She was a prolific artist from western Kentucky, a native of Graves County.

She never had any formal training.

Yet her works, often referred to as memory paintings, received widespread acclaim, gaining attention from the likes of Oprah Winfrey and Bryant Gumbel.

For this week's Tapestry segment, our Laura Rogers takes us to the Paducah School of Art and Design, where the Helen LaFrance collection is currently on display.

I cannot believe she would paint herself into some of the paintings in a red dress.

She's the Easter egg in this painting in the corner.

Rhonda McCaughey Smith reflecting on her favorite, Helen LaFrance painting.

It symbolizes so much of what African-American churches did.

It evokes memories.

Memories like this one.

My next favorite are the three little girls in the bed.

Cause when we'd go to Arkansas, to our cousins, I think it'd be ten of us in a bed.

MCCORRY Smith is president of the Paducah Historical Preservation Group, who one day received an urgent phone call.

Don't you all save African-American history?

So we're trying to get started.

The caller informed.

MCCORRY Smith, A collection of Helen LaFrance paintings were going up for auction.

We don't have that kind of money, so I don't know what we can do, but we'll see what we can do.

What they did was gain community support and investment, raising close to $100,000 to purchase 14 of Helen's pieces.

What I see about Ms.. Helen's work, when I look at it, it just brings back memories of the community that we lived in.

Wanda Stubblefield was a friend and relative of Helen's who says she was modest about her talent.

She never was one to boast, to brag about things, but she knew.

She had such an incredible creative spirit.

Jane Moore Waldroup had the opportunity to interview Helen and curate one of her art shows.

I just kept thinking about her story and the way she documented rural western Kentucky life.

That life spanning decades from 1919 to her death in 2020.

She paid such attention to the details of life during her very long life.

Earlier this year, Waldrop published a children's book on Helen's life and legacy, where her.

Mother was trained in Europe.

Her mother helped her start to draw, helped her make paints and pigments from natural items like BlackBerry plants and dandelion plants.

She knew the story of this self-taught artist from Western Kentucky.

What make an inspirational story for young children.

Sometimes, you know early on what your path in life might look like.

Helen, a recipient of the Kentucky Folk Art Heritage Award as an inspiration to many young artists.

The collection is currently housed at the Paducah School of Art and Design.

It's to teach.

And so hopefully they'll learn from this art and it'll be shared for generations to come.

I think there's a lot of truthfulness to our art artwork.

Randy Simmons is the acting gallery director and like Helen was raised in Great County.

I relate to it and I would think that most people in this area can relate to Helen's work, especially the rural aspect.

There's such an honesty approach to her work that I absolutely love.

She saw 100 years of history from a child to when she passed, and so her collection, her paintings, reflect 100 years of history in Western Kentucky.

For Kentucky Edition, I'm Laura Rogers.

Thank you, Laura.

Helen La Frances paintings will be on display in the library at the Paducah School of Art and Design for the next week.

The Paducah Historical Preservation Group says the long term goal is to establish a black history museum in western Kentucky.