Press Release: The Hampton Years by Jacqueline E. Lawton Featured at Hampton University Museum's Homecoming Celebration
On October 12th at 3:00pm, THE HAMPTON YEARS by Jacqueline E. Lawton will be presented by Hampton University Museum as part of their Homecoming Festivities and in conjunction with the opening of The Diane Whitfield-Locke & Carnell Locke Collection: Building on Tradition.
"It's exciting that The Hampton Years will be read at Hampton Univeristy and featured as part of the Homecoming celebration," said Playwright Jacqueline E. Lawton. "It's an extraordinary opportunity and I can hardly believe that it's happening. It's an important step in the plays history and it will be my first visit tot he university."
About the Play
The Hampton Years explores the relationship between art professor Viktor Lowenfeld and his students, John Biggers and Samella Lewis. Lowenfeld joined the Hampton Institute in Virginia in 1939 as assistant professor of Industrial Arts and studio art teacher. He was later appointed as Chairman of the Art Department and in 1945, he was named curator of the distinguished collection of Black African Art at the Hampton Institute. Burgeoning artist John Biggers, who went on to become an internationally acclaimed painter, sculptor, teacher and philosopher, was his student. As was Samella Lewis, artist, printmaker and educator, with whom Lowenfeld had a contentious, but respectful relationship. The Hampton Years examines the impact of World War II on Jewish refugees living in the United States and their role in shaping the lives and careers of African American students in the segregated south.
The reading will be followed by the opening reception of the exhibit. More details below:
6:30pm - Opening Reception and Music by the Jason Jenkins Trio
7:30pm - Comments & Special Presentations
8:30pm - Opening Receptions Ends
"It's exciting that The Hampton Years will be read at Hampton Univeristy and featured as part of the Homecoming celebration," said Playwright Jacqueline E. Lawton. "It's an extraordinary opportunity and I can hardly believe that it's happening. It's an important step in the plays history and it will be my first visit tot he university."
About the Play
The Hampton Years explores the relationship between art professor Viktor Lowenfeld and his students, John Biggers and Samella Lewis. Lowenfeld joined the Hampton Institute in Virginia in 1939 as assistant professor of Industrial Arts and studio art teacher. He was later appointed as Chairman of the Art Department and in 1945, he was named curator of the distinguished collection of Black African Art at the Hampton Institute. Burgeoning artist John Biggers, who went on to become an internationally acclaimed painter, sculptor, teacher and philosopher, was his student. As was Samella Lewis, artist, printmaker and educator, with whom Lowenfeld had a contentious, but respectful relationship. The Hampton Years examines the impact of World War II on Jewish refugees living in the United States and their role in shaping the lives and careers of African American students in the segregated south.
The reading will be followed by the opening reception of the exhibit. More details below:
6:30pm - Opening Reception and Music by the Jason Jenkins Trio
7:30pm - Comments & Special Presentations
8:30pm - Opening Receptions Ends
The Diane Whitfield-Locke & Carnell Locke Collection: Building on Tradition
The exhibition will include master artists from both the 19th Century including Henry O. Tanner, Robert Duncanson, and Grafton Tyler Brown; from the Harlem Renaissance period with pieces from Aaron Douglass, a rare work by William H. Johnson, as well as works by Palmer Hayden, Jacob Lawrence; and from the modern tradition like Benny Andrews, Gwen Knight and Faith Ringgold. Additionally, the exhibition will also reflect the Locke's move towards collecting contemporary artists such as Clarissa Sligh, Betye Saar and James Phillips and feature twenty sculptures including works by Richard Hunt, Augusta Savage, Beulah Woodward, Richmond Barthe, and art historian and artist, Dr. David Driskell have been selected.
Co-curator, Woodson Reid states, "The Dianne Whitfield-Locke and Carnell Locke collection of African American art can be seen as a product of these groundbreaking years of research and inventiveness," begun by the many art historians and institutions that have focused on collecting African American art.
Vanessa Thaxton-Ward is the curator of collections at the Hampton University Museum and Shirley Woodson- Reid is a noted artist, educator and curator. Woodson-Reid resides in Michigan.
Click here to learn more.
The exhibition will include master artists from both the 19th Century including Henry O. Tanner, Robert Duncanson, and Grafton Tyler Brown; from the Harlem Renaissance period with pieces from Aaron Douglass, a rare work by William H. Johnson, as well as works by Palmer Hayden, Jacob Lawrence; and from the modern tradition like Benny Andrews, Gwen Knight and Faith Ringgold. Additionally, the exhibition will also reflect the Locke's move towards collecting contemporary artists such as Clarissa Sligh, Betye Saar and James Phillips and feature twenty sculptures including works by Richard Hunt, Augusta Savage, Beulah Woodward, Richmond Barthe, and art historian and artist, Dr. David Driskell have been selected.
Co-curator, Woodson Reid states, "The Dianne Whitfield-Locke and Carnell Locke collection of African American art can be seen as a product of these groundbreaking years of research and inventiveness," begun by the many art historians and institutions that have focused on collecting African American art.
Vanessa Thaxton-Ward is the curator of collections at the Hampton University Museum and Shirley Woodson- Reid is a noted artist, educator and curator. Woodson-Reid resides in Michigan.
Click here to learn more.
Jacqueline E. Lawton was named one of 30 of the nation's leading black playwrights by Arena Stage’s American Voices New Play Institute. Her plays include: Anna K; Blood-bound and Tongue-tied; Deep Belly Beautiful;The Devil’s Sweet Water; The Hampton Years; Ira Aldridge: the African Roscius; Lions of Industry, Mothers of Invention; Love Brothers Serenade (2013 semi-finalist for the Eugene O’Neill Theater Center’s National Playwrights Conference), Mad Breed, and Our Man Beverly Snow. Lawton’s work has been developed and presented at the following venues: Active Cultures, Classical Theater of Harlem, Folger Shakespeare Library, theHegira, Howard University, Kennedy Center’s Page to Stage Festival, Rorschach Theater Company, Savannah Black Heritage Festival (Armstrong Atlantic State University), Shakespeare Theatre Company, Source Theatre Festival, Theater J, and Woolly Mammoth Theater Company. She is published in Experiments in a Jazz Aesthetic: Art, Activism, Academia, and the Austin Project (University of Texas Press). Ms. Lawton received her MFA in Playwriting from the University of Texas at Austin, where she was a James A. Michener Fellow. She participated in the Kennedy Center’s Playwrights’ Intensive (2002) and World Interplay (2003). She is a 2012 TCG Young Leaders of Color award recipient and a National New Play Network (NNPN) Playwright Alumna. She has been recognized as a semi-finalist for the Eugene O’Neill Theater Center’s National Playwrights Conference and the Playwright's Center PlayLabs, and as a SheWrites Festival finalist. A member of Arena Stage's Playwright's Arena and the Dramatist Guild of America, Ms. Lawton currently resides in Washington, D.C.