{"person":[{"sourceId":{"label":"Source ID","value":"2668"},"lastName":{"label":"Last Name","value":"Aaron"},"endDate":{"label":"Death Date","value":"1979"},"displayName":{"label":"Name","value":"Jesse J. Aaron"},"objects":{"label":"Objects","value":[{"objectTitle":"Untitled","objectNumber":"2021.6.3","objectID":"7248"},{"objectTitle":"Untitled","objectNumber":"2022.14.2","objectID":"8485"},{"objectTitle":"Untitled","objectNumber":"2022.6.91","objectID":"8419"}]},"geographyDied":{"label":"Died","value":["Lake City","Gainesville"]},"biography":{"label":"Biography","value":"Using a chisel, hatchet, and chainsaw, Jesse J. Aaron transformed roots, trunks, and branches of the cypress and cedar trees that grew in his native Florida into rough carvings suggesting human and animal figures. Sometimes he added details such as eyes\u2014made with nails set in resin in egg cartons\u2014but usually these works were left bare and unfinished. Aaron said that he was guided to reveal what he already perceived in the wood\u2019s knots and grains: \u201cGod put the faces in the wood. Don\u2019t bring me a piece of wood and then ask me to carve something out of it. \u2019Cause I won\u2019t. Don\u2019t tell me what you want, it might not be there, you understand?\u201dAaron, born in Lake City, Florida, in 1887, stated that his ancestors included both enslaved African Americans and Seminoles. At a young age, he worked on a farm, and he later was a cook on a railroad and in Florida hotels. He did some cabinetmaking but didn\u2019t devote himself to sculpture until he was in his eighties, reportedly in a moment of financial crisis as his wife needed a cataract operation. By his account, it was a divine calling, as one night in 1968 \u201cthe Spirit woke me up and said, \u2018Carve Wood.\u2019\u201dWorking at his home in Gainesville, he was immersed in turning wood that he found in nearby forests into both towering totems and small assemblages incorporating discarded objects. He put up a sign reading \u201cJesse J. Aaron\u2014Sculptor\u201d that attracted the notice of Stuart Purser, an art professor at the University of Florida who became an early supporter of Aaron\u2019s work by arranging local exhibitions. A few years after Aaron died, in 1979, his art came to national attention when it was included in the pivotal exhibition <em>Black Folk Art in America: 1930\u20131980<\/em>, which opened in 1982 at the Corcoran Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C. Now held in major museum collections, Aaron\u2019s work, with its hewn faces and expressive forms, conveys his appreciation for the natural material that was his muse. \u201cI like to leave the print of my tools on the wood,\u201d he once said. \u201cI don\u2019t mean to change the wood into something it isn\u2019t.\u201dAllison C. Meier, 2025Text written as part of \u201cRethinking Biography,\u201d an initiative supported by the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS)."},"geographyActive":{"label":"Active","value":["Lake City","Gainesville"]},"geographyBorn":{"label":"Born","value":["Lake City","Gainesville"]},"beginDate":{"label":"Birth Date","value":"1887"},"firstName":{"label":"First Name","value":"Jesse"},"textEntries":{"label":"Text Entries","value":"Black Folk Art in America: 1930\u20131980"},"primaryMedia":{"value":"https://collection.folkartmuseum.org/internal/media/dispatcher/27296/full"},"names":{"label":"Names","value":["Jesse J. Aaron","Jesse Aaron"]},"displayDate":{"label":"Date","value":"(1887\u20131979)"},"altNums":{"label":"Alternative Numbers","value":["500125743","no2017119446"]},"id":{"label":"Id","value":"151543"}}]}