Nawlins Native Son- John T. Scott

By Renae Friedley, BLACK ART IN AMERICA  

"The Smile", 2002

For the Love of Scott

In March 2010, an exhibit of works by artist John Scott opened at the California African American Museum in Los Angeles. Featured in the exhibit, “Our Love of John Scott,” are the paintings, sculptures, and woodblocks created by this beloved artist who died September 1, 2007 in Houston after two double lung transplants and a long struggle with pulmonary fibrosis. Scott, a native of New Orleans, was in Houston after having evacuated before Hurricane Katrina rolled into New Orleans on August 29, 2005. In December 1998, I had the honor of interviewing John Scott for his upcoming exhibit at the Arthur Roger Gallery in New Orleans, Louisiana, which ran from January 9 through February 27, 1999. The following article appeared in the January/ February 1999 issue of the Gulf Coast Arts & Entertainment Review.

A Man of Many Mediums—John Scott

In January, an exhibit of new works by John Scott—in three mediums—will be at the Arthur Roger Gallery, 432 Julia Street in New Orleans. The exhibit, entitled “Urban Warriors,” will be displayed in all three galleries: the collages in the front room, the bronze and the painted pieces in the middle room, and the glass installation in the back room. “One show, in three different mediums with three different statements,” states Scott. Scott, who has shown work in more than 200 exhibits, likes to work in different mediums. “In fact,” he says, “one of the biggest criticisms I get is that, supposedly, I’m not focused and the reason is because I do so many things, but that’s not my problem. I figure, in my mind, artist has one thing to say, it just takes a lifetime to say it. And I can’t say it in one medium. “To me, media is like language,” explains Scott. “If you met a person that spoke seven or eight languages, you’d have great respect for them. In the art world, it’s just the opposite. If you do five, six, or seven things very, very well, they say you’re not focused. Which is a little asinine, but I don’t worry about it. It’s not my problem. I do what I have to do. Over the years, I’ve shown as a printmaker, a watercolorist, a sculptor, and many times as a painter. It’s not important to me in terms of labels. What’s important is trying to make the idea as clear as I possibly can.” Like most people of tremendous talent, Scott started making things when he was a child. However, “it wasn’t until I was getting out of high school that I decided that art was what I was going to do for a lifetime. To me, it happens to be a way of life, not a job.” Skilled in many mediums, Scott has done album jackets, book covers, and posters. “I’ve done a lot of commercial work. I’ve always been able to use my skills to do all kinds of things, but my primary focus has always been art.” Scott received his undergraduate degree from Xavier and his graduate degree from Michigan State in 1965. He now teaches at Xavier. “I never intended to teach,” he says. “One of my mentors asked me if I would come back and teach for a couple of years when I got out of grad school and it just happens to be going on 34 years now. To me, teaching is nothing more than sharing information and I enjoy sharing information. Aside from that, in order to teach anybody anything, you have to always be a student, so teaching is a way of forcing yourself to continue learning.” Scott has exhibited and lectured all over the United States and has installations in New Orleans as well as Austin, Texas and Naples, Florida. However, instead of heading for New York or California, where he might make more money, Scott prefers to stay in New Orleans. “This is my home base. I was born and raised in New Orleans. I’ll die here. “This is the only city I have ever been in where, if you listen, the sidewalks will speak to you because there is that much history and spirituality in the city,” he adds. “It’s almost like Dracula without his casket, how long would he live? New Orleans, to me, is a cultural base, not just some place to live. I’m a part of the culture and my art comes out of the culture. However, I do not think my art is regional, in the sense that it is limited to a region, but I believe that it feeds off that and makes it what it is. New York is a great place in terms of a great marketplace, but I’ve never wanted to live in a market. “Somebody in New York once asked me ‘what’s the greatest thing about leaving New Orleans?’ and I responded, ‘getting off the plane when I get back.’ And that’s how I feel about it. It’s great to travel and talk to people, but when I come back here I have friends, I have family, and I have ideas. There’s a spirit here that does not exist anywhere else. There’s a lot of people who have been on my case for years. ‘Why do you stay in New Orleans?’ they ask. Well, why does anyone stay anywhere? I’m comfortable. I’m happy here.” Scott and his work are well known and he has been fortunate that he can work and use New Orleans as a base. “I think there are a lot of artists like that. It’s strange because a whole bunch of artists want to come here now. For a time, New Orleans was one of the best kept secrets in the United States, and I was hoping to keep it that way. It’s great that a lot of artists want to be here, I just hope that the influx of people coming here doesn’t diminish what we have here. That it stays a real cultural base.” In addition to his own work and teaching schedule, Scott has been a mentor to many up and coming artists such as Jeffrey Cook and Michael Lavigne. He feels that sharing of skills and information is very important. “All the artists that I have ever respected have always had the habit of passing on what they have learned, and I think you are obligated to do that. I mean, what sense does it make to spend a lifetime gathering information that you die with? That makes no sense. “I have a philosophy from my mother, and that philosophy always was that the most selfish thing that you could do is to be totally unselfish because everything you give comes back tenfold. And it’s true. So if I learn something new in the studio in the morning, by the afternoon everybody in the studio knows about it because I’ve shared the idea. I always find that if I pass my idea to somebody else and they develop it, it comes back as an expanded idea, so I’m gaining. “For many years, I’ve heard say ‘those who can’t teach; those who can do.’ Well, I resent that. I think some of those people who say ‘those that can, do’ are not capable of teaching because I have found in this profession that there are an awful lot of selfish people. They refuse to share what they know. That’s a thing with an inferiority complex which I don’t have anything to do with. I think that those who are very serious about the integrity of their profession will share themselves with others; whether they teach in a formal way or an informal way, it doesn’t matter.”

"Galileo", 1998

Does Scott feel that being an African-American has hindered his work? “I think for some people that’s a problem. I’ve met people who had no idea I was African-American and that usually kind of screws them around a little. I find that the art world has been, and to some extent still is, somewhat biased. If you look at major galleries in the United States, you will not find an awful lot of work by African-American artists. It has nothing to do with the quality of work that is produced. “Historically,” he adds, “there have been people that have made major contributions to the visual language of Western art that are not included in books. Norman Lewis, who was fundamental in the abstract expressionist, didn’t make the art history books. African-Americans are a footnote in art history books. “Ethnicity, though it may play a part in the way I paint, has nothing to do with art itself,” states Scott. “Picasso was a Spaniard. He’s going to be a Spaniard forever. That didn’t change what he did, and nobody ever questioned that he was a Spaniard. Well, I am what I am. I’m not going to deny it to anyone, but my art is what my art is, and I think it can relate to any group, but I think all good art has that quality. It’s not limited by who it is done by. If it’s done well, it will reach beyond who you are.” Scott does his work out of a 5,000-square-foot studio in East New Orleans. The entire property is 89,000 square feet and he is putting in a foundry and a sculpture garden in the back. He has cut his teaching schedule down to only two days a week, and wants to spend more time in the studio. “There are a lot of things that I want to do. I’m playing around with light. I’ve been working on this seamless, musical thing that’s going to involve computers and objects and a whole bunch of stuff.” What is his advice for the new generation of artists? “It [art] is about working. It’s about seriously making a commitment to this. It’s not about somebody applauding everything you do because nobody sees the amount of work you do, they see the result. A lot of people that see what I do have no idea the amount of work that goes into making each piece; they are just impressed with the end result.” Scott also advises young people to read more. “Too many of the young people that I’ve met today are working in an information vacuum. What I mean by that is they don’t read, they are not aware of a lot of stuff. Art is not about art, it’s about everything else. So if you are not reading, and taking in information, if you are on the Internet, that information is abbreviated. You don’t read a 200 page book on the Internet, you get crib notes. So I try to encourage people to read. Read history. Read poetry. Read the whole nine yards, because it takes all of that stuff to make art and to be a serious student. I’ve run into so many young people who have ‘talent’ that think that’s the end of it all. To me, talent is like a seed; a seed doesn’t generate a tree unless it expands. I’ve never seen a seed bear fruit, only trees bear fruit.” —Gulf Coast Arts & Entertainment Review, January/February 1999

Untitled (10595), c.1984

Passing It On In

May, 2005, the New Orleans Museum of Art featured a retrospective of Scott’s work in an exhibit entitled “Circle of Dance.” The exhibit featured works from Scott’s illustrious forty year career and ran until July 10, 2005. This proved fortuitous since, on August 29, 2005, hurricane Katrina rushed into New Orleans creating havoc on one of America’s most beloved historical cities and Scott’s studio. As the storm was heading towards Louisiana, Scott and his wife Anna evacuated to Houston where one of his daughters lives. Shortly after evacuating to Houston, Scott’s physical condition worsened. Scott’s son Ayo Scott was in graduate school in Chicago when Katrina hit the city. He flew to Houston after his father was called in to have his lung transplant. “I was supposed to fly out to Italy with some friends,” says Ayo, “but I flew out to Houston the same day. I moved into the hospital and lived there for a year and a half, while my dad recovered. He made a complete recovery— walking around the hospital once a day, eating solid foods, and was scheduled to leave the hospital a week before he got an infection and passed away.” Scott’s studio in East New Orleans was destroyed by the hurricane. “At least six feet of water sat in the building for two to three weeks,” says Ayo. “Much of his heavy machinery and welding materials were destroyed and two of the three large doors on the building were blown off along with bricks on the face of the building. [However], the real damage was done after the storm when the studio was broken into at least five times. The family is still trying to do something with the building as it’s in horrible shape, but the cost of repairs and the inability to secure decent insurance after the damage of Katrina makes it even more difficult.” Unfortunately, Scott was unable to do any work after being hospitalized. “While in Houston my dad became sicker and sicker, and less mobile. He continued to work in his sketch books on future projects. He also worked on a project for Harrahs Casino, but that project was not completed. Once he was hospitalized, his dexterity was down to zero. I worked with him regularly and got him do draw or write once in a while, but he didn’t like seeing himself struggling to make marks that were once so simple to him. I tried working on some experimental techniques using a Wacom tablet and the computer, but, once again, he was not pleased and was unmotivated.” In honor of his father’s motto, Ayo has started an event with a few friends entitled “Noyo presents Pass It On.” “It’s an open mic that’s been going strong for two years,” states Ayo, “and has been featured in the New York Times and our local poetry team just won nationals last week. There’s [also] a ‘passing it on’ celebration held at Xavier University every year around his birthday that has studio sessions in all mediums as well as lectures and gatherings to celebrate and remember him. Additionally the network of his former students [including Ayo] is very strong and many of us communicate on a weekly basis, still helping one another to advance our crafts and continue learning throughout life what this art thing is all about.” Ayo also states there is a sculpture garden being made in his name in the Art department at Xavier and two different groups are working on charter schools (one elementary and one high school) to be named after him. “Even using his favorite animal the rhino as the mascot,” he adds.

California African American Museum Exhibit

On March 25, 2010, the California African American Museum in Los Angeles, California, opened the exhibit “Our Love of John T. Scott,” which runs through October 31. The work in the exhibit comes from seven different lenders, mostly private collectors, and over ten other people who contributed artifacts, photographs, testimonies and video footage. According to Mar Hollingsworth, curator for the exhibit, “The exhibition was the idea of our Executive Director, Charmaine Jefferson, who felt that someone of Scott’s stature should be recognized in California—not only for his national and international relevance as an artist, but also because of the several local collectors who treasure his artwork.” Furthermore, she feels that “innumerable African American artists throughout the country recognize him as a source of inspiration and even as an influential teacher and mentor. “The exhibition is a combination of retrospective and posthumous, a loving tribute in which many friends and collectors have contributed not only with artwork, but with personal letters, written testimonies and video footage,” states Hollingsworth. “It includes over 80 works of art, featuring tributes by other artists and one piece done by a fellow student/artist while under Scott’s tutelage. The mediums vary enormously: prints on paper (etchings, aquatints, xylographs, a collograph, linocuts, and serigraphs), a batik, collages, calligraphic letters and glass blocks, blown glass, sculptures in wood, bronze and aluminum, drawings, acrylics and pencil on paper, and the magnificent oversize woodblocks and their prints on paper. The variety of mediums is a testimony to Scott’s versatility and his command in the use of different techniques and materials.” When asked what message she thought John Scott’s life and work conveyed? Hollingsworth responded that “[a]t a spiritual level, the main message I have learned from Scott is that life should be lived as if you hold a butterfly in your hand… keep it open! This is reflected in his motto ‘pass it on,’ emphasizing the importance of mentorship and generosity towards your peers and the human race as a whole. At a professional level, I have seen the importance of diversification and exploration without boundaries, as well as the indomitable spirit of a tireless creator with a prodigious mind, always directing his energy to develop intricate projects that more than often involved the communities around him and that serve as a testimony of his African, American and contemporary legacy, blending the personal and societal at levels rarely achieved by any other artist.” John Scott’s spirit will live on in our hearts and in the work that he created, especially in New Orleans where there are several of Scott’s sculptures scattered throughout the city. Scott’s works are also included in the permanent collections of the Ogden Museum of Southern Art in New Orleans; the Louisiana State University Museum of Art in the Shaw Center for the Arts in Baton Rouge, Louisiana; the Amistad Research Center Collection in New Orleans, LA; the Blanche and Norman C. Francis Collection at Xavier University of Louisiana; Loyola University of the South in Louisiana; the Museum of Fine Arts in Houston, Texas; the Scripps College in Claremont, California; the Smithsonian American Art Museum in Washington D.C.; and Fisk University in Nashville, Tennessee. —Renae Friedley

BAIA Member Renae Friedley is the former publisher and editor of the Gulf Coast Arts & Entertainment Review, 1996- 2005. She is now attending Columbus State University in Columbus, Georgia for a BA in English Literature.