Fred Webster

Fred Webster began carving around l976 after retiring from a career as a school teacher and high school principal.  He was born in 1911 in Fayette County, Alabama and lived there all of his life.  After exploring numerous hobbies such as painting and ceramics, he settled on carving as his favorite activity. He had a severe loss of hearing and enjoyed staying busy with his hands.  During his twenty years of creating folk art, he never swayed from his original intent to create for fun.  He never rushed his process, thus his works are rather rare. 

At first, Webster carved single horses, deer, chickens and human figures from wood that he gathered himself, mostly cedar wood with no knots. Then, after several years, he began using straight grain bass wood that he purchased.  He carved more complicated groups of figures and scenes depicting his favorite Bible stories such as Jacob's Dream, Noah's Ark, Adam and Eve and Jonah and the Whale.  He was especially fond of creating fanciful scenes with angels, devils  and of groups of people handling snakes, a religous custom from his rural area.  He also carved well-known figures from his area, Bear Bryant and George Wallace.   He said his inspiration came from the things he saw, both in life and from photographs.  In l996 Fred Webster stopped carving due to a decline in his health and losing his sight.   He died a few years later.

--Marcia Weber

Available Works