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John T. Scott
John T. Scott, one of the country’s most highly acclaimed contemporary
artists, will be recognized in a comprehensive exhibition exploring the
genius of his work. Scott has been celebrated for creating a unique
visual language through innovative works of art which have been shaped,
in great part, by African, Caribbean, and distinctly local traditions. Best
known for creating vibrantly colored and multi-layered prints and kinetic
sculptures, Scott’s work has been referred to as “optical
jazz,” evoking the spirit of music and dance in his art. Circle
Dance: The Art of John T. Scott traces the technical, aesthetic
and political evolution of this native New Orleans artist’s work
over the past forty years. Organized by the New Orleans Museum
of Art, the exhibition will be on view May 7 through July 10, 2005.
John
T. Scott is the 1992 recipient of the prestigious “Genius Grant” from
the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, awarded for demonstrating
extraordinary originality and exceptional creativity in the field of
art. Scott is one of a selected few artists from across the United
States chosen to receive this honor. This grant and unrestricted
stipend recognized John Scott as one of America’s most innovative
artists.
Growing
up, Scott and his five siblings were introduced to a solid work ethic
by their parents, Thomas and Mary Mable Holmes Scott, in New Orleans’s
Lower 9th Ward. His father’s dedication to providing for
his family as a cook and server in several of New Orleans’s most
prominent restaurants, along with his mother’s wisdom and inspiration,
encouraged Scott to pursue his dream of becoming an artist with determination
and optimism. Scott learned basic carpentry skills from his father
and embroidery from his mother, instilling in him a partly practical,
partly creative desire towards making things that would influence his
life as a resourceful and inventive artist. The insight and generosity
instilled in him during childhood are part of what has made him an exceptional
artist and an inspirational teacher.
He
attended Xavier University of Louisiana in the 1950s and studied under
painter Numa Rousseve, sculptor Frank Hayden, and Sister Mary Lurana
Neely. During the 1950s, Scott and his fellow African American students
were pushed to excel beyond greater society’s often narrow-minded
expectations and participate in region-wide art projects challenging
their knowledge and initiative. Scott received a Master of Fine
Arts from Michigan State University where he gained two important assistantships
with his major professors, sculptor Robert Weil and painter/printmaker
Charles Pollock (brother of Abstract Expressionist painter Jackson Pollock).
Scott
then returned to New Orleans as a Professor of Fine Arts at his alma mater,
Xavier, creating a legion of inspired students during the past 40 years. In
the fall of 1965 he married longtime girlfriend Anna RitaSmith
and continued teaching and creating art. A new marriage, a demanding
teaching post, and the arrival of children did not slow Scott’s artistic
productivity. These challenges only motivated Scott to work at a
pace and level of success unparalleled among his peers.
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Scott’s
art often contains movement, either kinetic or implied. Experimenting in
a multitude of media infused with African, Caribbean, and local flavors, Scott’s
art is characterized by diversity. Scott uses a unique thinking style,
which he describes as “Spherical Thinking”--an improvisational technique
which allows him to see relationships between all things, even when the relationship
may not be blatantly clear. “The name Circle Dance alludes
to Scott’s performative engagement with three-dimensional object making
and the self-choreographed movements required by the viewer to fully experience
his art,” says guest curator Dr. Richard J. Powell, Chairman of Art and
Art History at Duke University. Scott’s main objective in all of
his work is to “move someone’s spirit,” and anyone who has
seen his art would say that he has accomplished that task with aplomb.
This exhibition
will be accompanied by a fully illustrated color catalog featuring a preface
by Ambassador Corinne C. [Lindy] Boggs; foreword and acknowledgments by NOMA
Director E. John Bullard; an essay by guest curator Dr. Richard J. Powell,
Professor of African American Art at Duke University; New Orleans recipes by
chef Leah Chase; Reminiscence by Ellis Marsalis, founder of the UNO
Jazz Studies Program; an artist biography and checklist of works of art in
the exhibition.
This exhibition
is sponsored by Hibernia National Bank with additional support from MetLife
Foundation, Port of New Orleans, Xavier University, and Arthur Roger Gallery.
Media
sponsors for Circle Dance include Cox Media, The Louisiana Weekly, ClearChannel
Radio of New Orleans, and NOLA.com.
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