Denzil Goodpaster

1908 - 1995

Denzil Goodpaster was born in the small town of Ezel, Kentucky, in 1908.  He attended school through the 5th grade. Goodpaster’s grandparents came to the rolling Kentucky hills from Russia more than one hundred years ago.  A misspelling of “pasture” gave the family its English name.  The farm his grandfather cleared belonged to Goodpaster, and through hard work and thrift, he added 200 acres to the original plot.  When he was a child, Goodpaster found that the nearest grade school was “a little too long a walk.”  Since then, he reminisces, “I done nothing but raise tobacco every year of my life.  I lived in this here home since just after I been born!”  A farmer for much of his life, in the 1970s, 2 years after he retired, a neighbor showed him a carved snake walking stick.  “Gol darn!” Goodpaster swore to himself, “I believe I can beat the man!” and he set out to do so. Goodpaster whittled with a pocketknife on cedar staves or black walnut and painted his finished canes with shiny bright enamel. He began to whittle and carve both functional and sculptural objects. Goodpaster is best known for his carved canes, but he also carved figures and animals he would have seen in his daily life. Typically painting his carved work, Goodpaster was known for his distinct, colorful style and often risqué subject matter visible on his canes including bathing nudes. His work created a standard of American folk canes that regional artists continue to aspire to today. Goodpaster made canes with alligators and snakes for handles, and even decorated some with images of cowboys, nude figures, and musicians. During the 1980s, he won fellowships from the Kentucky Arts Council and the Southern Arts Federation in Atlanta.  ²