The Artists PROOF


Spring 2002
Volume 19


 

Gwendolyn Knight Lawrence



New York Artists Equity Association, Inc.
Honorary President

Gwendolyn Knight Lawrence

Elected Honorary President of NYAEA
The board of directors of New York Artists Equity Association, Inc (NYAEA) joins me in welcoming Gwendolyn
Knight Lawrence as honorary president of NYAEA. Her late husband Jacob Lawrence was a founding member of Artists Equity Association (AEA) and devoted many years of service to AEA. He was particularly active in the 1950s when he held many posts in the organization including president. During his term Lawrence emphasized the vitality of membership participation.

Gwen Knight was born in 1913 in Bridgetown, Barbados, West Indies. She studied at Howard University School of Fine Arts, Washington DC, 1931 - 1933; New School for Social Research, NYC, 1960 - 1966; and Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture, Skowhegan ME, 1968 - 1970.

As the wife of Jacob Lawrence it wasn't easy being Gwen Knight. Perhaps some of those exhibitions that best define the situation are Significant Others:Artist Wives of Artists, Kraushaar Galleries, NYC, 1993; Jacob Lawrence & Gwendolyn Knight: Together in the World, Bumbershoot, Seattle Center, Seattle WA, 1999; and Lives Connected: Jacob Lawrence and Gwendolyn Knight, held at The Minneapolis Institute of Arts, Minneapolis MN, 1998. She has had numerous solo exhibitions including the Museum of African-American Life and Culture, Dallas TX, 1996; Prints and Monoprints, Smith Robertson Museum and Cultural Center, Jackson MS, 1997; and Gwendolyn Knight, Works from 1941 - 1999, Black Mountain Center for the Arts, Black Mountain NC, 2001.

There are over sixty group exhibitions on Knight's resume. Among them are Northwest Views, Selections from the SAFECO Collection, Frye Art Museum, Seattle WA, 2001; African American Experience, Edmonds Community College Art Gallery, Lynnwood WA, 2000; Fifteenth Annual Artists' Salute to Black History Month, The Plaza Pasadena, Pasadena CA,1997; Legends, The Plaza Pasadena, Pasadena CA, 1996.

1995 - 1997 Caribbean Visions: Contemporary Painting and Sculpture, Center for the Fine Arts in Miami, Miami FL; New Orleans Museum of Art, New Orleans LA; Wadsworth Atheneum, Hartford CT; and Anacostia Museum and the Center for African American History and Culture, Arts and Industries Building, Smithsonian Institution, Washington DC.

African-American Printmakers: WPA to the Present, Sande Webster Gallery, Gettysburg College, Gettysburg PA; Washington:100 Years, 100 Paintings, Bellevue Art Museum, Bellevue WA; The Painted Table, Seattle WA;

Multicultural Exhibit, North Seattle Community College, Seattle WA; A Matter of Colors IV:Heritage Links, Pacific Arts Center's Anne Gould Hauberg Gallery, Seattle Center, Seattle WA.

1991 - 1994 Contemporary African American Artists, The St. Paul Companies, St. Paul MN; There's No Place Like Home!, Bellevue Art Museum, Bellevue WA; African American Eclectic, Security Pacific Gallery, Seattle WA; XX: An Exhibition on the Occasion of the Women's Caucus for Art National Conference, Francine Seders Gallery II, Seattle WA; It Figures: The Human Image in Art, Vancouver,WA; Four Points of View, Columbia Basin College, Pasco WA; Collaborators, Tacoma Art Museum, Tacoma WA; Cheney Cowles Memorial Museum, Spokane WA; Salem College, Winston-Salem NC; Boise Art Museum, Boise ID; Steensland Gallery, St. Olaf College, Northfield MN.

Symbolic Selections, Wenatchee WA; The Artist in the Art:Self-Portraits, Bumbershoot Festival, Seattle WA; 25th Anniversary Exhibitions:The Middle Years 1973-1980, Francine Seders Gallery, Seattle WA, 1991.

Works on Paper and Canvas:Multi-Cultural Perspectives, Washington State Capital Museum, Olympia WA; Four Artists from the Northwest: Selected Work from the Francine Seders Gallery, Carver Gallery, San Antonio TX; From the Other Side/Five Artists from the Northwest, Koehler Gallery, Whitworth College, Spokane WA, 1990;

Puget Sound Black Artists, North Seattle Community College, Seattle WA; Hallie Brown Ford Gallery Invitational, Willamette University, Salem OR; and the Visual Arts Exhibition, Festival Sundiata, Seattle WA, 1989.

Artists of the Black Community/USA, Phoenix AZ; Selected Works in Celebration of Black History Month, Francine Seders Gallery, Seattle WA, 1988; Benedict College Inaugural Exhibit, Benedict College,Columbia SC; and Figurative Works by Artists of the Francine Seders Gallery, North Seattle Community College Art Gallery, Seattle WA, 1987.

Figurative Work, Francine Seders Gallery, Seattle WA, 1977; Henry Art Gallery, University of Washington, Seattle, WA, 1974; Forum Gallery, NYC, 1967; American Society of African Culture, Lagos Nigeria, 1964; and The Workshop Gallery, Hempstead NY, 1962.

Her most recent awards are Lifetime Achievement in the Arts with Jacob Lawrence, Corporate Council for the Arts, Seattle WA; Honorary Doctorate, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis MN; and Honorary Doctorate,

Microsoft Corporation, Redmond WA; The Saint Louis Art Museum, St. Louis MO; Black Mountain College Museum & Arts Center, Asheville NC; The Minneapolis Institute of Art, Minneapolis MN; Tacoma Art Museum, Tacoma WA; and the University Museum, Hampton University, Hampton, VA.

Regina Stewart, Biography courtesy of the Francine Seders Gallery. Seattle WA.

Seattle University, Seattle WA, 1996; Cornish Lifetime Achievement Award, Seattle WA, 1997; 6th Annual Golden Umbrella Award and Mayor's Master Artist Award, Seattle WA, 1999; Artist of the Year Award, PONCHO, Seattle WA; Legacy Award, Incorporation of Artists on the Move, NYC; and Amistad Arts Award, Amistad Research Center, Tulane University, New Orleans LA, 2001.

Her work is in the collections of the Museum of Modern Art, NYC; The Phillips Collection, Washington DC;