Charlie Lucas

Lucas was the eldest of many siblings, and he spent much of his childhood entertaining and making toys for other children. In 1984, at 33-years-old, Lucas fell off of the back of a truck on a construction site and was left permanently disabled. He was bed-ridden for nearly three years. Through his recovery, he found his artistic practice once again. He calls his artistic process "recycling himself" and his humanoid figures sculpted from recycled mechanical parts echo his sentiment. He refers to his sculptures as "toys," continuing the practice he began in childhood, and he refers to himself as "The Tin Man". He now owns and operates Tin Man Studio, a small gallery and studio, in Selma, Alabama. Although he now lives in Selma, he maintains his five-acre property in Prattville. His property stretches across both sides of the road that runs through Pink Lily. His family home sits on one side and on the other sits sprawling fields and rolling hills where Lucas has built a sculpture garden within a subsistence garden. His sculptures of giant masks and dinosaurs sit among corn, squash, and peanut crops.

Charlie Lucas (born October 12, 1951) is a contemporary sculptor born in Prattville, Alabama, in the area known as Pink Lily, who now lives and works in Selma, Alabama. He is owner and operator of the Tin Man Studio, part gallery and part studio, in Selma.

Charlie Lucas was born in Birmingham, Alabama on October 12, 1951. He is a descendant of six generations of craftspeople. His mother and grandmother were skilled quilters and ceramicists while his maternal grandfather and great-grandfather were blacksmiths. In fact, his great-grandfather, King Lucas, made sculptures of his own from discarded metal. Other members of his family were basket weavers and woodcarvers. Lucas studied blacksmithing and metal works, in general, with his grandfather. It was through him that Lucas learned to make toys for other children and decided to pursue art as a career.