VAM galleries including this work:
Kentucky Museum of Art and Craft | World of the Spirit || VAM Home

Many folk artists are from the rural South, where religion plays a significant role in the culture, and images of the devil are common in folk art. The devil was a frequent subject for Erma “Junior” Lewis.

About the Artist

Erma Lewis Jr., better known as Junior Lewis, grew up in rural Elliott County, near Isonville, Kentucky. He is a cousin of Tim and Leroy Lewis, two brothers who are folk artists. Their grandfather had made chairs in the traditional way, using a draw-knife and a shaving horse to fashion the legs and framework of the chair and hickory bark for the seat.

Junior Lewis took up farming after leaving school in the mid-1960s. Like most farmers, he was “handy”—skilled at fixing things and making things work around the farm. He began carving in 1987, when he first made a devil head out of a block of wood. In addition to devil sculptures, colorful carved walking sticks, and animal sculptures, Lewis created portrayals of scenes from the Bible, setting individually carved figures onto a flat wooden base. His Last Supper is the best known of these works.

Lewis died suddenly of a heart attack in 1999. His work is admired and sought out by collectors of contemporary folk art and continues to be regularly included in folk art exhibitions.

Classroom Ideas

Discussion: Why do you think Lewis chose to carve a boat? How did he use the elements of art in this piece? Is this piece frightening? Does it convey a sense of evil? If not, what does it convey to you? How do the colors used affect your response to it?

Activities: Read “Life Doesn’t Frighten Me” (a poem by Maya Angelou, also available as a book illustrated by Jean-Michel Basquiat). If you read the poem online, draw an illustration or illustrations to go with it. If you read the book, look at the pictures before reading the poem and try to predict what the text will say. Then read the book. Were any of your guesses correct?

Draw a picture of a time when you were very brave. Write or share your story with others when you have finished your drawing.

Links

Read Maya Angelou’s poem “Life Doesn’t Frighten Me” at the Swaraj Institute web site.
[www.swaraj.org/shikshantar/life_mayaangelou.htm]

You’ll find a biography of Junior Lewis and educational resources in Revelations and Reflections of American Self-Taught Artists (PDF format), a guide developed to accompany a Mid-American Arts Alliance ExhibitsUSA exhibition of folk art works relating to religion.
[www.maaa.org/exhi_usa/exhibitions/fully_booked/revelations/pg-revel.pdf]