Wadsworth Jarrell (Finding Aid)

Wadsworth Jarrell

1929 -

Favorite Color: Blue, purple, yellow, orange

Favorite Food: Shellfish

Favorite Time of Year: Autumn

Favorite Vacation Spot: Venice, Italy

Interview Length: 129 minutes

Interview Date(s): May 20, 2001

Interview Location(s): Wadsworth Jarrell studio, 628 West 158th Street, New York City, New York, New York

Abstract

Artist Wadsworth Jarrell, the youngest of six children, raised in a rural area near Athens Georgia, talks about his childhood and youth in the 1930s and 1940s, his family, schooling, and passion for art. Jarrell says his entire family had artistic ability and considers his parents to have been artists themselves: his father was a carpenter and furniture maker with his own furniture store in Athens, and his mother was a creative and prolific quilt-maker who encouraged her youngest son's special talent. He also tells of teachers who mentored him and recommended he study art. Finally he recalls his military service at Camp Polk, Louisiana, where he was the battery artist, and a brief stint in Korea. AFRI-COBRA artist Wadsworth Jarrell discusses his decision to move to Chicago and attend the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. Jarrell details his experience there and names some of the influential instructors and artists he encountered. Jarrell also talks about the beginning of his involvement with AFRI-COBRA and the Wall of Respect. Artist Wadsworth Jarrell talks about his career, artistic development and family life during the late 1960s-1970s, including his work on the 'Wall of Respect' mural on the South Side of Chicago, the formation and aesthetic and philosophy of AFRI-COBRA, of which he was a founder, and his teaching at Howard University, where he also expanded his knowledge of African art. Artist Wadsworth Jarrell talks about the artistic evolution of his painting since the 1970s. and his different influences and styles during the past decades. He describes his experiences teaching art at Howard University and the University of Georgia, the toy business he and his wife Jae ran in Georgia, his decision to leave teaching in 1988 to spend more time on his own art, and then to move to New York in 1994. He also talks about his close relationship with his wife and speaks with pride of the talent and creativity of his three grown children. Artist Wadsworth Jarrell gives his ideas about the role of the artist in society and his definition of "black art", explaining how his ideas have evolved since the time of founding AFRI-COBRA in the 1960s. He talks about how his parents and praises his wife as the person he most admires.

34 Stories (See Ordered Story Set)