Celebration of Heritage

Published to support the American Indian Heritage Foundation and to coincide with the exhibition Artists for American Indians, at the 1992 World's Fair Exposition in Seville, Spain. Lawrence has this to say about the image: I'm not talking about the black experience here; I'm talking about another kind of experience, the Native American experience – the beauty of it, the poetry of people being a part of nature. This is the way many Native Americans think of themselves – not as separate from, but a part of, nature…I think of it as part of my Builders series [in which] the tool is an extension of the hand. Instead of tools here, I use the elements.

Jacob Lawrence was a great American painter of history and urban life, an icon and national treasure who lived for many years in the City of Seattle. Paving the way for the generations of black artists who would follow, Lawrence was the first African-American artist to be represented by a major commercial gallery in the nation. Without question, he was the most important artist in the City of Seattle. It was at the Harlem Art Center that I was given materials and instruction in handling the plastic elements of line, texture, color, space, and value.