Between 2007 and 2015 I did a series on Ancestors. My parents had recently died and I wanted to honor them and other Ancestors. I’d also had two brothers die at an early age, so it was a way of processing my memories of them. A few of the paintings included self portraits such as… Continue reading Ancestors and Self
Month: August 2021
Mamie Clark
Mamie Phipps Clark 1929-2019 Mamie Clark was an American social psychologist who, along with her husband Kenneth Clark, focused on the development of self-consciousness in black preschool children. Clark received her post-secondary education at Howard University, and she earned her bachelor’s and master’s degrees there. For her master’s thesis, known as “The Development of Consciousness of Self in Negro… Continue reading Mamie Clark
Stagecoach Mary
Mary Fields aka Stagecoach Mary – 1832–1914 When Mary was about 60 years old, she was hired as a mail carrier because she was the fastest applicant to hitch a team of six horses. She was the first African American woman employed as a mail carrier in the US and the second woman to work… Continue reading Stagecoach Mary
Self Portrait
A conversation with two crocheters in Split, Yugoslavia, 1977. Our language in common was crocheting. I painted this in August, 2021
Ancestors
In 2010 to 2014 I did a series of Ancestor paintings using vintage family photographs. In July, I reused one of those photos and painted this piece of my mom and older brother Dennis when he was a baby, circa 1944.
Vanilla Beane
Vanilla Beane 1919 – 2022 Vanilla Powell Beane, affectionately known as Washington, D.C.’s “hat lady,” turned 100 in 2019 and was still custom-making hats at 101. She moved to DC and found work as an elevator operator in a building that housed the Washington Millinery & Supply Company. The shop is where Beane would frequent to browse the… Continue reading Vanilla Beane
Billie Holiday
Billie Holiday 1915 – 1959 Billie Holiday was an American singer best known for her song “Strange Fruit” about the lynching of two Black men in Marion, Indiana in 1930. The FBI and Federal Bureau of Narcotics hounded her and damaged her career in retaliation for refusing to stop singing the song. Links for additional… Continue reading Billie Holiday
Augusta Savage
Augusta Savage 1892 -1962 Augusta Savage was an American sculptor associated with the Harlem Renaissance. She was also a teacher whose studio was important to the careers of a generation of artists who would become nationally known. She worked for equal rights for African Americans in the arts. In 1924 Savage was one of 100… Continue reading Augusta Savage
Zora Hurston
Zora Neale Hurston 1891-1960 Zora Neale Hurston was an American author, anthropologist, and filmmaker. She portrayed racial struggles in the early-1900s American South and published research on hoodoo. The most popular of her four novels is Their Eyes Were Watching God, published in 1937. Additional information: Nora Zeale Hurston website National Women’s History Museum
Nannie Burroughs
Nannie Helen Burroughs 1879 –1961 Burroughs was a black educator, orator, religious leader, civil rights activist, feminist, and businesswoman in the United States. In 1909, she founded the National Training School for Women and Girls in Washington, DC. She fought both for equal rights in races as well as furthered opportunities for women beyond the simple duties… Continue reading Nannie Burroughs