Join Philadelphia-based artist Leroy Johnson as discusses his life and work in the context of Tyler's Race, Identity and Experience in American Art course. 

Mr. Johnson (b.1937) was born and grew up in the Eastwick community of Southwest Philadelphia. Much of his work takes the form of painting, ceramics, collage, assemblage and found objects, reflecting on his life in the inner city. Johnson says. "The inner-city landscape I depict is both map and metaphor for the actual landscape and the contents of the collective unconsciousness." 

He has exhibited in solo and group shows since the late Sixties at spaces including Magic Gardens; Tirza Yalon Kolton Ceramic Gallery (Tel Aviv); Gloucester County College (Sewell, NJ); University of Pennsylvania; Museum of Contemporary Crafts (Pittsburg, PA.); Tiger Strikes Asteroid (Brooklyn, NY). He has received grants from the Mid Atlantic Arts Foundation, the Independence Foundation, and the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts.  He earned an MHS from Lincoln University.

In 2014, he was a PEW Fellow and was chosen as the Directors Highlight in the Let’s Connect Competition at the Barnes Museum.  He has participated as the resident artist for many community-based art projects, including at Ile Ife, The Village of Arts and Humanities, Taller Puertoqueno, the Church of the Advocate, and St. Francis Academy. Additionally, he was the inaugural resident artist at the Art Barn in Amaranth, VA and was the 2019 – 2021 Peter Benoliel Fellow at The Center for Emerging Visual Artists; and was a Mural Arts Studio Artist-in-Residence at the Barnes Museum.

This program is part of the Race and Identity Artist Series, organized by the Gen Ed Race & Diversity faculty members Kara Mshinda and Ricky Yanas. 

This event is made possible by the Temple University General Activity Fund.

Image: Leroy Johnson, “Memories,” mixed media, early 2000's, Photo by Patricia Yanez.