Paul R. Jones Lecture Series Continues at UA with Artist Wadsworth Jarrell

TUSCALOOSA, Ala.  — Artist Wadsworth Jarrell will give a lecture Thursday, Oct. 14 at 5:15 p.m. in room 30 of ten Hoor Hall on The University of Alabama campus.

His talk, “Wadsworth Jarrell: A Relevant Journey in Art,” is part of the Paul R. Jones Artist Lecture Series, sponsored by the UA College of Arts and Sciences. The event is free and open to the public.

A reception will follow the lecture, and Jarrell will sign copies of his book, “Wadsworth Jarrell: The Artist as Revolutionary,” which he co-authored in 1996 withRobert L. Douglas. He also will meet with UA students in the department of art and art history during his visit.

Jarrell’s 1987 colored lithograph, “Jazz Giants,” is featured in UA’s Paul R. Jones Collection of American Art. The collection was donated to UA in October 2008 by the late Paul Raymond Jones of Atlanta. It is one of the world’s largest collections of 20^th-century African-American art.

“The University is extremely fortunate to have the artist Wadsworth Jarrell as a guest to campus,” said Dr. Stacy Morgan, an associate professor in the department of American studies, who helped coordinate Jarrell’s visit. “In the midst of the turbulent 1960s, Mr. Jarrell was a co-founder and driving force in a group of artists known as AfriCOBRA that was determined to create artwork that was accessible and meaningful to the community at large and not just the rarefied circles of an elite art world.”

Most famously, Jarrell worked with the group of artists to create the “Wall of Respect” mural in Chicago, which was an extremely influential catalyst for an explosion of public mural paintings across the U.S. in the late 1960s and 1970s.

“For several decades since that time, he has continued to produce a remarkable body of vibrant, stylistically innovative and politically engaged art,” Morgan said. “Jarrell’s artwork and story should appeal to a wide cross-section of the university and Tuscaloosa community.”

Jarrell was born in 1929 in Albany, Ga. He graduated from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago in 1958, and he began teaching at Howard University in 1971. In 1977, he began work as an assistant professor at the University of Georgia, where he taught until 1988.

Jarrell’s works have been shown in festivals and exhibitions around the world, as well as in galleries and museums such as the Smithsonian International Gallery and the Museum of Contemporary Art in Chicago. He now lives in Cleveland.

The College of Arts and Sciences is the University’s largest division and the largest liberal arts college in the state. Students from the College have won numerous national awards including Rhodes Scholarships, Goldwater Scholarships and memberships on the USA Today Academic All American Team.