Florin Road Community Beautification Project - My Tribute to Elizabeth Catlett

Shonna McDaniel's, Founder and Executive Director of the Sojourner Truth African Heritage Museum- is the project manager for the Florin Road Community Beautification Project.

Complete a mock-up design for chair(s)- a front view of the chair design.

Elizabeth Catlett (American, 1915-2012)

Also known as Mora, Elizabeth Catlett

Birthplace: Washington, DC, United States

The project area will be beautified by creating a cohesive, well-maintained look along the Florin Road corridor that vibrantly displays the diversity and culture of the Meadowview neighborhood by installing public art designed by community members. In addition, areas prone to graffiti will be updated with community murals. Public art elements will include the following:

• Murals: Three (3) community murals (two located at Tamoshanter Way and Florin Road by SOJO at 2251 Florin Rd, one near a litter hot spot). The murals are in areas prone to graffiti. The two murals at 2251 Florin Rd will beautify a public space used by the food bank for pick-ups and public events and provide a connWomen'sshowcasing SOJO.

• Public Art: Public art installation of twenty-eight (28) Harlem Chairs located on the west sidNAACP'sorin Rd (Harlem Chairs designed by SOJO) to create a cultural connection to the project area for the community. Twenty will be used as public seating, and eight will be art installations (8 to 10 feet tall). All Harlem Chair will feature artists to provide arts education about the era in history.

Meeting with artist Larry Meeks, • Artist and fabricator Larry Meeks will create the metal sculpture 10 feet H x 12 feet W x 8 inches D and make 20 small chairs (6 ft) and six large chairs (8 ft). I'm recording his process and talking about how tall the metal slabs will be once painted and mounted to the chair. This chair has been selected by Luther Burbank High School, Sacramento Unified School District, for installation on their campus at the corner of Florin Road and Luther Drive. (more to come)

Biography:

Who is sculptor Elizabeth Catlett?

Elizabeth Catlett is an abstract sculpture artist and graphic designer who often works with bronze and marvel. From the start, Catlett has been intrigued by African American, Native American, and Mexican art -- and often incorporates tho"e themes into her sculptures. As a result, she is considered by most to be the greatest American black sculptor. Her groundbreaking work led to her being acknowledged by the mainstream art world as early as the 1940s.

This lifetime of work has led to numerous awards and fellowships. She received a Rosenwald Fellowship, the Women's Caucus for Art Lifetime Achievement Award, a Legends and Legacy Award from the Art Institute of Chicago, and the NAACP's prestigious Key of Life Award. In addition, she has an honorary doctorate from Carnegie Mellon, and her work is featured in almost every major American and Mexican art museum.

What kind of art does Elizabeth Catlett make?

Overwhelmingly, Elizabeth Catlett makes sculptures of the female form. Her work takes many mediums, including Wood, bronze, and marble. She is famous for using her own body as a model for her work. Since her college thesis, she has depicted African American women and children. This has often led her into decidedly political territory. Her famed linocut series "I am the Negro Woman" is directly inspired by what she learned from her students - working-class black men and women. Whatever the medium, print, or sculpture, Catlett's work is beautiful because of her smooth forms, brought about by years of honing her technique and craft.

How did sculptor Elizabeth Catlett get started?

Elizabeth Catlett was born to a working family in Washington, D.C., "where she spent much of her young life. Education was highly valued in the Catlett Hospital, so Elizabeth received a Bachelor of Arts from Howard University. She was accepted into the MFA program at the University of Iowa, graduating in 1940 -- the first black woman to ever attend that institution. While there, she studied under the great regionalist painter Grant Wood, who taught her to paint what she knew best. Catlett often credited Wood with freeing her to depict the reality of black women in her work.

Following graduation, she became the chair of the art department at Dillard University -- her time there would transform that school. By the end of her time, they would adopt the use of nude models in class, and gain entrance for black children into their museum, something that hadn't been allowed until then. She moved to Mexico in the late 1940s and spent much of her life there studying, sculpting, and promoting social justice.

Here is a blog post I did in 2012,  https://phantomgallery.blogspot.com/2012/04/rip-elizabeth-catlett-april-15-1919.html.

Catlett, Elizabeth, Sojourner Maquette 1999 17" High, commissioned by the Metropolitan Arts Commission, for the https://www.slaverymonuments.org/items/show/1200

Originally located at the Sacramento Convention Center (1400 J St, Sacramento, CA 95814), in 2013, it was vandalized and moved to the Crocker Art Museum (215 O Street, Sacramento, CA)

"I'm delighted to say the chair has been approved with 64.7% of the vote. In addition, the community has selected Elizabeth Catlett to be honored, with a plurality of 33% of the vote.

One of the requirements of the paperwork is that the artist surrender rights to the work. The school district requires this so that if, in the future, they decide they need to cover, remove, or alter part or all of the work, there will be no risk of litigation against the school district."

John Doolittle Luther Burbank Campus Beautification Committee

 

The Florin Road Community Beautification Project is a placemaking project to improve a stretch of Florin Road from Tamoshanter Way to Franklin Boulevard through public art, beautification efforts, public outreach, and youth engagement. This project is funded by Clean California, a transformative initiative to remove litter, create jobs and beautify California.

The project represents a partnership between Sojourner Truth African Heritage Museum, Florin Road Partnership, Florin Square Community Development Corporation, Luther Burbank High School, and the City of Sacramento with a mission to reduce waste and debris, beautify and improve public spaces and advance equity for the areas underserved communities. The project will include art installations, community pop-up events, cohesive branding along the Florin Road corridor, upgraded drought-tolerant landscaping, and public seating. Additionally, area youth will be engaged in all aspects of the transformation process to effect lasting positive change.