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Edgar Towson was born in 1904 in Clay City. He worked as a carpenter, stonemason and preacher. After a stroke in his 50’s he turned to woodcarving. VISTA workers surveying Appalachian craftsmen as part of the Johnson Era War of Poverty, discovered his work and included him in the Grassroots Craftsmen, a cooperative that assisted Appalachian craftspeople in selling their work. This brought him to the attention of a curator at the Smithsonian Institution and his work was included in the Smithsonian’s Festival of American Folklife in 1968. While carvings of animals and walking canes were the bulk of his work, he is best known for his carvings of Adam and Eve and other biblical themes. He has since become one of the most celebrated Appalachian wood carvers. The Edgar Towson Folk Art Library is a space provided by the Kentucky Folk Art Center and Morehead State University in Morehead, KY.
Edgar is constructed and dressed in recycled wool. He is stuffed with recycled denim, and stands approximately 12” tall.
Edgar Towson was born in 1904 in Clay City. He worked as a carpenter, stonemason and preacher. After a stroke in his 50’s he turned to woodcarving. VISTA workers surveying Appalachian craftsmen as part of the Johnson Era War of Poverty, discovered his work and included him in the Grassroots Craftsmen, a cooperative that assisted Appalachian craftspeople in selling their work. This brought him to the attention of a curator at the Smithsonian Institution and his work was included in the Smithsonian’s Festival of American Folklife in 1968. While carvings of animals and walking canes were the bulk of his work, he is best known for his carvings of Adam and Eve and other biblical themes. He has since become one of the most celebrated Appalachian wood carvers. The Edgar Towson Folk Art Library is a space provided by the Kentucky Folk Art Center and Morehead State University in Morehead, KY.
Edgar is constructed and dressed in recycled wool. He is stuffed with recycled denim, and stands approximately 12” tall.