THE LORD IS MY SHEPHERD
bronze
2001
11" X 6" X 5"
edition 40

Throughout the 1860’s the lives of slaves, ex-slaves, and freedmen captured the imaginations of some of America’s most independent artists included Winslow Homer and Eastman Johnson. When I stumbled upon Johnson’s 1863 painting of an old freedman reading his bible, I was stimulated to adapt the image into clay. The subject with all its intense messages reminded me that the effort to record and interpret the Africanist presence in post civil war America was an exercise in healing. As a 21st century artist, born, reared, and living in Mississippi, I still believe the conflicts inherent to human nature can benefit from the medicine of art. This sculpture and its title serve to honor the memory of Eastman Johnson’s work by continuing to reveal our common humanity with its strengths and weaknesses.