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USA
South
Joe Schibig, Wickham's grandson
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Palmyra, TN
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Palmyra, TN
Historical Sculptures - Enoch Tanner "E. T." Wickham
Folk Art Site
Self-taught Artist, Castle
Site Status: private property - visible from the street
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Information:
Built: 1952-1970
In 1952, after his children were grown and living their own lives, he built a small, cabin-like house on Buck Smith Road, to the south and west of the homeplace. He and his wife moved to the cabin, which was, at some point, painted with blue and red stripes. It is on this site that he began constructing his sculpture park. Why he built the small house and moved away from the homeplace is unclear. Some speculate that he had plans to create something there and wanted to be nearby for convenience and protection. They theorize that Wickham was always an artist, but had never before had the time or money to devote himself to his work. By the 1950s, times were prosperous; he was making more money from his crops, had no children to support, and often had help around the place from his grandchildren. He was also receiving a social security check every month. Another possible rationale came from a friend who remembered that he decided to live the way the early pioneers lived. This also seems likely, as he was very interested in history and soon began to create concrete images of frontiersmen, Native Americans, and the prominent citizens of Tennessee.
By all accounts E. T. Wickham was an honest man who was respected by the community, even though many thought he was eccentric. For many years his mode of transportation into the small town of Palmyra was his team of oxen. Wickham was quiet and serious, even though his sense of humor is evident in certain of his sculptures, like a bull with an electric socket under its tail into which Wickham placed a red lightbulb! As a father he was not especially affectionate and was strict, instilling Christian morals and values in his children, as well as a reverence for work--especially work with their hands.
Wickham’s first statue on the north side of the road (opposite from the cabin) was a World War II monument that memorialized his son Ernest, who had died in France in 1944. When work on the piece was nearing completion, Wickham asked the officers of the Sportsman’s Club to contact United States Senator Estes Kefauver about speaking at the dedication of the statue. Kefauver accepted, and contacted General William Westmoreland, Commanding General at Fort Campbell army post, and requested him to come and speak as well. It is said that Westmoreland sent soldiers to build risers and guard the statue while Wickham applied the finishing touches. Family and friends recount that the soldiers stayed there night and day for approximately two weeks. People still remember the dedication event, saying there never has been a larger affair in the area. The number of people in attendance has been estimated at between 700 and 1000. An Army band entertained the crowd, speeches were made, and the statue unveiled. This type of unveiling, or ‘speaking’ as Wickham called it, occurred for several of the later pieces as well, usually with more than one statue being dedicated at once. Even so, none compared to the first event. Wickham stayed in contact with officials at Fort Campbell and was later commissioned to make a sculpture of a kneeling soldier for the army post.
Customs House Museum
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Bibliography:
"Detour Art—Outsider, Folk Art, and Visionary Folk Art Environments Coast to Coast, Art and Photographs from the Collection of Kelly Ludwig" by Kelly Ludwig, Kansas City Star Books, 2007.
On DVD - Rare Visions and Roadside Revelations, "Southern Flavor", KCPT, Kansas City Public Television, 1999-2001.
"20th Century American Folk, Self Taught, and Outsider Art" by Betty-Carol Sellen, Cynthia J. Johnson, Neal-Schuman Publishers, New York, 1993.
"Self-Made Worlds: Visionary Environments" by Roger Manley and Mark Sloan, Aperture, New York, 1997.
"Self Taught, Outsider, and Folk Art—A guide to American Artists, Locations and Resources" by Betty-Carol Sellen with Cynthia J. Johnson, McFarland & Company, 2000.
"American Self-Taught Art: An Illustrated Analysis of 20th Century Artists and Trends with 1,319 Capsule Biographies" by Florence Laffal and Julius Laffal, 2003.
"Rare Visions and Roadside Revelations Coast to Coast Travel-o-Pedia" by Randy Mason, et. al., Kansas City Star Books, 2009.
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Driving Directions:
Back road near Palmyra, south of Clarksville in Buckminster Hollow
I-24 exit into Clarksville. Take Hwy 13 south from Clarksville. Stay on 13 when it splits to the right from Hwy 48. A little over three miles from the split, turn right on Jim Kim Rd, then right at the stop sign on Old Metal Rd, then bear left onto Buck Smith Rd
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Road rules:
Please remember to always be respectful of private property, use common courtesy and treat people with kindness. If the location is private, never enter without the owner’s permission.
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Credit: © Kelly Ludwig, Detour Art, all rights reserved. |
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Credit: Kelly Ludwig |
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Team of Oxen and Covered Wagon - created mid 1960s - Wickham memorializes the pioneer spirit, which he admired so much, with his life-size team of oxen yoked to an actual wagon. The wooden wagon was painted green and inscribed with quotes such as, Shoulder Your Axe Go West, young man, go West! no doubt a paraphrase from one of newspaperman Horace Greeleys New York Tribune editorials of the 1850s.
Credit: Kelly Ludwig |
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Credit: Kelly Ludwig |
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Credit: Kelly Ludwig |
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Sam Davis and Bill Marsh - dedicated 1966 - Created as a monument to yet another American war, this pedestal with two standing figures personalizes the national significance of the Civil War. The two persons represented are Sam Davis and Bill Marsh. Davis would have been familiar to many as the young Confederate scout executed by Union troops for spying. Knowing that Bill Marsh was a more obscure figure, Wickham identifies him in the inscription as the First Man that Voted a Union Ticket, in Montgomery County. The artist continues by identifying his fathers role,R. L. Wickham Voted the Second One [Union ticket]. What Wickham doesnt say is that Marsh was his maternal grandfather.
Happy to put the Civil War behind him and his audience Wickham states in the front inscription, It Is All Over With Now Bill and Well That It Is As It Is. Here again Wickham reveals a political stance that might be considered outside the norms of the community.
Credit: Kelly Ludwig |
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Credit: Kelly Ludwig |
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Credit: Kelly Ludwig |
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Credit: Kelly Ludwig |
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Credit: Kelly Ludwig |
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Credit: Kelly Ludwig |
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E.T. Wickham On Bull Heading West - 1961 - "Wickhams only existing self-portrait, of himself riding a longhorn bull, also demonstrates his sense of humor. Undocumented, but remembered by Michael Dinsmore, who was a boy at the time, as being created soon after the York and Jackson works, the bull had electrified light bulbs in his eyes and a red light bulb under his raised tail. Louis Peddar, a neighbor who used to swim in Wickhams pond as a boy, remembers seeing the bulls red light bulb as he came around the curve in the road and approached the statues.
Presented as a self-portrait at its first public display, the work was unveiled by Wickhams neighbor ONeal Dinsmore. Not only were audience members surprised by the placement of light bulbs in the statue, but also by the larger-than-life testicles on the bull, which someone described as fitting in a five gallon bucket. Wickhams bawdy sense of humor is remembered to this day. Never a practical joker and not a very out-going personality, Wickham did have his humorous side.
The inscription on the statues base states: Headed to the Wild and Woley [sic] West, Remember Me Boys while I am Gone. Perhaps it was Wickhams wish to go west, and references to his declaration that he was returning to pioneer days when he moved to his log cabin in 1952 may confirm this desire.
Credit: Kelly Ludwig |
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Andrew Jackson, dedicated 1961 - Even though the man on horseback seems clearly to represent Andrew Jackson, the statue encompasses references to three other famous Tennesseans, making it Wickhams most inclusive monument. His inscriptions on the base refer to Sam Houston, David Crockett
Credit: Kelly Ludwig |
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Credit: Kelly Ludwig |
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