Jeff Williams was born near Salemburg, NC the eleventh of fourteen children and was sent to live with grandparents when he was eight. A poor student in school, he told his grandfather that D’s and F’s meant “doin’ fine.” Williams quit school and worked odd jobs after his grandparents had died and he had his “years of ramblin'” and for one year lived in NYC where he saw art in galleries and thought he might like to carve someday.
He returned home and moved in to a shed next to his father’s shade tree mechanics garage. It would be in a fit of anger that he first started carving wood and “…the madness inside me just started fading away…I just put it in the wood…” he said.
William benefitted from his association with the collector Robert Lynch, and Lynch promoted Williams in NYC. After Lynch’s death, William’s productivity declined.*
*Bio from North Carolina Wesleyan’s Publication on Lynch Collection of Outsider Art
Additional Links:
North Carolina Wesleyan Publication
