I first met Willie Rascoe at one of Bravard Vineyards and Winery’s annual fall festivals in northern Christian County, where guests could sample and purchase Bravard wines, and musicians and artists showcased their talents. Rascoe had some of his wood sculpture pieces there.
A number of years later, I acquired from him an acrylic painting titled “Entrapment,” which we hung in the downstairs conference room at our office. We also saw his artwork displayed at Christian County Public Schools, Hopkinsville Community College and the Janice Mason Art Museum in Cadiz. These encounters led my husband, John, to set his sights on owning one of the Rascoe’s wood wall sculptures.
I recently visited with Rascoe to find out more about the man and his artwork.
Rascoe was born in 1950 and grew up on a farm in Christian County. He worked on his family farm and for other landowners. His father, Richard Rascoe, ran a carpentry business and was involved in all kinds of construction projects.
After Rascoe graduated from Christian County High School, he took some courses at Hopkinsville Community College. His education was interrupted when he was drafted into the U.S. Army and served as a paratrooper with the 82nd Airborne Division. After a two-year stint in the military, he returned to Christian County and completed his degree at HCC.
He joined his father in the carpentry business and learned invaluable lessons about woodworking. I asked him if he could remember when he first became interested in being an artist, and he recalled that his first inspiration came when he saw a man in Ebony magazine who made “sculptures out of old car parts.”
In 1974, Rascoe made his first piece of artwork, a short wood sculpture that looks like a “fork, knife and cloth.” While Rascoe has made 10 or 12 paintings over the years, his main artistic focus is creating wood sculptures from driftwood that he finds along lakes and rivers. He has made more than 100 standing wood sculptures and wood wall hangings.
He prefers using driftwood in his sculptures because it doesn’t matter to him what type of wood it is — it just has to be hard and sturdy. He said that “Driftwood is like children. Just like children have to be led, the driftwood is driven by the currents.”
“I view forms in the wood waiting to be brought out by my hands,” he said, describing the carving process. “After carving the wood, I add bits of bone, animal hides, metal and shell fragments to form unique worldly images.”
He says, “Every piece of artwork is part of me. God gives me the knowledge to do the work I am doing.”
Rascoe primarily creates art for himself, and he doesn’t try to relate any specific message through his pieces. This could explain why he still retains more than 70 wood sculptures. He also says he has never been 100% satisfied with a piece he has created.
The quality and unique nature of his artwork has resulted in his pieces being exhibited at many locations and appearing in a number of art magazines. His wood sculpture titled “Protector” was at Nashville International Airport in 2007 and 2008. That piece now is part of the artwork on display at Jennie Stuart Medical Center. Rascoe has had exhibits in Boston, Thailand, France and many locations in Kentucky, including the State Capitol Rotunda in Frankfort. His pieces are in the permanent collection of the Kentucky Folk Art Center and the Kentucky History Center.
Gov. Andy Beshear commissioned him to create the award given to each of the 10 recipients of the 2020 Kentucky Governor’s Awards in the Arts. Rascoe spent countless hours fulfilling that commission by designing and making each of the wood statues. One of the award recipients that year was Tom T. Hall.
Rascoe, who exemplifies the adage of “a local man making it big,” will be on the cover of The African American Folklorist magazine. While his works have been described as African American folk art, he considers his true artistic genre to be driftwood art.
Rascoe’s artwork was selected for the third annual African American Art Showcase, a Black History Month event currently at Paducah City Hall, 300 S. Fifth St. It is sponsored by the Paducah Historical Preservation Group. The show culminates with a reception from 5 to 7 p.m. today, Friday, Feb. 21. I encourage you to take the opportunity to see his artwork and that of the other artists showcased at the Paducah event.
Julia Crenshaw is an attorney at White, White & Crenshaw in Hopkinsville. She lives on a farm in Todd County with her husband John. They have two adult children.
