Leroy Person

Leroy Person (1907–1985) was an American sculptor and wood carver from a remote region in northeastern North Carolina. Person's sculptures, and later, drawings, are recognized for their particular sensitivity to color and surface markings.

Life Leroy Person was born, raised, and lived out his entire life near the Albemare Sound at the edge of a swamp called Occhineechee Neck in northeast North Carolina. According to Roger Manley, director of the Gregg Museum of Art and Design at North Carolina State University, Person wrote and operated under his own numerals and alphabet that he and a few other family members could decipher. Despite these comparisons, Person's works are sui generis. They are simultaneously a product of centuries of African culture in America and his life spent virtual isolation in Ochineechee Neck.

Person often colored his wooden sculptures and furniture with crayons, which created a dichotomy between his very delicate color palette and the bold weight of his material. Some of Person's patterns of color and etching mimic his wife, Frances's, quilting patterns, although no one photographed her quilts to make a formal comparison. American Folk Art Museum High Museum of Art The Robert Lynch Collection of Outsider Art in the Four Sisters Gallery Permanent Collection of Self-Taught Art_North Carolina Wesleyan College