Hailing from eastern Kentucky, Minnie is the matriarch of Kentucky woodcarvers.
She started carving her whimsical animals and Biblical characters as a young woman and initially met with little success. In fact, her neighbors would make fun of her critters and tell her she needed to go to art lessons. Minnie persisted, she now enjoys renown as a carver throughout a region rich in the woodcarving tradition.
Her carvings are part of The Smithsonian Institution’s collections, as well as The Visionary Art Museum in Baltimore, MD. She has organized a folk art show in Morehead, KY to help other aspiring artists become better known, and the Folk Art Museum in Morehead adopted one of her designs as the logo.
Minnie Adkins is having the last chuckle now as many of her neighbors have witnessed her success & have begun whittling themselves. She is still carving at 89, but her production has slowed substantially…
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Lonnie & Twyla Money
Selected Works
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