Louisville, Kentucky

My definition of Folk Art would be work created by an individual who is self-taught and not following schools of art or style. It’s art that comes from a desire to express what the artist sees and feels in a lively and colorful manner. It is also utilitarian objects like weather vanes that are crafted with fun and whims. I’m not exactly a Folk Artist, I have had too much formal training. With the whirly-gigs and wooden objects I build, I am completely self-taught. I have never had any training in woodworking.

Folk Art has had a profound influence on the whirly-gigs and other objects I build, especially Mexican Folk Art, primarily from the Oaxaca region. I love the color, fantasy and detail in the sculptures, especially the animals, the fantastic beings and the magical figures like dancing skeletons. Several years ago a co-worker gave me a National Geographic magazine featuring Mexican Folk Art and I was entranced. Another type of Folk Art that influences my work are funerary coffins from Ghana. I love the colorful, fantastically shaped coffins that tell the world what the deceased did in life or was interested in.