Carl Mackenzie

1905 - 1998

Carl McKenzie was born near Pine Ridge in Wolfe County, Kentucky. As a child, he made animals and small toys. As a young teenager, he worked on a farm near the Red River Gorge and later in a coal mine near Hazard. After quitting the coal mine, he moved back to the Red River Gorge area and took a job driving a truck for a lumber company. All the while, he continued to whittle and carve, producing both utilitarian and decorative items, ranging from letter openers and walking sticks to small sculptures of birds and other animals. In the 1970s, an art dealer noticed McKenzie carving on the front porch of his home near Nada in Powell County, Kentucky, and purchased some of the artist’s pieces. McKenzie had retired from his truck driving job and had begun carving in earnest, and his sculptures soon became highly sought after by collectors across the United States.  McKenzie’s work is diverse. He is well known for re-creating dramatic Biblical scenes, particularly his versions of the Garden of Eden and Noah’s ark. His Devil Family sculptures are especially challenging and ambiguous. He is also known for his flat, stylized bird sculptures and for his carvings of female figures, which depict women in a variety of working roles, including nurses, cleaning ladies, and waitresses. - from The Kentucky Folk Art Center