Lizzie Wilkerson facts for kids

Lizzie Wilkerson (1895–1984) was an American folk artist. She was known for her beautiful paintings that showed what life was like on a farm. Her art often looked like colorful patterns.

Lizzie Wilkerson: An Artist's Life

Lizzie Henderson was born in 1895 near Covington, Georgia. She was the youngest of 21 children! In 1919, she married Dewey Wilkerson, who was a mechanic. They then moved to the city of Atlanta.

Lizzie never went to art school. She started making art later in her life. She used watercolor paints and pens. Her pictures were very detailed and full of imagination. They showed many parts of farm life. Often, her paintings filled the whole page. They sometimes looked like colorful fabric patterns. She also created some dolls.

Lizzie Wilkerson's art was not well known for a long time. But in the late 1970s, people discovered her work. This happened through a special program at Georgia State University. After that, Lizzie had many art shows. These shows were in Atlanta and other places.

Today, her artwork is part of many museum collections. These include the American Folk Art Museum in New York. Her art is also at the National Museum of American Art in Washington, D.C. The High Museum of Art in Atlanta, Georgia, also has her work.

An architect named Earnest Hooks Jr. wrote books about Lizzie. These books focused on her life on the family farm. They used her artwork to help tell the story. One book, Let's Go See Mother Wilkerson's Farm (2007), was for very young children. It helped them learn about American farm culture. A second book came out in 2011.