Lavon Van Williams (1958-). Self-taught artist and wood-carver from Kentucky, attended University of Kentucky on a basketball scholarship. After college, he played professionally in Italy and Japan for several years, but returned to Lexington in the mid-1980s and began making relief-carved sculpture. He works within an African-American woodcarving tradition passed on to him as a boy by his older brother Dave, who in turn learned from watching their great-uncle, Luke Wright, who used a mallet and chisel method. He is the recipient of numerous awards and his work is in a number of public and private collections.
