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THE TALLAHASSEE NEWS

"Where there is no vision, the people perish"

. . . and Death come to my door, and I asked the Lord to let me live . . .
you got a spiritual eye and you can see and know that Death was at
the foot of my bed' – O.L. Samuels

O.L. Samuels carved Hurricane Rita out of wood, as well as a black Moses in tuxedo

White House, Smithsonian value the folk spirit in this Tallahassee artist's work

By Michael E. Abrams
Editor, The Tallahassee News

        Death came to the bedside of O.L. Samuels, 73, recently. It wasn't a good feeling. That's when he began to pray, and that's when he told Death to go away. He prayed to God to live. He's a religious man. And he says he was given some more time on this earth. Enough time to carve out quite a few more figures, including a large horse for sale for the right buyer, and a green-eyed Moses figure in a gold tuxedo, a blue bow tie, and tuxedo.
"There was one night I wasn't even sick," he says, "and Death come to my bed and I asked the Lord to let me live. You can't see it, you can feel it, you got a spiritual eye you can see and know Death was at the foot of my bed. I know it was there and I tell people. They think I'm crazy, but I ain't."
       "I figure the Lord is going to let me stay on a while longer."
      If you have never met O.L. Samuels, you might think that no one like him could exist. Former boxer and tree surgeon, he's survived the retribution of a dynamite blast which destroyed his home (he wasn't at home), three poisonings, a bullet shot into his mouth, a tree accident which put him in a wheelchair, two heart attacks, and a stomach knifing by drug dealers who left him for dead.

Because he has lived in such dangerous neighborhoods, he got a license to carry a gun. At his last home, he put a padlock on his mailbox and nailed a warning sign to a tree in his yard.
His work is in prominent museums in many cities, and his pieces are in the White House and in the Smithsonian. Art collectors and people who like art have flown in or driven to meet him at his shows and even to his home in Tallahassee.
"I went to the Smithsonian and it's a big place. They bought a lot of work (of mine) out of New Orleans. And they came from the White House and stayed eight hours and they took some work back. I got a greyhound dog going up to White House. They got a bird of mine, and some more pieces, several pieces. "

Continued on Page Three

O.L. Samuels and authentic folk art horse "Dana" -- a Tennessee
Walker -- carved of wood -- which Samuels has put on sale. It was
displayed in the main tent at the Red Hills Horse Trials in Tallahassee
and received many admiring comments. He is asking $70,000
for this work of art.