Willie L. Tarver (1932–2010), Wadley, Georgia, self-taught folk-art welded metal sculpture depicting a highly stylized bird or fantastic creature with elongated curving body, outstretched wings and red-painted accents to the head. Tarver was the son of a sharecropper and worked for approximately twenty-five years repairing refrigeration equipment, where he learned welding. He began making art in the late 1950s, first creating cement tombstones and figures over metal armatures before allowing the welded scrap-metal armatures themselves to become finished sculptures. His work is held by the Telfair Museums, and his Folk Art Park in Atlanta was commissioned in connection with the 1996 Olympics. 9"x9"