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George Berry, Sr., of Pearl, Mississippi, began carving wood at the age of six when his father taught him how to handle a knife. Motivated by his father's work with tools and his mother's creative talents and dreams, he has been creating "Expressions in Wood" almost all his life. His work reflects a preference for carving figures of wildlife, such as owls, eagles, turtles, and other animals. He also creates carvings important to Mississippi culture, such as hunting dogs and catfish. George grew up the youngest of eight children on his parent's farm near Vinita, Oklahoma. He moved to Mississippi in 1972 to teach industrial arts at the Piney Woods Country Life School. In 1985, he retired from Piney Woods to devote his time to his woodcarving. |
George Berry, Sr.
image courtesy of cwilkins
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| During the more
than 50 years he has been carving wooden pieces,
George has exhibited his work, demonstrated his craft, and conducted
workshops
in woodcarving at numerous major festivals, including the Mississippi
Arts
Festival (Jackson, MS), Festival USA on the Strand (Galveston, TX), the
Festival
of Pennsylvania Folklife Bicentennial (Philadelphia, PA), and the
Mississippi
Pavilion at the World's Fair (New Orleans, LA). Two of his carved
sculptures
traveled with the Bicentennial Wagon Train Pilgrimage to Philadelphia,
Pennsylvania
in 1976. The official state arts agency of Mississippi, the Mississippi Arts Commission, has honored George in many ways. In 1996 and 1997, he was selected to create the carved pieces which were presented to the winners of the prestigious Governor's Awards for Excellence in the Arts. In 2001, he was the recipient of the Governor's Awards for Excellence in the Arts for Artistic Achievement. He was awarded a Folk Artist Fellowship from the Arts Commission in 1999, and in 2002 he received an Arts Commission Apprenticeship grant to teach woodcarving to students. He is listed on the Mississippi Arts Commission Artist Roster. George teaches weekly woodcarving classes for the Craftsmen's Guild of Mississippi and has been a frequent instructor for the Allison Wells School of Arts and Crafts in Canton, Mississippi. Since 2001, he has taught woodcarving classes at the John C. Campbell Folk School in Brasstown, North Carolina. His next teaching session at the school is scheduled for March 2005. A charter member and Fellow of the Craftsmen's Guild of Mississippi, he is on the Guild's Board of Directors and has served on the Standards Committee which juries the work of prospective members. In 1997, he received the Guild's award for Lifetime Achievement and Professional Accomplishments. Other awards and honors include the 2003 Hometown Hero Shining Example Award, presented by the Jackson Convention and Visitor's Bureau, and the 2004 Mississippi Ageless Hero Award for Creativity, presented by Blue Cross / Blue Shield of Mississippi. George's carved wood sculptures are exhibited in Jackson's Old Capitol Museum and the Museum of Natural Science, as well as in the Laurence C. Jones Museum at the Piney Woods School, the Har-Ber Village in Grove, Oklahoma, and in private residences and offices throughout the United States. He has been featured in Chip Chats, Southern Living, Mississippi Outdoors, and many other national and regional publications. He is pictured with his carving in the book, Craft in America, by Phyllis George, published in 1993. He is a frequent guest on Mississippi Educational Television and other area television and radio news and features programs. |
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