Born in 1874, William Edmondson grew up on the land where his parents had once been slaves. He had no formal schooling and did grueling work as a hired hand until he left to find work in Nashville. Edmondson began having religious visions when he was still a boy. At the age of 57, he heard God tell him to carve a tombstone—it was the beginning of his career as an artist. Within a few years, Edmondson’s work was attracting national and international acclaim. Poet Elizabeth Spires gives voice to this extraordinary, plainspoken man, and to some of his subjects in stone, in a series of poems that are paired with striking black-and-white photographs taken of Edmondson and his works. “I’se just doing the Lord’s work. / It ain’t got much style. / God don’t want much style, but He gives you wisdom / and speeds you along.” (“A Conversation”). A biographical essay about Edmondson and his art, along with a selected bibliography, complete this distinctive portrait of a singular artist. (Age 14 and older)

One night in the early 1930s, William Edmondson, the son of former slaves and a janitor in Nashville, Tennessee, heard God speaking to him. And so he began to carve – tombstones, birdbaths, and stylized human figures, whose spirits seemed to emerge fully formed from the stone. Soon Edmondson's talents caught the eye of prominent members of the art world, and in 1937 he became the first black artist to have a solo exhibit at the Museum of Modern Art in New York.

Here, in twenty-three free-verse poems, award-winning poet Elizabeth Spires gives voice to Edmondson and his creations, which tell their individual stories with wit and passion. With stunning photographs, including ten archival masterpieces by Louise Dahl-Wolfe and Edward Weston, this is a compelling portrait of a truly original American artist.