House of Folk Art

Matt and Sully are back at Ledbetter Auction Gallery in Gibsonville with a fresh stack from a 400-piece single-owner folk art collection that just came through the door.
The collection had already been unboxed and was waiting to be photographed, but Matt had not fully gone through it yet. So instead of picking their own favorites from around the gallery, Matt and Sully grab a random stack of about 40 pieces and start digging in with fresh eyes.
This episode is a look at what a real folk art collector collects: the known names, the lesser-known artists, the pieces that need more research, and the kind of work that only starts to make sense once you slow down and really look at it.
The stack starts with a carved Calvin Cooper dog, then moves into work by Po Phil, Levent Isik, Alpha Andrews, Kaye Simmons, Sam Ezell, Bob Newell, Richard Burnside, John Burgess, Myrtice West, Aretha Hardy, Albert Wagner, Purvis Young, Willie White, and more.
There are auction estimates, artist stories, a few mystery signatures, and plenty of moments where the guys have to admit they do not know everything yet. That is part of the point. This is what it looks like when a collection arrives, the research starts, and the pieces begin to tell you where they came from.
Do you know a folk artist or have a picking story worth sharing? Reach out to the show:
Chapters
00:00 | Welcome Back to House of Folk Art with Matt and Sully
02:42 | First Up: The Wood Carved Dalmatian
04:20 | Matt’s First Pick from the Stack
06:00 | Sully Learns About Levent Isik
07:40 | Mixed Media in a Frame
08:26 | Reminiscent of Bernice Sims
09:15 | Matt’s Favorite Piece So Far
10:07 | Sam Ezell Shows Up in the Art Pile
11:25 | Mail Pouch Chew
12:14 | Richard Burnside from Myrtle Beach, South Carolina
14:04 | Key West Folk Art
16:26 | An Incredible Memory Painting of Quilt Making
18:04 | Myrtice West, Self-Taught Visionary Artist
20:43 | Gold Framed Folk Art?
22:15 | Animals & Angels
23:25 | Albert Wagner
26:08 | Folk Style, But…
26:55 | An Early Sam Ezell
27:42 | Purvis Young and Goodbread Alley
31:58 | Folk Art Framed in PVC Pipe
32:59 | A Series of Folk Paintings
34:08 | A.B. the Flag Man, Don’t Forget It
40:17 | Folk Art from a Coal Miner
42:59 | The Art of Willie White
46:20 | Alpha Andrews on Mixed Paper
48:19 | James Bland Folk Art Face
49:58 | Back to Myrtice West
51:47 | Grilling Is Pleasing
53:31 | Butch Anthony Face Pan
55:25 | Back to A.B. the Flag Man
57:52 | One More Time with Levent Isik
01:00:57 | A Good Day at the Auction Gallery
[email protected]
(919) 410-8002
Leave your name and where you are from and you might hear yourself on a future episode.
Follow @houseoffolkart for more stories, field trips, and upcoming auction dates at LedbetterAuctions.com.

Matt and Kyle are back at the Auction Gallery in Gibsonville after a run of antique shows. Liberty and Fishersville were fun, but this episode gets back to the roots of House of Folk Art: self-taught art, pottery, carvings, and the stories behind the pieces.
Matt and Kyle pull work from around the gallery and talk through what makes each piece worth slowing down for. The episode starts with Sam Ezell, a North Carolina artist and picker whose work has become a major focus at the auction house, including a large group of pieces coming up in a future sale.
From there, the conversation moves into Denzil Goodpaster, a bear carving, and Matt’s ongoing argument about the difference between craft and art. The crew also digs into a Charles Simmons wood carved jug, the connection to Raymond Coins, and why some important North Carolina artists are still only known by a small circle of collectors. Matt talks through why a piece may not bring enough at auction, but can still be exactly the kind of thing he wants to keep. There is also pottery from Marvin Bailey and Ellen Martin, including the story of the first Marvin Bailey piece that really pulled Matt into contemporary face jugs. 
The episode closes with a few pieces coming up for auction, including a tramp art box, plus a quick reminder for first-time bidders ahead of the June 11 auction.
Bid in the June 11 Folk Art & Americana Auction:
https://www.liveauctioneers.com/catalog/419094_folk-art-and-americana-auction/
Chapters
00:00 | Back at the Auction House in Gibsonville
03:11 | Sam Ezell, Self-Taught Art, and Large Scale
12:42 | Denzil Goodpaster’s Bear Carving
22:00 | First Look at House of Folk Art Merch
24:10 | Charles Simmons and the Wood Carved Jug
34:34 | Matt’s First Marvin Bailey Piece
47:19 | Ellen Martin’s Lion and North Carolina Pottery
56:44 | A Huge Baseball Carving Hits the Table
01:00:34 | Auction Preview: Tramp Art Box
01:08:00 | A Good Day Back at Ledbetter Auction Gallery
Do you know a folk artist or have a picking story worth sharing? Reach out to the show:
[email protected]
(919) 410-8002
Leave your name and where you are from and you might hear yourself on a future episode.
Follow @houseoffolkart for more stories, field trips, and upcoming auction dates at LedbetterAuctions.com.

Fishersville was a great show this year. Friday was packed from the start, dealers were moving material early, and by Saturday morning Matt was already back at the van digging through the pile of things that he’s taking back home.

Matt pulls out a few of the buys from Fishersville and talks through them while the show is still happening around him: carved walking sticks, tramp art, Clyde Herman carvings, a dancing figure, a whirligig that nearly flies apart in the wind, and one folk art cane that immediately turns into a full blown appraisal session.

There is also an ongoing challenge throughout the episode to find somebody at Fishersville who actually knows who Benny Carter is. Matt signs a copy of the Benny Carter book in the van and walks the show trying to give it away to the right person.

This is only part of the Fishersville trip. We still have more videos coming from the field, including a full day of buying around the show with Amanda’s Mercantile.

After Fishersville, everything heads back to the auction house alongside the Liberty finds. The plan now is to unload it all, photograph everything, and start getting pieces ready for upcoming auctions at Ledbetter Folk Art Auctions.

Chapters

00:00 | Back at Fishersville Antique Expo
00:20 | Friday Was a Madhouse
00:55 | Signing the Benny Carter Book
02:04 | The Nude Grandma Whirligig
03:01 | Clyde Herman Carvings and Walking Sticks
04:09 | The Five Dollar Owl
05:00 | The Best Cane at Fishersville
08:05 | Learning to Buy Tramp Art
11:02 | Non Buyer’s Remorse
13:21 | Breaking Down the Dancing Figure
16:05 | Looking for Someone Who Knows Benny Carter
17:37 | The Folk Art Reading Lamp
17:49 | Walking the Show with the Whirligig
18:56 | Does nobody Know Benny Carter??
23:27 | Giving the Book Away and Signing Off

Do you know a folk artist or have a picking story worth sharing? Reach out to the show:

[email protected]
(919) 410-8002

Leave your name and where you are from and you might hear yourself on a future episode.

Follow @houseoffolkart for more stories, field trips, and upcoming auction dates at LedbetterAuctions.com.

Matt returns to the auction gallery after Liberty with the buys still sitting behind him and another show already on the calendar. This time, the conversation picks up in that brief window between antique shows, when the dust from one trip has barely settled and the next one is already starting to take shape.
Liberty had the feeling of a final chapter, but not necessarily a dead end. After months of questions about what the last Liberty show would mean, Matt came away with a different impression. Dealers were still buying, still selling, and many were already talking about setting up again when the show moves into its next form. For Matt, the proof of the show was sitting right there in the room. He bought steadily, stayed late, and even kept working the field during pack up, coming home with pottery, baskets, canes, quilts, and a late day monkey jug that sends him into a full dealer’s breakdown.
From there, the episode turns north toward Fishersville, Virginia. The Fishersville Antiques Expo sits in the Shenandoah Valley, and Matt talks through why that region changes the kind of material you expect to see. Virginia brings a different layer of age and history into the hunt, with early period furniture, painted blanket chests, blue decorated stoneware, baskets, folk art canes, and other forms that can reach back deeper than the material usually found at Southern shows. For Matt, Fishersville is not just another stop after Liberty. It is a different buying environment, with a different pace, a different geography, and the possibility of finding pieces that can still make the whole trip worth it.

The episode also opens up the practical side of the antiques business. Matt talks about buying with the auction in mind, teaching his son how money moves through the trade, and why collecting and dealing are not always the same thing. Some pieces stay in the collection. Some pieces go straight back into the market. Others become part of the education that happens along the way. By the end of the Fishersville run, the plan is to bring everything back to Ledbetter Auctions, photograph it, list it, and let viewers see what the Liberty and Fishersville buys actually do once they hit the auction block.
The final section shifts from the road back into the gallery, where Matt walks through the Benny Carter display arranged for a North Carolina Folk Art Society exhibit and book event. The room is filled with Carter’s birdhouses, New York City paintings, clocks, Noah’s Ark scenes, poem paintings, cutouts, and one remarkable Annie Moon doll made to look like Benny himself. Matt traces Carter’s development from early birdhouses to dense city scenes, from unfinished late paintings to self-made clocks, showing how one artist returned again and again to the same subjects while constantly reworking them.
By the end, the episode becomes more than a recap. It is a look at the cycle that keeps this world moving: the show field, the auction house, the collector’s eye, the dealer’s risk, and the folk art that gives the whole thing a reason to keep going.
Chapters
00:00 | Back at the Auction Gallery Between Antique Shows
04:01 | Previewing the Next Trip to Fishersville
10:38 | Reflecting on the Last Day at Liberty
14:19 | At 14, You Can Work at Subway or Be an Antique Dealer
17:39 | Expectations for Fishersville
25:49 | Who Was Benny Carter?
28:55 | Walking Through the Benny Carter Exhibit
37:27 | Benny Carter’s Origin Poem
42:03 | Wrapping Up Before Fishersville
Do you know a folk artist or have a picking story worth sharing? Reach out to the show:

[email protected]
(919) 410-8002
Leave your name and where you are from and you might hear yourself on a future episode.

Follow @houseoffolkart for more stories, field trips, and upcoming auction dates at LedbetterAuctions.com.

Matt Ledbetter sits down before heading out to Liberty, North Carolina to set up Wade's tent for the last Liberty Antique show.
Held twice a year in Randolph County, the Liberty Antiques Festival has long been one of the best known antique shows in the region. Dealers from more than 25 states set up across a large farm setting, with everything from pottery, furniture, and quilts to decoys, folk art, glass, and country Americana. The show has built its reputation around original antiques and collectibles rather than crafts or reproductions.
For Matt and his family, Liberty has been a major part of life for years. In this episode, he looks back on some of the pieces he found there over the past decade, tells the stories behind them, and talks through why Liberty has meant so much to him as a dealer, picker, and collector. As setup day approaches, the conversation becomes a mix of memories, strategy, and anticipation for what might still turn up.
Matt starts with one of his most memorable pottery finds, a Chester Webster school jug he spotted at a yard sale just outside the show grounds. From there, he moves through a group of past Liberty finds including a carved walking stick, a painted stand, a painted basket, Benny Carter paintings, and a Ward Brothers decoy, using each one to explain what caught his eye and why some things stay in the collection while others go back into the market.
If you are interested in antiques, folk art, Southern pottery, or just want to hear how a longtime picker thinks before a big show, this episode gives a clear look at what Liberty means to the people who have spent years setting up, buying, and coming back every season.
Chapters
00:00 | Van Side Before the Final Liberty Antiques Festival
02:53 | The Webster School Jug Story
09:45 | A Walking Stick from Liberty
11:39 | The Painted Stand and Basket
15:39 | Benny Carter Paintings and Liberty Memories
20:44 | A Ward Brothers Decoy and Learning New Categories
26:31 | Should We Buy Every Decoy Tomorrow?
30:53 | What Matt Hopes to Find at Liberty
42:14 | Looking Ahead to Fishersville
44:36 | Packing Up and Heading to Liberty
45:25 | Picking Up Ethan and Driving to Set Up
46:38 | Arriving at Liberty and Finding the Webster Jug Yard Sale
47:50 | Wrapping the Day Before the Show
Do you know a folk artist or have a picking story worth sharing? Reach out to the show:
[email protected]
(919) 410-8002
Leave your name and where you are from and you might hear yourself on a future episode.

Follow @houseoffolkart for more stories, field trips, and upcoming auction dates at LedbetterAuctions.com.
Next week, we’ll release the full Liberty walkthrough, showing the setup, the hunt, and what turns up once the show gets going.