VAM galleries including this work:
Kentucky Folk Art Center | How’d They Do That? | World of the Spirit || VAM Home

Religion is an important subject for many Kentucky folk artists. Tim Lewis carved this work from a single piece of limestone.

About the Artist

Tim Lewis was born and raised in Isonville, Kentucky. (His cousin Erma “Junior” Lewis is also a folk artist.) After graduating from high school, Tim spent six years in the Army. Following his military service, he worked at a variety of jobs and lived in several states. After returning to his native Elliot County, he worked in coal, logging, oil drilling, and heavy machinery.

In 1988, Lewis began crafting walking sticks and quickly gained the attention of the folk art community. His sticks are made from young trees. He turns the tree upside-down and interprets the root structure, removing all or part of it to create subjects ranging from simple snakes to space shuttles to the mythological character Medusa. In 1989, Lewis began carving stone. He has since worked with a variety of media, including coal.

Lewis has had several public art commissions, including a stick that was reproduced in cast iron to form vertical sections of a tree guard on Main Street in Louisville in 1993. In 1996, he was commissioned to produce a sculpture from concrete that was installed on a bridge as part of a public art project related to the Olympic Games in Atlanta.

Classroom Ideas

Discussion: Is this sculpture a good depiction of the story of Adam and Eve? Do you notice pattern or texture in this sculpture? How does the texture change throughout the piece? Why do you think the artist chose to use stone? What difficulties might he have encountered while working with this medium? Compare this depiction of Adam and Eve to Edgar Tolson’s Temptation in the University of Kentucky Art Museum gallery and to Ronald Cooper’s sculpture of Samson and Delilah in the Kentucky Folk Art Center gallery.

Research limestone and the process of carving it. What tools are used? How long does it usually take to make a sculpture out of limestone?

Activity: Create a Styrofoam bas-relief sculpture depicting a scene from a familiar story. Use a marker to draw your image onto Styrofoam or oasis. Using carving tools, carefully carve away the unwanted parts of the foam. After the carving is complete, coat your sculpture with a thin layer of plaster or wood glue, then top it with a thin layer of sand for a unique look.

Links

Visit the Shelton Gallery for a biography of Lewis and images of his works.
[www.sheltongallery.com/catalog/Fine_Art50.html]

Learn more about the stone-carving process at Walter S. Arnold’s Stone Carver site.
[www.stonecarver.com/carvtool.html]