Written by: Julie Thieman, Marketing Intern
Photo by Ingrid Damiani
Dustin Harewood is a contributing artist for LIFT: Contemporary Expressions of the African American Experience which presents a modern response to Jacksonville’s African American Heritage, while using the lyrics to James Weldon Johnson and John Rosamond Johnson’s Lift Ev’ry Voice and Sing as inspiration.
Harewood is from New York City, and was quickly introduced into the arts at age 7 when he became a junior member at the Brooklyn Museum. Later in his life, his parents moved the family to Barbados where Dustin attended high school and it was there he received his “first true perspective on culture.” He moved back to the U.S. where he received his Bachelors from North Carolina Central University and his Master of Arts at North Caroline Greensboro. Currently, he is a Professor of Art at Florida State College of Jacksonville.
Dustin Harewood, Out from the Gloomy Past, acrylic, 2016, spray paint, resin on canvas, each 40 x 62 in.
The line “Out from the gloomy past, till now we stand at last, where the white gleam of our bright star is cast,” specifically influenced his paintings for this exhibition. From that, Harewood painted a series of abstract painting that “hopefully will communicate the action of leaving behind anger, hopelessness, confusion, and frustration in favor of clarity, determination, and optimism.”
To learn more about Dustin Harewood visit his website.
