Howard Campbell, well known to many, passed away earlier this month. Howard was a fabulous collector and one who wanted others to share in his love of this art form. Howard was a member of the North Carolina Folk Art Society. He was a lifelong collector of all forms of folk art – traditional, contemporary, anonymous, famous, spiritual and secular. He did not discriminate. He freely loaned his collection to museums for exhibition and the spread the joy of his passion. For one auction, he donated a large portion to be sold to benefit the American Folk Art Museum in New York. While we did not know him personally, his friends speak of him with great admiration and he will be missed. His passion for collecting and desire to share it with others will live on forever. His family is in our prayers.
Thanks to Matt Lippa from Artisans for the content information.
The Home of Folk Art
Howard was a lifelong friend, closer than family during our youth in Tahlequah, Oklahoma and later, and an intellectual companion the like of whom few ever experience.
He was the Boy Scout idol of a generation, mega-Eagle Scout, and generous to a fault with his time and energy, provided he was furnished balogna and onion sandwiches! He almost completed the Naval Academy Class of ‘62; the Navy’s fickle mediocrity was an early downfall, and one that spun him toward interests which suited his personality more, such as pre-Columbian art, antique clocks, and ultimately Appalachian folk art. He raised naivety to an life practice, embraced it as an art form, and took that to levels beyond most of our ability to comprehend.
He was a personality who generated nicknames: Bucky Beaver (Annapolis), Howdy (family including those of us he adopted) and “Hairy Howard Campbell, King of the River,” for a generation of Boy Scouts at Camp Fred Darby, where Roger Baker, the longtime caretaker Howard called Ben Brown, called him Haird. That Ozark accent was where Howard found identity in a place that just didn’t know what to do with a kid with an IQ of 176.
Never another like him, not Haird.
Dear Mr. Cantrell, Thank you for your heartfelt comments about your dear friend Mr. Howard Campbell. He is missed by many and the information you shared is comforting to all who knew him and is much appreciated.
Thank you!