Mid & South Jefferson County

J ANIS
J OPLIN
Janis Joplin was born in Port Arthur
on January 19, 1943. Joplin’s father worked as
a supervisor for the Texas Company, and she
grew up singing in a church choir. Joplin
attended Thomas Jefferson High School at the
same time Jimmy Johnson was a student
there, and Johnson claimed to have given her
the nickname “beat weeds.”
After an unhappy high school experience,
Joplin enrolled in the University of Texas,
Austin, but did not graduate. Instead she
joined the “beat” movement, and later
was considered a “hippie.” Joplin's alter-native
lifestyle led her to the Haight-Asbury section
of San Francisco and a recording career which
lasted until her death on October 4, 1970,
from an overdose of heroin and alcohol.
Joplin’s most successful album, Pearl
(1971) contained her best-known single
recordings, including “Me and Bobby McGee”
by Kris Kristofferson, and “Mercedes Benz,”
written by Joplin and Michael McClure.
Joplin returned to Port Arthur for the tenth
reunion of her high school graduating class,
despite the fact that “they laughed me out of
class, out of town, and out of the state, man.”
A rock legend and an icon of a generation,
Joplin is one of the most influential musicians
of all time. Her soulful performances and
flamboyant persona continue to engage fans
the world over.
❖
Above: Janis Joplin during a press
conference at her Thomas Jefferson
High School reunion August 15, 1970.
PHOTO BY WATKINS STUDIO, MGC COLLECTION.
Left: Robert Rauschenberg, shown
here in 1999, is a world renowned
contemporary abstract artist. Twenty
one of his works are on view in the
Museum of the Gulf Coast’s
Rauschenberg Gallery.
PHOTOGRAPH COURTESY OF
ELLEN PAGE WILSON.
R OBERT
R AUSCHENBERG
Robert Rauschenberg’s artistic work led a fellow artist to comment, “If this is Modern Art," I quit!” The critic referred to
Rauschenberg's “Neo-Dada” style, a combination of painting and sculpture. Others found Rauschenberg's work more to their liking,
and paid as much as $7 million for his paintings.
Rauschenberg was born in Port Arthur on October 22, 1925. He studied at the Kansas City Art Institute, the Academia Julian
in Paris, and Black Mountain College in North Carolina. He began as an expressionist painter, producing a series of “White
Paintings,” followed by “Black Paintings” and “Red Paintings” series, which combined brush strokes on canvas with threedimensional
objects attached. These additions ranged from photographs to a goat’s head to portions of a bed quilt.
The first living artist to be featured on the cover of TIME magazine, Rauschenberg would become one of the most prolific and
innovative American artists of all time. He bridged the gap between abstract expressionism and pop art with his unique methods
of painting, print making, sculpture, and performance art. In his later years, Rauschenberg made his home in Captiva, Florida,
continuing to create art until his death on May 12, 2008.
Chapter IV ✦ 45