Born in 1941, Bill Barker spent many years working in the Steel mills of Indiana, before he returned to his home state of Kentucky, where he was employed by the State Highways Department. His life as a folk artist began in 1994, when he began to collect pine knots and carve them into whimsical figures, which he paints in vivid colors. He sells his work at folk art fairs and is quite proud to have had a piece chosen by the Smithsonian Institution.