H U G E A U X

2006:  Mr. Rubbie Laughlin (Miami, Florida), Milene Bey (Fort de France, Martinique), Romeo Augustus Cherot (Father of Sculptor-Artist Amir Bey), Dr. Mayme Agnew Clayton, Fannie Lea Hinnant (Mother of Artist-Vandorn Hinnant), Drummer Lance Carter,

........................................................................................

Drummer Lance Carter

May 11, 1955 - November 1, 2006

All Saints Day

National Conference of Artists (NCA) member

Aaron Ibn Pori Pitts (Detroit Artists of the Year 2008)  

Born in Chicago, DePillars grew up in a family that recognized and encouraged his interest in visual art, as well as in the performing arts. The neighborhoods in which he lived were teeming with jazz and blues clubs, as well as with gospel and ethnic music which strongly affected him. This early childhood development provided the foundation for the man, whose commitment to art and to education changed the lives of those who were privileged to know him.

Murry DePillars was educated in the public schools of Chicago. He earned an A.A. in Fine Arts from Kennedy-King Community College, a B.A. in Art Education and an M.A. in Urban Studies from Roosevelt University, also in Chicago. He received his Ph.D. in Art Education from The Pennsylvania State University. Both his master’s thesis, “Housing, Environment and Children’s Art” and his doctoral dissertation, “African-American Artists and Students: A Morphological Study in the Urban Black Aesthetic” addressed societal issues.

Prior to coming to Richmond, Virginia, in 1971 to serve as Assistant Dean of the School of the Arts at Virginia Commonwealth University, DePillars worked in several educational settings in Illinois. He also served in the U. S. Army during the Vietnam War. One of the leading figures of Chicago’s 1960s African-American Arts Movement, often referred to as the “Black Arts Movement” and “Chicago’s Black Cultural Renaissance,” he attracted international attention for his artistic output.

In 1976, Dr. DePillars was named Dean of the School of the Arts at VCU, where he served until he retired in 1995, earning the title Professor Emeritus. Under his leadership, the School of the Arts grew to become one of the largest art schools in the U. S., and attained both national and international recognition. He was quick to smile when asked about his time at VCU, saying modestly, “With 2800 students, over 130 full-time faculty in 12 departments, an art library, an art gallery, two theaters, two concert halls, and a community music school, it was like being on an art oasis.”

From 1980 through 1987, with strong support from the (Richmond) City Manager’s office and other cooperating local companies and organizations, he produced one of the region’s most successful Jazz Festivals, featuring highly acclaimed artists such as Dizzy Gillespie, Stan Getz, Art Blakey, Wynton Marsalis, Carmen McRae and The Modern Jazz Quartet. He laid a solid foundation for VCU’s Jazz Program. In April, 1985, he was the subject of Style Weekly’s cover story, and was dubbed “Richmond’s Jazz Man.”

Professional and civic commitments left limited time for Dr. DePillars to pursue his passion. Therefore, when he was invited to become a member of Afri-Cobra, a group of serious African-American artists like himself, he eagerly accepted. Afri-Cobra provided a demanding forum, beyond the academic setting, through which the members severely challenged each others’ art as they confronted societal and cultural issues, not only in America, but also in other parts of the world.

Through the years, Dr. DePillars exhibited his artworks in numerous galleries and museums, in both solo and group exhibitions, including the Whitney Museum of American Art and The Studio Museum of Harlem, both in New York; The Mississippi Museum of Art; The Orlando Museum of Art; The Museum of Contemporary Art in Chicago; the World Expo in Spokane; the Fay Gold Gallery in Atlanta; and the Joysmith Gallery & Studio in Memphis.

During the summer, 2002, he exhibited at the Hampton University Museum. Entitled “Beyond the Fixed Star: The Art of Murry DePillars” the exhibit was comprised of 42 works from 1960 through 2002, and included a variety of drawings and paintings. His works are known for their color and movement. His powerful paintings, layered with brilliant as well as cool colors, were inspired by African and African-American history, literature, music, quilt-making traditions, and other strong cultural influences. The Institute for Positive Education in Chicago routinely uses his works as the basis for lessons in its K-12 curriculum.

In December, 2006, his painting, From the Mississippi Delta, 1997, was purchased by the Friends of African and African-American Art and presented to the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts for its permanent collection. Other DePillars works can be found in public and private collections around the world. . Dr. DePillars was the recipient of numerous awards. Articles, bibliographic entries, book covers, commissioned illustrations, reviews and photographs of his artworks attest to his significant contributions to art and education. In 1989, he was named an Alumni Fellow in the College of Art and Architecture at The Pennsylvania State University and in 1996, he was awarded the Presidential Medallion from Virginia Commonwealth University. The public rewards for his work are evidenced by several grants Dr. DePillars received from the National Endowment for the Arts; his appointment as an Academic Specialist by the USIA with service in Malaysia in 1985; and his travel to Zimbabwe in 1994 through the support of the USIA’s University Affiliate Program. At the state level, he served three governors on the Virginia Arts and Architectural Review Board.

In 1998, he chose to devote his full attention to his painting, a luxury he had never had the opportunity to fully enjoy. His passing silenced an important advocate for educational and artistic growth and achievement. His legacy lives through his work and his students.

He leaves to mourn their loss, his devoted wife, Mary; mother Mrs. Mary B. Taylor and sisters Mrs. Addie Mae Robinson (Jerry) and Mrs. Ernestine Williams, all of Chicago, IL; son Steve (Laura) and mother-in-law, Mrs. Pearl R. Lee of Ruther Glen, VA; and many other relatives and friends. Final rites were private.

Memorial Contributions in Dr. DePillars's name should be made to: Virginia Union University, C/O Mrs. E. J. White, President's Office, 1500 Lombardy Street, Richmod, Va. 23220 - Pine Camp Arts & Community Center, Arts Advisory Council, 4901 Old Brook Road, Richmond, VA 23227 - ETA Creative Arts Foundation, 7558 S. South Chicago Ave., Chicago, IL 60619 or Third World Press Foundation, P. O. Box 19730, 7822 S. Dobson Ave., Chicago, IL 60619.

May God Bless                                 ...Coursity of Scott's Funeral Home. Richmond Va.

Sculptor Tina Allen

LOS ANGELES – Sculptor Tina Allen, who depicted such

figures as Martin Luther King Jr. and Fredrick Douglas in

her works, has died. She was 58.

Allen died Tuesday at a Los Angeles

hospital from complications of a heart attack,

said her ex-husband, Roger Allen.

Among her bronze sculptures are George Washington Carver

in the St. Louis Botanical Garden; Douglas in the African

American Museum in Birmingham, Ala.; Sojourner Truth in

Battle Creek, Mich.; and King in Las Vegas.

Allen may be best known for her 13-foot statue of "Roots"

author Alex Haley located in Haley's hometown of Knoxville, Tenn.

Allen was born in December 1949 in New York.

Her father was jazz musician Gordon "Specs" Powell.

When she was 11 years old, she worked with renowned

sculptor William Zorach. She graduated from the University

of South Alabama and later continued her education at the

Pratt Institute in New York and the University of Venice in Italy.

May God Bless

Master Artist: Louis Bayard Sloan

Philadelphia

1932 - 2008

Louis Sloan, painting instructor at the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Artsfrom 1963 to his retirement in 1997, a conservator at the Philadelphia Museum of Art for 18 years and a recipient of many honors for his work, died of a heart attack Oct. 15. He was 75 and lived in the Northeast.  Lou was the fifth of 13 children of Matthew and Anna Mae Sloan. He graduated from Benjamin Franklin High School and studied at the Fleisher Art School before winnin a four-year scholarship to the Academy from Philadelphia City Council in 1952.  Sloan was originally encouraged to study at the Academy by instructor Julius Bloch and alumnus Jack Bookbinder, the head of art programs for the Philadelphia public schools. Sloan went on to receive the Philadelphia City Council Scholarship in 1952 and attended PAFA from 1953 to 1957. In 1955, Sloan's painting "Back Yards" was acquired, a remarkable achievement for a student to be added to the collection midway through his studies. A year later, Sloan was awarded PAFA's J. Henry Schiedt Traveling Scholarship.

Lou received many honors in his career. In 2005, he was given the Academy's third annual Distinguished Alumni Award. Other honors included the Louis Comfort Tiffany grant, the Academy's Jennie Sesan Gold Medal, the Emily Lowe grant, the John Simon Guggenheim Fellowship and the James Van Der Zee Award from Philadelphia's Brandywine Workshop.  Sloan worked at the Philadelphia Museum of Art from 1961 to 1980.

Burial was in Glenwood Memorial Gardens, Broomall.

Master Sculptress

Harlee Little

Photographer

(Unknown - January 1, 2009)

A native of Concord, NC, Harlee Little was born the first child of six. He displayed an early interest in photography taking pictures of buildings around the campus of Livingstone College where his father worked.

The momentous year of 1954 changed everything for young Little, baseball, baseball all the time. All time was measured in relation to baseball, at home, at school, at church, even on granddaddy's farm. It was baseball that gave Little his first experience with what W. E. B. Dubois called the duality of black life in the United States. Would his number be 24 or 7, the markings of two New York center fielders of the day?

On into high school baseball ruled the clock until his parents pointed out that playing baseball was play. It was now serious time for education and work. So serious it was. Little enrolled in Howard University almost a century after the emancipation of African slaves with aspirations of a degree in law or physics.

Photographs for an independent student newspaper in 1968 began a life in photography and a commitment to exploring the power and impact of visual communication. Photography became central element in Little's subsequent work and professional experience, including teaching, social documentation, magazine production and management, and design of communication services for federal agency initiatives.

Little has produced outstanding photographic images for use in art, commerce, education, industry, journalism, public and corporate relations since 1974. He specialized in producing images that communicate and document the ideas and ideals of advocates and educators, associations and corporations, entrepreneurs and government agencies.

The unique imagery of Little's vision has been published and displayed worldwide. Among these venues are American Heritage, Black Excellence, Black Collegian, Columbia JournalismReview, Emerge, Espana, Essence, Harper Collins Books, Jet, People, Science Magazine, Sydney MorningHerald, The Washingtonian, Time, Washington Post, Washington Times, and ABC News 20/20. His photographs are also featured in the exhibit and publication Reflections in Black, a history of black photographers 1840 to the present. Harlee Little is a founding member of the Exposure Group: African-American Photographers Association and was an active member in the Black Artists of DC.

Harlee Little died on January 1, 2009.
(Bio above from the Exposure Group website)

Additional biography information can be found at African American Visual Artists Data Bank: http://aavad.com/artistbibliog.cfm?id=2970

May God Bless