Episode 66 | Mike Smith Met S.L. Jones: Rare Video, Carvings & Stories

Matt sits down with collector Mike Smith for a closer look at the work of S.L. Jones, using several carved heads and drawings from Matt’s collection alongside Mike’s firsthand memories of visiting Jones at his home in West Virginia.

Mike met S.L. Jones late in his career and was able to spend time with him, photograph him, and document some of those visits on video. Matt and Mike compare early and late carvings, look at the similarities between Jones’ carved faces and drawings, break down the unusual stamped signatures found on some of his heads, and talk about the life-sized figures and carved bluegrass bands he made earlier in his career.

Along the way, Mike talks about what it was like traveling around the Southeast in the 1990s to meet folk artists while they were still working. He explains why visiting artists in person added another layer to collecting their work and shares what he remembers from making the trip to see S.L. Jones.

The episode ends with something Mike has held onto for decades: video from one of his visits with S.L. Jones. In the footage, Jones talks about carving as a child, drawing in school, retiring from the railroad, and eventually getting into carving in a much bigger way.

Chapters

00:00 | Mike Smith Met S.L. Jones

01:26 | S.L. Jones Carved Heads and Signatures

02:50 | Life-Size Carvings, the Band and His Drawings

07:56 | The Problem with Collecting Folk Art

12:37 | Stories from Visiting Folk Artists in the 1990s

20:45 | Photographing Folk Artists

25:25 | Mike’s Visits with S.L. Jones