Jann A Terral: Artist and Educator In memoriam (1949-2009)
Jann Albrecht Terral was one of the four artists that I interviewed for the Pioneer in our senior year at Newman. She unfortunately died from pancreatic cancer at the age of 59 after a long career as an artist and arts educator in Mississippi. She earned two graduate degrees at Mississippi College and was recognized by the Governor of Mississippi for her achievement in integrating arts into the curriculum in Mississippi public schools.
I am grateful to her brother, Dr. "Buddy" Terral, Jann's mother, Lylen "Mitty" Terral, and her daughter, Dr. Lylen Ferris, for sharing their memories about Jann and locating photos of her work. Buddy is a practicing pediatrician in Covington, and Lylen is a naturopathic physician on the West Coast. Mitty is an artist and sculptor in Covington. I also want to express my appreciation to classmates Flip Frank, Valerie Schurman, Jay Kaplan, and Richie Cahn for talking with me about Jann and sharing photos.
When I interviewed Jann in 1967, I felt the same curiosity then that I feel now about what had led to the presence of so many talented people in our small class. During our talk, Jann, who entered Newman in the ninth grade, let me know that she had always been interested in art because her mother was a painter. When I talked with her mother, she stated that she and Jann had always shared a lifelong mutual interest in art. As she said, "We would sit and draw when she was little." Buddy remembered that their mother took a summer art class at Newcomb and that he and Jann were placed in the Newcomb summer camp. Jann and her mother took art courses together in Mississippi and North Carolina, and later on they took painting trips together overseas, including to the Greek Islands and the Amalfi Coast.
Jann herself had recently become very interested in the artistic work she was engaged in at Newman. She viewed art as "enjoyable, inspirational, and always interesting because there is something new to learn." She felt that Newman was not stimulating to creativity, and she recommended that the school should require everyone to take at least one year of art. Among other artists, Jann liked Toulouse-Lautrec because "his work is so alive and colorful and shows his love of life and people." She liked working with oils, pastels, and especially with wood. Jann was planning to major in art in college and was considering a career in commercial art.
Jann Terral in her senior year.
Jann in her senior year at Newman, pictured with her artwork.
Jann as a cheerleader at a Newman football practice.
Jann's brother Buddy said that Jann loved her class at Newman and loved her time there. She made close friends and stayed in touch with them her whole life. She moved to New Orleans from Farmerville when she was five years old and Buddy was four and their father, Dr. William Carter Terral, wanted to complete a residency in pediatrics at Charity Hospital.
Jann and Buddy attended a public school and then a Lutheran school, and each of them started at Newman in the ninth grade. Classmate Valerie Schurman recalled that she and Jann carpooled together to choir every weekend because they both lived on the West Bank. She remembers Jann as kind, gracious, and cheerful. They were in art class together with Mr. Wolfe. Valerie said that the class was the highlight of her time at Newman and maybe Jann's too.
As she planned, Jann went on to earn a BFA in Studio Art from Sophie Newcomb College, graduating in 1971. Her focus at Newcomb was printmaking. Below is an example of a lithograph done during college.
Lithograph entitled "Old Dad," Newcomb, 1971. The interior photo is of Jann's paternal grandfather, called "Old Dad" by the grandkids.
When she was a freshman at Newcomb, she met her future husband, Grey Flowers Ferris. Grey was enrolled in law school at Tulane, and they were considered the "golden couple" on the Tulane campus. They married in June 1970.
Although trained as an attorney, Grey left the law when his father became very ill, and he moved back to manage the Ferris family farm outside of Vicksburg. Jann and Grey had three children: Lylen, Jason, and Shelby. Grey was a farmer, served as Mississippi State Senator, and was a longtime advocate for public education. As Chairman of the Senate Education Committee he was the author of the Mississippi Adequate Education Act of 1997. Jann described her life with him as "an adventure"
Jann and Grey with their three children, Lylen, Jason, and Shelby.
Jann attended graduate school at Mississippi College, a private university in Clinton, Mississippi, where she earned two MA degrees, one in Art Education and one in Administration. Working as both artist and educator, she had a goal of integrating art into the curriculum of the Mississippi public schools. She developed an "arts in the curriculum" project called Project ABC, Arts in the Basic Curriculum at Beechwood Elementary School. Project ABC expanded and was implemented in at least a hundred schools in the state.
Her daughter Lylen described how proud Jann was of teaching art in the very impoverished elementary schools in their area. At the end of the school year she would curate an art exhibit, which included framing each child's work. Every child had a painting in the exhibit, and Jann invited the children and their parents to a celebratory opening with food and drink.
According to Randy Jolly, a retired public school art teacher and Director of the Samuel Marshall Gore Art Galleries at Mississippi College, who was quoted in her obituary, Jann was interested in how children learn, and she used the arts as "another way to help children grasp the big concepts of reading, writing and arithmetic--and build their thinking skills." Jolly described Jann as a "loving and caring arts educator," saying she was an innovator and an inspiration for many people in this state.
Jann's program contributed to the expansion of the Mississippi Art Commissions's Whole Schools Initiative. The program won the Governor's Award for Excellence in the Arts in 1998, and became a national model.
Lylen also described how there were always art supplies around the home when they were growing up. Jann communicated the sense that there were no wrong experiments in art. She had a kiln in the basement at the farm which she used to make clay beads. Lylen also said that Jann "was great on the loom" and always had two to three looms going at one time. Their family had a project whereby Grey would shear the sheep on the farm, and they would wash, spin, and weave the wool.
Woven wall hanging.
Wool blanket woven with silk ribbons. Shown with closeup of the weave.
Jann was known in the community as a painter, textile artist, and jewelry designer. She exhibited at The Attic Gallery in Vicksburg, and she served as president of the Mississippi Craftsman Guild. Her one-woman show, "Freefall into Grace," was exhibited in 2007 at the Mississippi Museum of Art. The owner of The Attic Gallery, Lesley Silver, was quoted in Jann's obituary as saying that Jann "lived her life with grace and creative beauty." During her three-year illness she carried pen and paper with her wherever she went, and those pen and ink drawings were featured in the exhibit, "Freefall into Grace." Her daughter Lylen said that Jann called these her "doodles." These drawings "flowed out of her' and helped her to cope with chemotherapy and with cancer-related pain.
Freefall into Grace.
Jann's "doodles," drawings that helped her to cope with cancer-related pain and treatment.
Later works of Jann's. Pastel.
After Jann started teaching in the public schools, she pivoted to sketching and painting, including acrylic and pastel. Her youngest daughter Shelby became ill with anorexia when she was a teenager, and Jann and Shelby worked together in art therapy. In the mid-1990s when Shelby was creating art as part of her therapy, she painted huge pieces of paper with acrylic paint, ripped them up, and created images with them. Jann also engaged in collage work at that time; her technique was more controlled as she painted paper with watercolor and cut the shapes to assemble.
Shelby died from complications of anorexia in 1999. To honor her memory, Jann and Grey created the Shelby Ferris Art Therapy Endowment at the University of Mississippi Medical Center in Jackson.
Collages done by Shelby Ferris.
Collage of Jann's done when she was working with Shelby in art therapy.
Jann's father, William Carter Terral, MD, (1925-2009), was a practicing physician for 60 years, until the age of 84. He enlisted in the US Army and was enrolled in medical school during World War II. After the war he was stationed in France for two years, where he served as a physician to US Army troops Jann's mother, Jann, and Buddy joined him for a while, but Jann and Buddy were too young to remember the experience. He completed a pediatric residency at Charity Hospital in New Orleans, He died in 2009 about six months after the loss of Jann.
In addition to her work as an artist and sculptor, Jann's mother, Lylen "Mitty" Terral, was involved in civic affairs and served on the Board of the Metropolitan Crime Commission, which was founded by our classmate Flip Frank's father. The Terrals had a home with a large swimming pol on the newly developed West Bank, and Flip remembered how they always welcomed Jann's friends in their home. The family recently celebrated Mitty's 95th birthday in Covington. Shown below are two of Mitty's sculptures.
Two of Jann's mother's sculptures.
Jann's husband Grey died of metastatic lung cancer at age 62 in June 2008. Jann died a year later in June 2009 at age 59 from pancreatic cancer. After Jann died, the Mississippi Senate and House passed a resolution praising her contributions to the state. They wrote, "Jann's life and public service set the highest standard in all of her many roles, and Mississippians are greatly diminished by her passing." You can click on the "Go" button to the side to read the full resolution in honor of Jann.