Floyd Coleman鈥檚 dad kept quiet about his son鈥檚 whereabouts when two Ku Klux Klan members showed up at his Alabama home in 1960. Coleman, then an Alabama State University student, and his roommate were inspired by the Greensboro, North Carolina, sit-ins and decided to organize their own Jim Crow protests at the university. After the Klansmen left, Coleman鈥檚 father phoned him at school.
鈥淒on鈥檛 stop your activism. Don鈥檛 stop the sit-ins,鈥 Coleman鈥檚 father told him. 鈥淏ut don鈥檛 come home.鈥
That was one of several powerful and deeply personal stories that the 79-year-old artist shared at the Oct. 7 聽opening reception and talk for the University of Maryland University College (UMUC) exhibition, 鈥淩hythmic Impulses: The Art of Floyd Coleman and Hayward Oubr茅,鈥 which runs through Jan. 20.
Coleman, whose brother was killed in action during the war in Korea, told the audience that the protests he helped start grew in just a few days from a couple dozen students鈥攖o 1,500 participants. Civil Rights activism is one of several commonalities that informs the Coleman works on display and those of his late mentor and Alabama State University art professor Hayward Oubr茅 (1916-2006).
鈥淎 serious scholar, Oubr茅 built art departments and mentored aspiring artists at historically black institutions. Coleman, in turn, pursued a career as both an artist and scholar that spanned more than 60 years,鈥 noted UMUC President Javier Miyares in his exhibition-catalog remarks. 鈥淭ogether, their work serves to educate, to enlighten, and to broaden our experience and understanding of history and of our world.鈥
Coleman was joined on stage at the artist talk by Eric Key, director of the UMUC Arts Program, and by Oubr茅鈥檚 son-in-law and heir, Mervin Anthony Green. How the three came together, a story in itself, offers a rough sketch of how exhibits are born.
Key had known Coleman鈥檚 work for some time but had only seen a few pieces here and there in exhibitions. He described Coleman as a longtime supporter of the UMUC Arts Program. 鈥淓verything I鈥檝e called and asked him to do, he鈥檚 right there,鈥 Key said, noting Coleman had authored an essay for a previous UMUC exhibition catalog.
About three years ago, Key said, he was sitting at home flipping through artist and historian Samella Lewis鈥檚 book, 鈥淎frican American Art and Artists,鈥 and he saw Coleman鈥檚 work addressed in it. He mentioned Coleman during a subsequent meeting of the UMUC exhibition committee, and the decision was made to pair his work with Oubr茅鈥檚.
Coleman agreed with the plan and helped connect Key with Green, who also approved of the proposed joint exhibition. Although both artists were sculptors, painters, and printers, Key wanted to show work that hadn鈥檛 been exhibited extensively before, so the exhibit came to include Oubr茅鈥檚 wire sculptures and Coleman鈥檚 paintings.
鈥淲e wanted to show a wide breadth by both artists,鈥 Key said.
Several speakers, including collectors of Oubr茅鈥檚 works, talked about how proud Oubr茅 was of the strength of his wire sculptures. He would knock them over to demonstrate their durability to visitors, and Oubr茅 was famous for his powerful handshake, which, the audience learned, once brought a 250-pound football lineman to his knees.
鈥淥ubr茅 had broken him down to demonstrate his arm strength,鈥 Green said. 鈥淭he only thing he used [to make his sculptures] were a pair of pliers, wire cutters, and his own hand strength.鈥
Coleman talked about the influence jazz musicians John Coltrane, Miles Davis and Thelonious Monk had on him, and several jazz-inspired works appear in the exhibit.
Green, a musician, said his father-in-law initially took little interest in him. In fact, he said, the first time he visited his wife鈥檚 home one Christmas before they were married, Oubr茅 remained glued to the football game on television.
鈥淗e totally ignored us,鈥 Green said. 鈥淚 think I was in the house for maybe an hour before he asked, 鈥榃ho are you?鈥欌
But, that changed when Oubr茅 learned that Green was serious about his art, that his music was not only aesthetic but also politically active. And the two talked.
鈥淔or every five minutes I had, he had 50鈥 in the conversation, Green said.
Oubr茅 would listen to music while he worked, and he could play a single Dinah Washington song on repeat while making a single work, according to Green. 鈥淲hen the work was done, he鈥檇 listen to another song,鈥 Green said.
Coleman agreed that Oubr茅 valued art that was also politically active, but he added that his teacher insisted the aesthetic bar be set high. 鈥淭he aesthetic must be there or else it鈥檚 propaganda,鈥 he recalled Oubr茅 would say.
Some of Coleman鈥檚 work is deeply personal, like 鈥淏oy on a Toy Horse鈥 (1962), which appears in the show. The boy, who rides on the horse and whom Coleman rendered with a very-blue palette that evokes the works of Chagall, is based on a sketch he made of his son Tony.
鈥淚t鈥檚 based on him, but it鈥檚 not a portrait of him,鈥 he said.
In the summer of 1970, Coleman, whose family hadn鈥檛 gotten electrical service at home until 1950 when he was about 10, traveled to Nigeria and Ghana. The trip made a big impact on him,
鈥淲hen I was in Africa, I was at home,鈥 Coleman said. 鈥淚t was confirming. I realized that I was an African in America.鈥
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