Hawkins, William Lawrence
(born: July 27, 1895 - died: February 15, 1990)William L. Hawkins said that he was born on a farm in Madison County, KY, the son of Rebecca Scudder and Lawrence Hawkins; he was raised by his maternal grandmother Mary Scudder. As a young man he was a trapper and horse trainer, but when his girlfriend became pregnant he was sent to live in Columbus, OH.
He began to paint when he was 80 years old, using materials in his artwork that came from junk piles and throwaway material at construction sites. Hawkins also collected photographs that he used in his work. One of his signature techniques was to paint a frame around his work that included his name and his birth place and date. Several months after his death, Hawkins' work was shown at the Columbus Museum of Arts during the 1990 Columbus Arts Festival (see Catalogue).
William Lawrence Hawkins was a World War I veteran. He died in the Veterans Hospital in Dayton, OH. He was the son of Rebecca Scudder and Lawrence Hawkins.
*William L. Hawkins birth location is given as Madison County on his marriage certificates and his Army enlistment records in Ancestry. Union City, KY has also been given as his birth location.
For more see Souls Grown Deep: African American vernacular art of the South, vol. 1, by P. Arnett and W. Arnett; "Columbus arts fest combines music, art, dance and street fair," Dayton Daily News, 5/19/1990, p. 22; and William Hawkins at the SAAM website [Smithsonian American Art Museum].