From the artist's website:

My name is Carl Billingsley. I am a sculptor. I was born in 1943 in Oklahoma. My father was in France with the US Army. He remained in the Army after the war and I became an “Army Brat” as we were frequently called whenever we moved to a new town. My early experiences as an ‘outsider’ probably made me more comfortable with new ideas and less conventional ways of doing and thinking. When we did return to Fort Sill, our home base in Okla., I spent as much time with my maternal grandparents as possible. I was very close to my granddad who was a carpenter. I went to the job-site with him whenever possible and it was through helping him and being taught how to build things that I acquired my love of making. When I was about 9 years old we were posted to Germany. We lived in two different cities during the three years we were there and I discovered the world of museums, cities, cathedrals and monuments. It was in Germany that I first really encountered sculpture and I was amazed and awed by what I saw.
Like many people, I thought that one had to be chosen, or had to have a ‘special’ talent in order to become an artist. By the time I graduated from high school and started going to night classes at the community college, I came to realize that Art was like every other human endeavor. You just had to learn how to do it. My original ambition was to be a writer. Having always been an avaricious reader, and still believing somewhat in the notion of ‘special talent’, I thought that I had a better chance of being a writer than an artist. Four years of English and Creative Writing classes convinced me to look into Art classes. I immediately gravitated to the sculpture studio and felt comfortable and capable. Fifty years later, I am still in the studio!