Episode #24 feat. Artis Lane
In this episode, Eric sits down with the legendary artist Artis Lane… where they discuss her life as a young girl having emigrated from Canada to Michigan and formative experiences she had that later informed her artwork. They discuss her travels as a young adult to South Africa and exposure to apartheid.. Her prolific and celebrated artistic career that includes her exceptional portrait work, her focus on social issues and sculpture including her bust of Abolitionist and Suffragette Sojourner Truth that was unveiled by First Lady Michelle Obama and most recently her contemporary work that deals in the realm of Metaphysics.
Guest Bio: Artis Lane is a Black Canadian sculptor and painter who was born in North Buxton, a small town near Chatham in Ontario, Canada, in a community largely populated by the descendants of slaves who emigrated to Canada on the Underground Railroad. At two years old her family moved to Ann Arbor, Michigan where she started developing her interests in drawing and painting. Upon graduating high school, she received a scholarship to attend the Ontario College of Art in Toronto, Ontario. After receiving her degree, she moved to Detroit, Michigan newly married to her husband, journalist Bill Lane. While there, she continued her education at the Cranbrook Academy of Art. Artis Lane's sculpture are primarily concerned with portraying what she sees as enduring spiritual truths. These truths are that the growth of spiritual awareness is continuous and that nobody ever arrives at perfection. In addition, spiritual awareness connects humans with a universal force."
Her commissions include a series of bronze portraits for the Soul Train Awards, a bronze portrait of Rosa Parks for the Smithsonian Institution and designing the original logo for the Dance Theatre of Harlem. She has made sculptures of prominent people as former President George H. W. Bush, Bill Cosby, Walter Annenberg, Michael Jordan, Gordon Getty, Nelson Mandela and Henry Kissinger. The National Congress of Black Women commissioned Lane to create a bronze bust depicting women's-right advocate and abolitionist Sojourner Truth. The bust was unveiled on April 28, 2009 by First Lady Michelle Obama for permanent display in the Emancipation Hall at the Capitol Visitor Centre. The Women's Caucus for Art, making Truth the first black woman to be honored with a bust at U.S. Capitol. Lane was honored in 2013 as recipient of the Women's Caucus for Art Lifetime Achievement Award.
