Dr. Sharon Patton said her knowledge of African-American art was limited until she went to Mankato State College in Minnesota in 1968 to teach art history and drawing when she was 24 years old. Her arrival at the college brought the total population of African-Americans in Mankato to six.
Art is art.
Think about it, said the faculty member. Sharon could name only a few, and her colleague suggested she read James Porter s Modern Negro Art, just republished as a paperback. I discovered there were all of these black artists of whom I d never heard, Sharon says, who had been trained at the best academies, received awards, were living here or as expatriates in Paris, who did all kinds of art. This has been missing from my education. I m going to teach this course.