Denzil Goodpaster (KY, 1908 – 1995)

Denzil Goodpaster lived in West Liberty, Kentucky, a half mile from where he was born.  He was a farmer, producing tobacco, corn, hay, cattle and sorghum until he stopped at the age of 65 because he got too old.”   He started carving his well known walking sticks – sculptures in the round – in the 1970s when he quit farming.  

Frequent images carved were colorful spiraling snakes, bathing beauties, Dolly Parton, and an occasional nude.  He started his pieces with a hatchet and finished them with a knife.  He also made small carved figures of people and animals.  

There was an exhibition of his art at the Kentucky Folk Art Center in 1996.  His Art is in the Kentucky Folk Art Center, the Milwaukee Art Museum, the Georgia Museum of Art, the American Folk Art Museum, and the Smithsonian Institution-Archives of American Art.*

*Excerpt from Self-Taught, Outsider and Folk Art: A Guide to American Artists, Locations by Betty-Carol Sellen   

Additional Links:

Smithsonian American Art Museum

IntoOutsiderArt