Lonnie Holley was born in Birmingham in 1950, the seventh of twenty-seven children. He persevered through a difficult life beset with poverty, depressions and familial strife. It was not until 1979 that Holley discovered his penchant for art after unemployment and depression caused him to nearly take his own life. Holley began soul-searching, praying, and soon discovered a type of stone in his sister's back yard, which was near a cast iron foundry. Holley believed it was divine intervention that led him to the sandstone, an industrial by-product of cast iron mold, and inspired him to create art.

In 1981, Holley took his sandstone sculptures to the Birmingham Museum of Art and presented them to then director, Richard Murray. Murray was so impressed that he contacted a friend at the Smithsonian in Washington, D.C., who was organizing an exhibition of Appalachian artists. Holley was included in this exhibition, More Than Land and Sky, which traveled to 10 museums throughout the region, including the Birmingham Museum of Art. Since then, his work has been featured in numerous exhibitions and several prominent museums feature Lonnie's work in their collections, including the Michael C. Carlos Museum and the High Museum of Art in Atlanta, the Museum of American Folk Art in New York City and the Birmingham Museum of Art. Holley now lives in Harpersville, AL and continues to make art as a cathartic, self-healing undertaking.

Taken from: Birmingham Museum of Art

Please visit these sites to find out more about the artist: 

Lonnie Holley--Visionary Artist

Lonnie Holley

Back to Resources page

Back to Calendar of Events page