Heritage Exhibition
Heritage Exhibition
Carving with Conscience
Wood, a Medium for Expression
Wilson Lee, Jr
Tennessee Tech Appalachian Center for Craft
December 12, 2024 – February 9, 2025
Reception: February 8, 5-7 pm
Since 1965, Tennessee Craft has celebrated, preserved, and promoted the rich histories and techniques of traditional and contemporary craft as handmade art in Tennessee. In partnership with the Lifeworks Foundation, the Tennessee Heritage Craft Fellowship seeks to honor and encourage craft artists who demonstrate excellence, commitment, and a high level of craftsmanship while working within well-established craft traditions.
Artist Wilson Lee, Jr. has been selected as the recipient of the Tennessee Heritage Craft Fellowship in recognition of his outstanding contributions Craft in Tennessee. Born into a family of woodworkers in the Mississippi Delta, Wilson’s work reflects both his rich cultural heritage and his creative spirit. Influenced by the social realities of the Civil Rights Movement, his abstract carvings express powerful statements on themes such as justice, equality, love, and the blues. With each piece, Wilson brings to life the stories with the wood he carves, honoring the past while commenting on the world around him.
“My first steps as a child were toward a bowl of shellac in my father’s shop. The family, including my mother, brother, aunts, and uncles, refinished and repaired antique furniture. After learning the steps to refinishing furniture, woodcarving allowed for more creativity. Woodcarving was a way to comment on the world in which I lived. I started carving at age twelve. The work grew with me, in a changing world, during the time of the Civil Rights Movement. I wanted to capture the spirit of that time in my work. Each work became a statement on what was happening around me.
While earning degrees in Social Science, Public Affairs, and Sociology, I continued to keep the creative spirit alive by developing a style of my own. The work would parallel a forty year career in higher education administration. The abstract expressions still represent the reality of a people struggling in a world for equality. The work touches on religion, blues, marriage, family, spirituality, justice, hate, freedom, and ancestry.
Wood being the medium for this expression, I wonder what stories are to be told. The stories that trees tell. What have they seen? What have they heard? What did they witness? The wood that once lived; lives again in the work. In doing honor to God, I again want to give meaning to that which has lived. The wood speaks to me, and a dance occurs between us. Together we create a work that makes a statement.“
-WIlson Lee, Jr
Video thanks to Nashville PBS’s Arts Break
