About the artist:

In some ways Velox Ward is Texas's answer to Grandma Moses. He began his first painting at the age of sixty in order to make a gift for his grand-daughter. Within several years Ward was recognized as a major creative contributor to the genre of 'folk art' or 'primitivism'. Today such major institutions as the Museum of Modern Art, New York, the Contemporary Arts Museum, Houston, and the Amon Carter Museum, Fort Worth, include examples of Ward's art in their permanent collections. Ward was born near Hopewell in Franklin County, East Texas. According to Margaret Vogel, it amused him to have been named after a German sewing machine that had a label reading “Speed and Accuracy.” Ward left school to help support the family after the death of his father (a farmer who had failed in several business ventures) and thereafter worked at more than the usual variety of jobs because of restlessness as well as for Ward began to paint in 1960, when his three children asked him to paint a picture for each of them as a Christmas present. The experience was enjoyable for Ward, and he painted additional pictures that he hung in his shoe repair shop. People began to buy them, and eventually he was able to devote himself to painting full time. Donald and Margaret Vogel, who owned the Valley House Gallery in Texas, were impressed by his work and began to represent him. The House my Daddy Built was created for an important 1975 portfolio entitled, America: The Third Century. For the portfolio the publisher, APC Editions, commissioned original serigraphs, lithographs and collotypes from such leading artists as Christo, Alan D'Arcangelo, Roy Lichtenstein, Robert Rauschenberg and James Rosenquist. The House my Daddy Built is a superb example of the folk art of Velox Ward. 'Daddy' sits back after finishing his supper, 'Mammy' is out on the porch feeding the scraps to the cat. The dog sleeps under the house while the chickens find sanctuary from the snow under the porch. This great work is surely timeless and surreal in its utter simplicity.