Artis Lane

Artis Lane (born Artis Shreve) is a Black Canadian sculptor and painter. Her bronze bust of Sojourner Truth is on display in Emancipation Hall at the Capitol Visitor Center in Washington, D.C. It was unveiled in 2009, and was the first statue in the Capitol to represent an African-American woman. Lane's sculpture of Rosa Parks is on display at the National Portrait Gallery

Artis Lane
Lane at the unveiling of her bust of Sojourner Truth at the U.S. Capitol
Born
Artis Shreve

1927 (age 93–94)
North Buxton, Ontario, Canada
NationalityCanadian, American
EducationOntario College of Art, Cranbrook Academy of Art
Known forPortraits, sculpture, painting
Notable work
Portrait of Sojourner Truth, Emancipation Hall, Capitol Visitor Center
WebsiteThe Work of Artis Lane

Personal life

Artis Lane was born in North Buxton, a small town near Chatham in Ontario, Canada,[1] 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.

Artistic career

The St. James Guide to Black Artists describes Artis Lane's sculpture as "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." [2]

Bust of Sojourner Truth (2009)

Lane works in a variety of mediums, including sketching, oil painting, bronze sculpture, and collage.[3] Her works include a bronze portrait of Rosa Parks for the Smithsonian Institution, which is on display at the National Portrait Gallery. In 1999, she designed Rosa Parks' Congressional Medal of Honor.[4][1][5]

She also produced a series of bronze portraits for the Soul Train Awards, and designed the original logo for the Dance Theatre of Harlem. She has made portraits and sculptures of celebrities and prominent people such as Cary Grant, Armand Hammer, Nancy Kissinger, Coleman Young, Barbara Bush and former President George H. W. Bush, Bill Cosby, Walter Annenberg, Michael Jordan, Gordon Getty, Nelson Mandela and Henry Kissinger.[6][3]

The National Congress of Black Women commissioned Lane to create a bronze bust portraying women's-right advocate and abolitionist Sojourner Truth.[1] 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,[7] making Truth the first black woman to be honored with a bust at the U.S. Capitol.

Awards and honors

In 2007, the California African American Museum presented Lane with a Lifetime Achievement Award, and featured a retrospective of her work.[1]

Lane was honoured in 2013 as a recipient of the Women's Caucus for Art Lifetime Achievement Award.[8]

References
  1. , Bloomekatz, Ari B., L.A. Artist's 'Truth' to be Unveiled, LATimes. Retrieved May 16, 2016.
  2. "St. James Guide to Black Artists "Artis Lane" By MARLENA DONAHUE (Detroit: St. James Press, 1997)". Archived from the original on 2016-03-03. Retrieved 2008-07-17.
  3. "Artis Lane: The Universality Of Sculpture". Christian Science Monitor. 1990-07-02. ISSN 0882-7729. Retrieved 2020-08-24.
  4. "Meet the Artists". U.S. Capitol Visitor Center. Retrieved 2020-08-24.
  5. "[Rosa Parks at her Congressional Gold Medal ceremony with (left to right) Representative Julia Carson, holding a picture of the medal; assistant Elaine Steele, Representative Dennis Hastert, artist Artis Lane, who designed the medal; and President Bill Clinton]". Library of Congress, Washington, D.C. 20540 USA. Retrieved 2020-08-24.
  6. Artis Lane bio, Artislane.com
  7. https://www.aoc.gov/art/busts/sojourner-truth-bust Archived 2016-05-31 at the Wayback Machine Architect of the Capitol
  8. "Women's Caucus for Art". Women's Caucus for Art. Archived from the original on November 17, 2013. Retrieved March 12, 2014.

Further reading
  • Donahue, Marlena Artis Lane from "St. James Guide to Black Artists" (edited by Thomas Riggs) (Detroit: St. James Press, 1997), p. 313 Accessed on M. Hanks Gallery website 17 Jul 2008.
  • Lewis, Samella, African American Art and Artists (Berkeley, California: University of California Press, 2003), pp. 216–217
  • Gumbo YaYa: An Anthology of Contemporary African American Women Artists (New York: Mid March Arts Press, 1995)
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