WillIe Massey
(1906-1990) Bowling Green, KY
During the 70 years he worked as a tenant farmer, Willie Massey learned to make things to meet practical needs and to satisfy his creative energy. He began creating sculptures and paintings after his wife's death in 1955. He is well known for his colorful multilevel birdhouses and miniature furniture made from old fruit crates (the furniture being the first objects he made, which he called “tricks”), his tinfoil birds and his airplanes. He died in 1990. His art was included in the exhibitions "African-American Folk Art in Kentucky", "Passionate Visions of the American South", and others. His work is in many permanent collections, including the Birmingham Museum of Art, the Morris Museum of Art and the Kentucky Folk Art Center.
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