Archie Byron

Archie Byron (February 2, 1928 – August 29, 2005) was an American sculptor, painter, small business owner, city councilman for the city of Atlanta (1982–1990), and political activist. He claimed to have co-founded the first African-American owned detective agency. He is best known for his relief sculptures which he created using sawdust, water and glue. He would just as often paint his "sawdust art" as he would allow the natural hues of the drying wood to stand alone without augmentation.

Life Byron was born on February 2, 1928 (Groundhog Day) in the Buttermilk Bottom district of Atlanta, Georgia. His father was a musician who ran a teaching studio on Auburn Avenue and his mother was a seamstress. He was named after his mother's mother, Archie, who was half English and half Native American (unidentified tribal specifics). In fact, after King's assassination, Byron's security company provided bodyguards and surveillance for the King family. Byron recalled, "I always said that I would not march unless they would let me carry my shotgun."

He died on August 29, 2005.

Career Byron recalled that his first inspiration to make art came from his wife, Joyce. While on a security detail in 1975, Byron saw a tree root that resembled a gun lodged underneath a fence. He brought it home and his wife told him to make something out of it in his shop.

In 1977, a second wave of inspiration came to him while working in his gun repair and wood shop. While amassing and discarding piles of sawdust, Byron decided that he could somehow use this material to make her work. After trial and error, he combined the sawdust with water and white glue to make a strong, viscous material that he could apply in layers and sculpt into detailed bas-reliefs and free standing forms. Byron's creation, undoing, and re-joining of fragments of black life in Atlanta "reflect the social issues that concerned the artist during his terms as a councilman." Passionate Visions of the American South. 1993–5, New Orleans Museum of Art, New Orleans, LA. Southern Folk Art from the Permanent Collection. 28 Apr.- 22 Jul. 2012, Georgia Museum of Art at the University of Georgia, Atlanta. Testimony: Vernacular Art of the African-American South. Jul. 2003–2004. Bearing Witness: African-American Art of the South. 1997, Schaumburg Center for Research on Black Culture, New York City. Revelations: Art from the African American South. 3 Jun 2017- 1 Apr. 2018, Fine Arts Museum of San Francisco, San Francisco, CA.

Permanent collections Byron's work is included in the permanent collections of: Smithsonian American Art Museum, Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, High Museum of Art, Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, and Modern Primitive.