ANNOUNCEMENT: Jeanine Taylor Folk Art will host LaVon Williams on July 27th from 6-8pm for the opening reception of his new show, I Want to Choose My Seat and Sit Down.

Click here for more details.

​

From professional basketball player to acclaimed carver, LaVon Van Williams, Jr.’s artistic path was wrought with an incessant urge driving him back to his first love, carving. Williams’ bas relief carvings are a culmination of familial influences stretching back generations with roots in Sanford, Fl. Growing up in an artistic household filled with writers, carvers, and illustrators set to the roaring sounds of his father’s extensive jazz record collection supplied an energy that thrust Williams on his creative path, albeit later in life.

​

After the divorce of his parents, Williams moved from Sanford to Colorado with his mother and brother where he was recruited by the University of Kentucky to study and play college basketball. Williams’ basketball career continued after college where he played professionally in the U.K. and Japan.

​

LaVon Van Williams, Jr.’s work has been featured at the Smithsonian Anacostia Museum, the Hickory Museum of Art, New York’s Outsider Art Fair and for his seminal solo 30 year retrospective at the Kentucky Folk Art Center.

​

Click here to view LaVon's carving demo on our YouTube channel.