Jim and I are thrilled to have the opportunity to present the outstanding woodcarvings of Folk artist, LaVon Van Williams, Jr., in conjunction with The Art Exchange. LaVon's work is one of the more exciting discoveries in our twenty years of offering the finest work by 19th and 20th century American Folk and Outsider artists. We have received excellent response to LaVon's work in the Outsider Art Fair in New York. His carvings have been acquired by several prominent national collectors, including a member of the Museum of Folk Art's Board of Trustees and a Director of a fine museum.
  LaVon is a fifth generation woodcarver who lives in Kentucky.  His grandmother was a quilt maker.  His extended family resided in coastal South Carolina and Northern Florida, where he was born and raised.  He also lived in Denver during his high school years, where he became interested in the African-American “Buffalo” soldiers of the Post-Civil War era.  He then attended University of Kentucky where he was a star basketball player but did not pursue an art education.
  LaVon’s sensitivity to his heritage and his love of music, particularly jazz, country and the blues,  infuse vitality into his colorful, well designed, and spiritually-charged carvings.

Awards:
Kentucky Governor’s Awards in the Arts, 2006

 Selected Exhibitions:
Intuit, Chicago, Keny Galleries, 2004-2007;

Martin Luther King Center, Columbus, Ohio, 2004, Group Exhibition;

The Outsider Art Fair, New York, Keny Galleries, 2000-2007;

Keny Galleries, Columbus, Ohio, Recent Woodcarvings, January 19-February 9, 2001;
(In conjunction with The Art Exchange);

COLOR: The National Black Fine Art Exposition, Chicago, 2000;

Keny Galleries, Columbus, Ohio, African-American Masters, January 14-February 12, 2000;
(In conjunction with The Art Exchange)

The Martin Luther King, Jr. Performing and Cultural Arts Complex, Columbus, Ohio, 
Group Exhibition, 1999

Kentucky Folk Art Center, Moorehead, Kentucky, African-American Folk Art, spring 1999

Southern Ohio Museum, Portsmouth, OH, Heart and Soul: Sculpture by LaVon Van Williams, Jr., 
November 12-December 30, 1999

Kentucky Folk Art Center, Moorehead, Kentucky, African-American Exhibition, 1998

National Afro-American Museum and Cultural Center, Wilberforce, Ohio, When the Spirit Moves: 
African American Art Inspired by Dance, (traveled throughout the United States), 1998-2001