This week I was wandering through the library looking at our very small section of art books when I found one tucked back a bit. It was very unassuming and plain on the binding. The book was about Mary Lovelace O'Neal. I had never heard of her so I pulled the book out, with some effort, and cracked it open.
What I found inside were beautiful, colorful abstract paintings. I wondered to myself how I could have missed her work, how I could have gone this far in my lifetime without knowing her name or her work as it is just the sort of painting I love.
There is not a large amount of information on Mary Lovelace O'Neal on the internet...she doesn't even have a Wiki!! I did find a website that did a small piece on her which related mostly her educational background and her teaching credentials which are less important to me than you would expect.
O'Neal was born in Jackson, MS in 1942 to a cultured and educated family. Her father was a professor and she gained her love for art from her father and Professor Ronald Schnell. She is a graduate of Howard and Columbia and has had extensive training not only in fine arts but in printmaking as well. She has taught at many colleges across the country, but most recently she was a Professor Emerita at the University of California at Berkley from which she retired in 2006.
Her work is noted to have a great use of high abstraction that gives voice to "untangible elements of the human spirit". She was coming up in the time of the civil rights movement and this influenced her greatly. Here she is speaking about her art in her own words.
Here are some of her works. There are many wonderful ones in books but so little on the internet to share with you. Enjoy!
"Black Glitter Nights"
"Running with Black Panthers"
"Racism is like Rain, Either it is Raining or it is Gathering Somewhere"
"She Thinks She is a Zebra..."
Mary Lovelace O'Neal
No comments:
Post a Comment