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Artis Lane (born Artis Shreve) is a Canadian sculptor and painter. Her
Lane works in a variety of mediums, including sketching, oil painting, bronze sculpture, and collage. Her works include a bronze portrait of
Official Artis Lane website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Lane, Artis 20th-century Canadian painters 21st-century Canadian painters Canadian women sculptors Living people Artists from Ontario Black Canadian artists Black Canadian women 20th-century Canadian sculptors 21st-century Canadian women artists 1927 births 21st-century Canadian sculptors Artists from Ann Arbor, Michigan Canadian expatriates in the United States Sculptors from Michigan Canadian contemporary artists 20th-century Canadian women painters 21st-century women painters 20th-century Canadian women sculptors 21st-century women sculptors
bronze
Bronze is an alloy consisting primarily of copper, commonly with about 12–12.5% tin and often with the addition of other metals (including aluminium, manganese, nickel, or zinc) and sometimes non-metals (such as phosphorus) or metalloid ...
bust of Sojourner Truth is on display in Emancipation Hall at the Capitol Visitor Center
The United States Capitol Visitor Center (CVC) is a large underground addition to the United States Capitol complex which serves as a gathering point for up to 4,000 tourists and an expansion space for the U.S. Congress.Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly known as Washington or D.C., is the capital city and federal district of the United States. The city is on the Potomac River, across from Virginia, and shares land borders with ...
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 was on display in the Oval Office
The Oval Office is the formal working space of the president of the United States. Part of the Executive Office of the President of the United States, it is in the West Wing of the White House, in Washington, D.C.
The oval room has three lar ...
during the presidency of Joe Biden
Joseph Robinette Biden Jr. (born November 20, 1942) is an American politician who was the 46th president of the United States from 2021 to 2025. A member of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party, he served as the 47th vice p ...
.
Personal life
Artis Lane was born inNorth Buxton
North Buxton is a Dispersed settlement, dispersed rural community located in Southwestern Ontario, Canada. It was established in 1849 as a community for and by former African-American Slavery in the United States, slaves who escaped to Canada to ...
, a small town near Chatham in Ontario
Ontario is the southernmost Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada. Located in Central Canada, Ontario is the Population of Canada by province and territory, country's most populous province. As of the 2021 Canadian census, it ...
, Canada, in a community largely populated by the descendants of slaves who emigrated to Canada on the Underground Railroad
The Underground Railroad was an organized network of secret routes and safe houses used by freedom seekers to escape to the abolitionist Northern United States and Eastern Canada. Enslaved Africans and African Americans escaped from slavery ...
. At two years old her family moved to Ann Arbor, Michigan
Ann Arbor is a city in Washtenaw County, Michigan, United States, and its county seat. The 2020 United States census, 2020 census recorded its population to be 123,851, making it the List of municipalities in Michigan, fifth-most populous cit ...
, 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
Toronto ( , locally pronounced or ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, most populous city in Canada. It is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Ontario. With a p ...
, Ontario. After receiving her degree, she moved to Detroit
Detroit ( , ) is the List of municipalities in Michigan, most populous city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is situated on the bank of the Detroit River across from Windsor, Ontario. It had a population of 639,111 at the 2020 United State ...
, Michigan, newly married to her husband, journalist Bill Lane. While there, she continued her education at the Cranbrook Academy of Art
The Cranbrook Academy of Art, a graduate school for architecture, art, and design, was founded by George Gough Booth and Ellen Scripps Booth in 1932. It is the art school of the Cranbrook Educational Community. Located in Bloomfield Hills, Mi ...
.
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."
Lane works in a variety of mediums, including sketching, oil painting, bronze sculpture, and collage. Her works include a bronze portrait of Rosa Parks
Rosa Louise McCauley Parks (February 4, 1913 – October 24, 2005) was an American civil rights activist. She is best known for her refusal to move from her seat on a Montgomery, Alabama, bus, in defiance of Jim Crow laws, which sparke ...
for the Smithsonian Institution
The Smithsonian Institution ( ), or simply the Smithsonian, is a group of museums, Education center, education and Research institute, research centers, created by the Federal government of the United States, U.S. government "for the increase a ...
, which has been on display at the National Portrait Gallery National Portrait Gallery may refer to:
* National Portrait Gallery (Australia), in Canberra
* National Portrait Gallery (Sweden), in Mariefred
*National Portrait Gallery (United States), in Washington, D.C.
*National Portrait Gallery, London
...
, but also on display in the Oval Office
The Oval Office is the formal working space of the president of the United States. Part of the Executive Office of the President of the United States, it is in the West Wing of the White House, in Washington, D.C.
The oval room has three lar ...
of President Biden
Joseph Robinette Biden Jr. (born November 20, 1942) is an American politician who was the 46th president of the United States from 2021 to 2025. A member of the Democratic Party, he served as the 47th vice president from 2009 to 2017 and re ...
. In 1999, she designed Rosa Parks' Congressional Medal of Honor. In 2021, Collected Detroit gallery hosted "Steps Towards Justice" featuring portaints of Rosa Parks by Lane.
She also produced a series of bronze portraits for the Soul Train Awards, and designed the original logo for the Dance Theatre of Harlem
Dance Theatre of Harlem (DTH) is an American professional ballet company and school based in Harlem, New York City. It was founded in 1969 under the directorship of Arthur Mitchell and later partnered with Karel Shook. Milton Rosenstock served ...
. She has made portraits and sculptures of celebrities and prominent people such as Cary Grant
Cary Grant (born Archibald Alec Leach; January 18, 1904November 29, 1986) was an English and American actor. Known for his blended British and American accent, debonair demeanor, lighthearted approach to acting, and sense of comic timing, he ...
, Armand Hammer
Armand Hammer (May 21, 1898 – December 10, 1990) was an American businessman and philanthropist. The son of a Russian Empire-born communist activist, Hammer trained as a physician before beginning his career in trade with the newly estab ...
, Nancy Kissinger, Coleman Young, Barbara Bush and former President George H. W. Bush
George Herbert Walker BushBefore the outcome of the 2000 United States presidential election, he was usually referred to simply as "George Bush" but became more commonly known as "George H. W. Bush", "Bush Senior," "Bush 41," and even "Bush th ...
, Bill Cosby
William Henry Cosby Jr. ( ; born July 12, 1937) is an American retired comedian, actor, and media personality. Often cited as a trailblazer for African Americans in the entertainment industry, Cosby was a film, television, and stand-up comedy ...
, Walter Annenberg
Walter Hubert Annenberg (March 13, 1908 – October 1, 2002) was an American businessman, investor, philanthropist, and diplomat. Annenberg owned and operated Triangle Publications, which included ownership of ''The Philadelphia Inquirer' ...
, Michael Jordan
Michael Jeffrey Jordan (born February 17, 1963), also known by his initials MJ, is an American businessman and former professional basketball player, who is currently a minority owner of the Charlotte Hornets of the National Basketball Ass ...
, Gordon Getty
Gordon Peter Getty (born December 20, 1933) is an American businessman and classical music composer, the fourth child of oil tycoon J. Paul Getty. His mother, Ann Rork Light, Ann Rork, was his father's fourth wife. When his father died in 1976, G ...
, Nelson Mandela
Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela ( , ; born Rolihlahla Mandela; 18 July 1918 – 5 December 2013) was a South African Internal resistance to apartheid, anti-apartheid activist and politician who served as the first president of South Africa f ...
and Henry Kissinger
Henry Alfred Kissinger (May 27, 1923 – November 29, 2023) was an American diplomat and political scientist who served as the 56th United States secretary of state from 1973 to 1977 and the 7th National Security Advisor (United States), natio ...
.
The National Congress of Black Women commissioned Lane to create a bronze bust portraying women's-right advocate and abolitionist Sojourner Truth
Sojourner Truth (; born Isabella Bomefree; November 26, 1883) was an American Abolitionism in the United States, abolitionist and activist for African-American civil rights, women's rights, and Temperance movement, alcohol temperance. Truth was ...
. The bust was unveiled on April 28, 2009 by First Lady Michelle Obama
Michelle LaVaughn Robinson Obama ( Robinson; born January 17, 1964) is an American attorney and author who served as the first lady of the United States from 2009 to 2017, being married to Barack Obama, the 44th president of the United Stat ...
for permanent display in the Emancipation Hall at the Capitol Visitor Centre, 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. Lane was honoured in 2013 as a recipient of theWomen's Caucus for Art
The Women's Caucus for Art (WCA), founded in 1972, is a non-profit organization based in New York City, which supports women artists, art historians, students, educators, and museum professionals. The WCA holds exhibitions and conferences to promo ...
Lifetime Achievement Award.
References
Further reading
* 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)External links
Official Artis Lane website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Lane, Artis 20th-century Canadian painters 21st-century Canadian painters Canadian women sculptors Living people Artists from Ontario Black Canadian artists Black Canadian women 20th-century Canadian sculptors 21st-century Canadian women artists 1927 births 21st-century Canadian sculptors Artists from Ann Arbor, Michigan Canadian expatriates in the United States Sculptors from Michigan Canadian contemporary artists 20th-century Canadian women painters 21st-century women painters 20th-century Canadian women sculptors 21st-century women sculptors