Zoom Lecture: Danielle O’Steen

Danielle O’Steen, art historian and independent curator, will give a Zoom lecture in conjunction with the exhibition “Lou Stovall: Of Land and Origins.” O’Steen is curator of “Lou Stovall: On Inventions and Color,” on view at the Kreeger Museum in Washington, D.C., January 20 – April 16, 2022.

Stovall is the 2022 recipient of the museum’s Larry D. and Brenda A. Thompson Award. The exhibition “Lou Stovall: Of Land and Origins” celebrates his unique artistry and contribution to the visual arts, which are inspired by his life, nature and his poetic meditations. Born in Athens, Georgia, in 1937 but raised in Springfield, Massachusetts, Stovall matriculated at the Rhode Island School of Design before attending Howard University, where he studied under important artists such as James A. Porter, James Lesesne Wells and David Driskell. Stovall graduated from Howard in 1965 and in 1968 opened a printmaking studio, the Workshop, Inc., adjacent to his residence in the Cleveland Park neighborhood of Washington, D.C. His designs and work in community poster printmaking were transformative in the visual culture of both art and politics in the 1960s and 1970s, attracting artists and collaborators for later printmaking projects. Over the decades, Stovall has successfully worked with notable American artists such as Sam Gilliam, Josef Albers, Jacob Lawrence, Alexander Calder and Robert Mangold.

Although Stovall’s projects with artistic collaborators are well known, his vision and craft as a draftsman, colorist and printmaker have been largely overlooked until recent years. Recent survey exhibitions like this one and O’Steen’s are only beginning to shed light on Stovall’s importance.