Vernon Burwell

A former railroad worker whose post-retirement sculptural hobby developed into a garden of painted and gilded cement figures, from local and national Black culture and history. Although the softly spoken artist’s environment no longer exists, a few examples of his sculptures, which numbered only a few hundred, can still be found in important American collections.

Collections: High Museum (Atlanta); Gregg Museum (North Carolina)
Exhibitions: Passionate Visions (1994), NOMA (New Orleans); Here and There (1988), MOMA (NY)
Publications: Self-Taught, Outsider and Folk Art (2016), BC Sellen; Souls Grown Deep (2000), J Williams & W Arnett.