about the artist
Since I was a child, I can remember that I’ve always been captivated by people. Their faces, figures, and even shadows. My work as an artist reflects my love of people. I also love the art of demonstrating my talent in public. When I was 9 years old, I remember going once a year to the Mid-South Fair and watching the professional portrait artist create portrait after portrait – it was like watching an amazing magic trick. I always found myself looking even closer when the artist created another portrait.
For the last 5 years I have been video recording myself as I create portraits and uploading them to YouTube, so that children can see and experience the magic that I saw which inspired me to become an artist. Whether I am creating realist or abstract images of people, you are seeing the human spirit on canvas.
In 1994, the Tennessee Historic Council in Nashville commissioned Walker to create a 30” X 36” oil painting of civil rights activist and newspaper publisher Ida B. Wells. The original painting is still hanging in the Tennessee State Capital in Nashville as a part of the Tennessee Historic Council’s permanent historic art collection. In 2011, Walker was personally asked by former Mayor Willie W. Herenton, the first elected African American Mayor of Memphis, to paint his official portrait for the Memphis Hall of Mayors. During that same year, Walker was also commissioned by the Memphis Shelby County office to paint a portrait of former Shelby County Mayor AC Wharton for the Shelby County Hall of Mayors.
