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15 Years On: Catching Up with the ‘Overton Park Billboard Girl’

CREDIT: Toby Sells/Jenny Slaver

Toby Sells/Jenny Slaver

Then and now: Jenny Slaver did not know she’d become the ‘MCA billboard girl’ back then and didn’t know the billboard was still up now.

You know Jenny Slaver, even if you don’t know her name. You may even see her every day.

A lock of her blonde bangs obscures one eye, but the other eye is bright, alert, and hopeful, a student’s eye ever-watchful for the future’s horizon. She stands behind a canvas painted with two vases and a colorful bouquet of red, sweet-smelling flowers.

Her no-nonsense, plaid button-up is rolled to the elbows. Paint spatters her jeans. A black hair tie wraps her wrist. It’s clear Jenny Slaver is not afraid to get her hands dirty, to get to work.

Someone else, a classmate maybe, stands behind her in a black hoodie at an easel of their own, but the person’s back is turned away from the camera. But Jenny has turned away from her canvas to look at you, sitting in your car on Sam Cooper as you drive back into Midtown.

And there she’s been. For nearly 15 years, Jenny Slaver has looked from that Memphis College of Art (MCA) billboard at Sam Cooper and East Parkway, greeting you back to town on your travels from all points east.

Toby Sells

The Overton Park billboard at Sam Cooper and East Parkway.

She never knew she’d be on that billboard. When contacted this week, she didn’t know the billboard was still up.

“I’ve been immortalized as a 19-year-old!” Slaver wrote in an email from Atlanta, where she’s learning to weld metal sculpture. ”Yes, its totally weird. But I’m honored to be a tiny part of Overton Park history. Plus side, that billboard reminds old friends to call me every now and then.”
[pullquote-1] Slaver has moved around since her time at MCA, from which she graduated in 2007. She lived for a time on a ranch in Texas but recently sold it to travel. She now resides in “sunny California” but, again, taking some time to learn welding in Georgia.

She’s been busy. She paints, of course, and her work can be found at jennymakesart.com. She’s also an educator and an illustrator, now working on her fourth book.

Kim Robbins

Slaver at work.

Local internet denizens recently wondered ”whatever happened to the MCA billboard girl.” A local source knew her (digitally, anyway) and pointed us to her website. The Flyer contacted Slaver and sent her some questions, which she graciously answered. But there was also one thing Jenny Slaver really wanted Memphians to know. But you’ll have to read on to find out exactly what.

Memphis Flyer: So, you were 19 at the time? When did the billboard go up?

Jenny Slaver: It seems like a lifetime ago, but I was probably around 19, maybe a sophomore in college at MCA. I graduated in 2007, so most likely in 2004. It was so long ago time has escaped me.

MF: Did you know MCA was going to put you on a billboard? How did they approach you about it?

JS: One day I was working on an oil painting in the studio at MCA and a photographer walked by and snapped one photo. I didn’t think much of this, since, well, it is art school so that is a very common occurrence.

Soon after, I was told nonchalantly by administration that there was a photo of me being added to some MCA promotional material, possibly a poster.

I had seen many posters, flyers, and catalogs from the school with many students on them so I didn’t think much of that either … until a few weeks later when I was driving down Sam Cooper and nearly swerved. I was definitely not expecting to be on a billboard. The school did not officially inform me nor compensate me for the image.

MF: What was the response to it at the time?

JS: I was a student ambassador on a full tuition scholarship at the time, so one of my jobs was to go to college fairs around the area to promote the school. It was odd having my own face on the promotional material, slightly embarrassing, but it made for a good story.

Toby Sells

Jenny Slaver on the MCA billboard.

There was definitely a dark side to this, mainly some unwanted attention from men in public places. I was approached many times in public and at school, “Hey aren’t you the Overton Park billboard girl?” Which was fine until several male students frequently began questioning, “Did you even paint that? It looks totally staged. I bet that is someone else’s art,” and so on …

As a female artist, I was no stranger to this behavior but expected more from students in a liberal arts college. It was very frustrating, but I decided to ignore the sexist remarks and move forward with my creative endeavors, unfazed.
[pullquote-3] Let me say for the record that I was surrounded with support from many amazing fellow students of all genders who did not question my abilities based on my gender. It’s just a shame when a handful of creeps try to get to you. Every woman has felt this in some way, sadly.

Memphis College of Art was and is an amazing place full of creative energy and support, and I am honored to have been a small part of its history. My heart aches that MCA will be closing its doors forever soon.

MF: You said you were surprised to know it was still up. You didn’t know? Is that weird to know it’s been up all that time?

JS: I’m surprised it’s been up this long! I’ve been immortalized as a 19-year-old! Yes, it’s totally weird. But I’m honored to be a tiny part of Overton Park history. Plus side, that billboard reminds old friends to call me every now and then.

MF: What are you up to now? Where do you live? What do you do?

JS: As I’m writing this, I’m spending time in Cabbagetown in Atlanta, Georgia, learning to weld metal sculpture. I travel a lot these days, but currently I live and work in sunny southern California.

I am a painter, educator and illustrator. I am working on a new series of botanical oil paintings, and I am just finishing up my fourth book (illustrator, not the author) about a day in the life of a little girl living in South Sudan. A portion of proceeds from the book will go to drill water wells in the war-torn villages of South Sudan.

Jenny Slaver/jennymakesart.com

A sample of Slaver’s recent work.

You can check me out on Instagram @Jenny_Makes_Art or my website jennymakesart.com for more info.

MF: Your art looks amazing online. How would you describe it for someone who hasn’t seen it?

JS: My paintings are motivated by nature as inspiration, typically very vibrant and expressive. I want to reveal the poetic moments I feel in nature to create work that is full of life and visual pleasure. I love to experiment with different mediums and textures in my work, letting the feel of the material shine through.

MF: Tell me a little about your work with horses.

JS: I lived on a ranch in Texas for several years and just recently sold it so I could travel. It was a bold move, but wanderlust was calling.

Jenny Slaver/Instagram

Slaver stands on a horse.

In the future I hope to plant my roots again with a few horses. But for now I’m on the road with my Husky, Skye, and the love of my life, Jason.

Horses are my muse, they will always be a big part of me. I ride whenever I can and still have one beautiful rescue mare back home in Texas that my mom, Charlotte, cares for with all her heart.

MF: Anything you want to tell the many thousands of Memphians who see/have seen you every day?

JS: Yes, I painted that (piece of art on the billboard)! And I hope you all are encouraged to create, too. Now, go make art!

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News The Fly-By

Fly on the Wall

Yowch!

A cringe-inducing press release from PRWeb: “Relieved when his doctor told him his cancerous testicle could be successfully removed, a Los Angeles man opted for the potentially lifesaving surgery. When he awoke after the procedure, he was devastated to discover that surgeons had mistakenly removed his good testicle and then later removed the one with cancer.” The press release was created to promote LifeWings Partners LLC, a Memphis-based company that teaches aviation-based safety techniques that — apparently — can save your testicles.

Reviews are In

If you only get to see one movie’s promotional swag this summer, you’ve got to see Hot Rod‘s.

To promote its new comedy about a stuntman who’s so inept he can’t even grow a proper mustache, Paramount Pictures is sending journalists sets of Rod Kimble underoos. Note to Paramount: more please, and in plus sizes.

Sign from God

And it came to pass that Elvis, the King of Rock-and-Roll, the one who swiveled his hips for our pleasure and died before his time on the old, rugged potty, continued to work his miracles from beyond the grave. Recently, in Dublin, Ireland, after the appearance of a mysterious billboard featuring Elvis’ image, and nothing more, a local blogger called the billboard’s owner to find out what, exactly, the sign meant. “Thank you for your comments on our Elvis billboard,” the blogger was told by the sign’s owner. “I am a lifelong fan. I was very ill in the hospital some time ago and Elvis appeared to me in a dream, and he told me I would get better. He was speaking from a large billboard, and my sign is to thank him and commemorate the event so that he may help others.” Selah.

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Cover Feature News

Postscript

“‘If Loving You Is Wrong’ sealed Stax’s distribution deal with CBS Records,” Eric Ingram proudly notes, describing Luther Ingram’s rise from Ike Turner’s opening act to Southern soul superstar.

The main act on Johnny Baylor’s KoKo Records — picked up as a Stax subsidiary when Baylor, a former Army Ranger and reputed member of the Black Mafia, came to Memphis to act as a strong arm for the label’s artists — Luther Ingram was born in Jackson, Tennessee, and raised in Alton, Illinois, where he sang in church and formed a family group called the Gardenias. After a dead-end deal with Decca Records, he struck gold with songs such as “Pity for the Lonely,” “My Honey and Me,” “Always,” “Do You Love Somebody,” and “Ain’t That Loving You (For More Reasons Than One)” during his KoKo era, which lasted from 1968 to ’78.

“KoKo was supposed to be equal to — if not better than — Motown,” Eric explains today. “My father wanted to be part of that, but he hooked up with a bunch of crooks, and it all went south.”

Case in point: “If Loving You Is Wrong,” which was originally written by Stax staff songwriters Homer Banks, Raymond Jackson, and Carl Hampton and recorded (but never released) by the Emotions. “The title was there, and a song had been written before my father got to it,” Eric confirms. “But it was up-tempo, and it had different words. When it was given to my father, he took it home and sat on the porch with my uncle Gene, working on it for hours. He changed the whole song around, but he never got credit for that.”

In ’72, the same year that “If Loving You Is Wrong” soared up the Billboard charts, the FBI detained Baylor, who was holding $130,000 in cash and a check from Stax Records for half-a-million dollars, at the Birmingham airport. The IRS seized the funds, spearheading an investigation that would eventually bring Stax to its knees. But for the time being, it was business as usual, and Luther continued his association with KoKo for several more years.

Fast-forward a few decades to when Eric hired attorney Fred Davis to regain ownership of his father’s songs. “So far, we’ve gotten 26 of them back,” he reports. “Some of them are really good songs — some are Top 20 songs — but “If Loving You Is Wrong” became such a monster that it drowned most of them out. I plan to bring them out as new songs with new artists. Of course, my dad had that unique voice. But I’ve got some good singers that he’d given the thumbs-up to.”

Just 69 years old, Luther Ingram died of heart failure on March 19th, following an extended bout with diabetes and kidney disease.

Eric is currently developing a feature film called If Loving You Is Wrong. “It’s a combination of Fatal Attraction and What’s Love Got To Do With It,” he says. “When I first heard that song, I was only 8 or 8 years old, and everybody wanted to know if that was happening with my family. They thought my father was having a three-way love affair. But it was actually happening with somebody my father knew. The movie’s story is about the song — about infidelity — rather than about my father, although I’ve got so many stories from him about what happened back in the day that I want to do a Stax Records story as well.”

On March 26th, Luther Ingram was buried at Mount Carmel Cemetery in Bellevue, Illinois. For more information about his career, visit LutherIngramMusic.net.