First published: Winter 2024/2025
Minnie Adkins began whittling creatures as a way to help support her family but, along the way, she became a Kentucky success story
Minnie Adkins is 90 years old. She was born into a poor-but-proud family in Isonville, a low-income part of Kentucky, and has lived there most of her life. She is primarily known as a wood carver, quilter and painter, but since 1992 she has also been working on children’s books.
Black Horse, 2014; M Norris
Adkins was just six years old when she began carving – an uncommon hobby for girls at the time – using a pocket knife loaned to her by her uncle until her father found out and reluctantly gave her one of her own. “I didn’t know anything about art,” she says. “But I did make sling shots and pop guns, bows and arrows, and other things ... because we didn’t have a lot to play with.”
Fox, 2015, Kelly Ludwig
By MARGARET DAY ALLEN
This is an article extract; read the full article in Raw Vision 121.
