Private collections

11"x6"

In the 60’s some of us did not really like dark skinned Negroes. In 1968, I was invited to enter a Black History Art Show in my High School. This was one of the works I entered. The works won first place and my picture appeared in the local newspaper. I loved the fame. My career as an artist had started.  In this work I wanted to create a piece dedicated to dark shin sisters who I thought were beautiful. Dark skin with an afro became my Afro Queen. 

11”x5” 

In the early 1970’s we were wearing afro’s and corn rows, we had big lips, big noses, tight fists, and pride in our walk, our talk, our very being. This new found freedom is presented in this work. If I am free, I can look anyway I want to, and not face discrimination. This work is from walnut and was carved in 1971.

9”x5”

This piece is one of the very early first works. This piece was created around 1967. It was made from a piece of wood from my father’s shop. This piece is actually my third work. The first piece was a canoe, second is a very small wall hanging, and this is the third, but first three dimensional work. It is carved from a walnut tree in our back yard.

44”x12”

While at Mississippi Valley State University in 1972, a house burned down in Itta Bena. I got a piece of wood from the ruins of that house and carved this piece of work. It is dedicated to all of the maids who rode in the back of the car on their way to clean houses. They fed the family, we washed the clothes, they kept secrets about the families, but they could not ride in the front seat of the car. They stood proud in simple beauty.

75”x7”

These pieces are untitled works from the late 70’s and early 80’s. The wood came from my father’s shop. It is oak, very hard and a joy to carve. Over the years I have never been able to find a name that properly fits these works. The man extends from a drum while the female image is pregnant, with a man and woman inside. In the early works all of the ladies were pregnant. 

76”x40”

  They hung him in the name of Justice. Justice for who? Justice for those who hung him, or Justice for Him, or Justice for the world?  What is justice is not always justice. This work is from the 1980’s. It is created from walnut and oak.

7”x3”

While this piece is called “First Piece”, it was not the very first carving. The first piece was a canoe that I have not been able to find. The piece is made from gum, and came from my father’s shop.

40”x9”

The wood from this piece of work came from around the side of my grandmother’s house. She lived in a two room shotgun house. Around the side of it were planks used to walk on to keep you from having to walk in the mud. There were two planks and I carved both of them in the same year. This work is from 1973-74.

19”x4”

A companion piece to Cypress Mother. I used to display both of these works at the same time calling it ‘Cypress Mother and Child”. This piece of wood is from the side of my grandmother’s house. It originally was part of the plank used for Cypress Mother. It was carved during 1973-74.

29”x4”

A simple work created in the late 1980’s. I had returned from living in Louisiana and wanted to do something with the mystery. The original work another piece that was created around the same time was called Voodoo Spirit. I sold that and have kept the companion piece for years.

It is made from oak.

46”x9"x3"

This piece of cypress lay in the yard for ten years before I started to carve it. I knew I wanted to carve the wood, but could not get the concept down. On the front side of the work I wanted the slaves coming to America. The song I heard in church referring to the Old Ship of Zion. I imagined a slave ship named Zion.  The other side of the work represents the Haitians coming to America. 

22”x21”

The Tree of Eternal Life was created as part of my dedication to religion. In this piece the people all look toward the cross as a symbol of life everlasting. While we will have trouble here in this life, we believe that life after this life will be trouble free if we believe in God. The cross is the answer to all of our problems. Through it we are able to make it through our daily challenges. There is nothing God can’t do. 

The wood is walnut from my father’s shop.

35”x14”

This work was created in time for a festival in Atlanta. It is from the works created during the summer of 2007.  It is made from walnut and is a double sided work, showing the female on one side and the male image on the other side.  This work is finished in tung oil.

24"x7"

Sometime you just know, with this piece I just know. I don’t know what I know at this point, but I know I know.  This piece of wood came from the Mississippi River at Greenville, MS.  When I first saw the wood, it spoke to me.  It still speaks to me. This work hangs from the ceiling. 

32"x18"

A piece of drift wood pulled from a lake in Tuscaloosa, Al, by my brother Frederick Lee. This piece is now part of the collection in Atlanta. It originally was mounted on a base but was later made to hang on the wall. I do not know what the fisherman caught, but whatever it was; this is “What the Fisherman Caught”. 

40"x5"

While at Mississippi Valley State University in 2001, I met a sister that I really thought a lot of.  Her ways and mannerisms left an impression on me. This piece is dedicated to her.  It is a made from a piece of carved cedar.

28”x7"

I love to see women in church with hats or crowns on their head.  This piece is dedicated to those sisters. It is made from Mahogany, and was carved in 1995.

36”x9”

My first love was music.  From the days when Uncle Bro would hold me in his arms and dance with me at Mrs. White’s café, I have loved music.  In high school I played in the band.  I played and love the saxophone.  This is an early work from the early 1980’s, dedicated to music.

42"x5"

This work is dedicated to my wife Belinda.  It is made of oak wood.  Just like her, the wood is strong, beautiful, and a work of art. 

48’’x 12” 

This piece is dedicated to all of the black men that were hung for messing around with white women. The work was created from walnut in the early 80’s. It was sold in Houston, TX in the year 2000 at the Pan African Festival. 

36"x12"

This piece of work was carved fr oak.  The wood is from the side of a barn in TN.  A friend of mine at Tennessee State University gave me the wood.  He got it from his family’s barn.  The wood is over one hundred years old.  While exhibiting at the King Biscuit Festival, I met a man whose booth was next to me.  He was a hat maker.  As I looked for inspiration at the festival it came to me that I would carve him. This piece is dedicated to Merlen.

23"x12"

A work dedicated to the Blues on Highway 61.  The piece of wood was provided by my father.  It is red gum.  The work was carved in 2005.  It is made for all of the blues lovers.  This work was sold at the Arkansas Blues and Heritage Festival 2007.

31”x14”

An early work created in the late 70’s. In this work I tried to capture the brother with the big afro corn rows, the black power fist, the brother with the beard and the unborn babies. A salute to the civil rights of black people.  We once could not have these symbols of protest. I wore my afro with meaning, my fist was raised with meaning, and my hair had meaning, not just a style. The work is carved from red gum wood, from my father’s shop.

25”x15” 

In 1973 I was enrolled at Mississippi Valley State University. While sitting under a cotton wood tree on campus a brother walked up and asked for Wilson Lee. Not knowing who he was, I said I did not know Wilson Lee. He explained that he was a researcher from the Smithsonian Institute looking for the woodcarver. I was later invited to represent the state of Mississippi at the American Folklore Festival in Washington D.C. This piece of walnut was provided by the National Park Service.

24”x4”

When I worked at Texas Southern University, I would park my car outside of the radio station. For weeks I noticed this piece of wood on the ground near my car. One day I felt the wood talking to me; therefore I had to take it home. The piece of work is carved from the corner of the wood, showing both sides at one time. One side is male, while the other is female. When we get married, we become one unit, therefore this piece is called “We Are One” meaning the union on husband and wife. 

18”x7”

This work was carved during the 1980’s. It represents the family. The front side of the work is the father, while the sides of the work show images of the faces of the mother and children. The work is created from Northern Pine wood.

15”x5”

While living in Houston, I would visit a Black mega church. I really enjoyed the service. One day as I walked in the church, the choir was singing with their hands outstretched, as the congo and bongo drums beat out the sound of praise.  I saw the cross, the drums, and the people all in unity. I said, “Praise with Drum”.  The work is carved from mahogany, and was created in 2004.  

11”x15”

Sometime we have to make a choice between what is legal and what is moral. In this work, the people have their eyes on the cross.  When we find ourselves at the point where we have to make the decision between what is morally right and what is legal, do what is morally right. The flag in this piece is flying backward because the justice system is not always just. The work is carved from mahogany and was created in the 1990’s.

17”x7”

A piece of work from mahogany. This work is form the 80’s. Man with cap could be me, because I love to wear caps. 

19”x 6”

A piece of red oak carved at the Tennessee Association of Craft Artist Fair in Nashville, TN. I love to demonstrate the art of woodcarving. This work is created from a piece of wood over one hundred years old. It was carved in 2005.

32”x16”

This piece of wood came out of the Mississippi River at Greenville, MS. It resembles a man with a bird face. It is a piece of drift wood, with the carving following the couture of nature. It was carved in 2003.

12”x4”

This work of art is carved from a piece of walnut. It is a younger piece of wood compared to other works. Although it was created in 2006, the image of large lips and corn rows are present. 

20”x6”

This piece was created as a dedication to a festival. Highway 61 is the Blues highway because of all of the juke joints that shadow the road.  It was also the highway that led so many blues singers from the Mississippi Delta. I travel that road often.

35”x13”

A dark rich piece from the early 1980’s. This piece of wood came from a table leaf in my father’s shop. It shows a black woman pregnant with the unborn babies of the future. She is tall, with corn rows, markings on her face, and beautiful. She is a mahogany Lady. 

24”x15"

A friend of mine had a cedar tree cut down in her back yard. She begged me to get a piece. Two years passed and she called and said she was going to burn it up. I finally got a chance to get the wood and began to carve it at a local festival. After the work was completed I showed to my friend and told her this is what you were going to burn up.  This is a beautiful piece of wood with a wonderful grain pattern. It was created in 2005. 

13”x11”

This work is created from the mulberry tree that grew in my childhood back yard. It was carved in the late 1970’s. I named it Cysimbu, and later used the name as a pen name for plays, short stories, and plays I wrote in College.

42"x15"

A friend on mine in Greenwood, MS gave me this piece of wood. The number on the back of it is 537. I wanted to create a scene where we again had people looking toward the cross which sits on top of hills. Two angels watch from on top. It was created in 2001.

54”x11"

A dedication to the blues. This work was created in 2007. The wood is oak and is over one hundred years old. It came from the side of a barn in Tennessee. I love the blues and want to do all that I can to support this artistic form. 

74”x12”

Man sucks the milk of life was created in response to man's need to be dependent on each other. At the time of birth we are so dependent on our mother therefore we suck the milk of life. The work is made from Pine and was created in the early 1980’s.