Who is Kerry James Marshall?

Kerry James Marshall

Born a painter, photographer, print maker and installation artist in Birmingham, Alabama of October 17th 1955.  This family moved to Los Angeles, California.  The Nickelson Gardens public housing project in Watts was their home until they settles into South Central Los Angeles.  Marshall had an obsession with art.  Impressed with Kerry James Marshall some of his teachers encouraged him with special opportunities.  An art instructor at George Washington Carver Junior High introduced Marshall to to the Los Angeles County Museum of Art and a special summer drawing class taught by George De Groat at Otis art Institute.  The drawings of Charles White depicted realistic African American subjects with richness and highly charged emotions inspired Kerry Marshall to reflect his own experiences in art.  Marshall embarked on self-tutorial to develop his drawing-figure skills.  In 1973, Kerry Marshall worked as a dishwasher for two years and then a flooring company.  In his spare time he painted in his garage studio and audited Charles Whites and Sam Claybergers classes.  Kerry James Marshall was laid off of his flooring job in 1975 so he approached Otis about enrollment.  In 1980 Kerry Marshall created portrait of the Artist as a Shadow of His Former Self.  Some of his work were displayed at the art gallery at Los Angeles Southwest College, James Turcotte Gallery in Los Angeles and Koplin Gallery in Los Angeles.

He packed his vehicle to move to New York permanently but he met his wife there. Cheryl Lynn Bruce. The two of them moved back to her home town Chicago and marrying in 1989.  In Chicago he began working as production designer.  He earned NEA (National Endowment for the Arts.  Gaining full professorship by teaching at the School of Art and Design at the University of Illinois.  Received the Alpert Award and the MacArthur Foundation's Fellowship Program Grant.  Kerry James Marshall had painting portraying Martin Luther King Jr.,   John F Kennedy, Robert F Kennedy as well as free standing sculptures of popular sayings "Black is Beautiful" and "We Shall Overcome."  None the less he worked on a comic Rythm Mastr.  In the 21st Century Kerry James Marshall's work represented tradition, personal expression, social awareness and historical narrative paintings.