Earl Gray (folk artist)

In 1990, Earl took a house-painting job for a woman named Kate McComas. Kate says he was an extremely hard worker. On a rare lunch break, Earl carved Kate a back-scratcher. She was taken by the craftsmanship of the piece and asked to see more. Earl brought her a shoe box full of small pieces and it was then evident that he had been carving for some time. Kate happened to be a docent at the Huntington Museum of Art. She showed the carvings to head curator Eason Eige and he immediately wanted to buy Earl’s work. Eason began promoting, and Earl began to get noticed on a much wider scale. Earl took his art to the next level, into carving stone. He regularly carved faces in his sculptures. Learning through trial and error he developed his own style using the tools and material of his choice. His vision, however, would not have been acknowledged without the help of Eason Eige. Six years later, Earl carved a structure of Eason and his dog Lillie Mae which the museum now holds.