|
“It is possible to experience
the totality of the universe within one’s own neighborhood,” he says, “and it would be possible to
recognize the meaning of the voice although it speaks another language.”
- interview with artist Melvin Edwards from November 2004, Lafayette University, Visiting Artist Lecture Series,
Experimental Printmaking, www.lafayette.edu
Melvin Edwards
Born: 1937, Houston, Texas
Also Known as: Mel Edwards
Biography
Melvin Edwards was raised in Houston, Texas. His artistic talent was recognized at an early age, and he was encouraged
to study the works of European old masters at the Museum of Fine Arts. He won a football scholarship to the University of
California at Los Angeles but rejected a professional athletic career to become an artist. Edwards developed a life-long interest
in African art after seeing a Fang sculpture on a teacher's desk one day. "Eye to eye," he wrote, "African art is like a deep
conversation with family." His welded sculptures are often inspired by political issues, ranging from civil rights to African-American
identity. In 1993 Edwards won the grand prize of the Fuji-Sankei Biennial in Japan, and in 1995 his work was included in the
Cairo Biennial.
National Museum of American Art (CD-ROM) (New York and Washington D.C.: MacMillan Digital in cooperation
with the National Museum of American Art, 1996)." - borrowed from the Smithsonian Institution (http://americanart.si.edu/search/artist_bio.cfm?ID=6598)
|
