Tom Lloyd (artist)
Tom Lloyd (1929–1996) was an American sculptor, activist and community organizer. Early life and education. Tom Lloyd was born in Jamaica, Queens in 1929. He studied art at the Pratt Institute in Brooklyn and the Brooklyn Museum. Artistic career. In 1968, Tom Lloyd’s work was chosen as the subject for the inaugural exhibition of the Studio Museum in Harlem. The exhibition, "Electronic Refractions II", opened on September 24, 1968, and featured his electronically programmed light sculptures. Lloyd’s work in the exhibition proved controversial, departing as it did from a figurative aesthetic prevalent in African-American  art at the time. A few months before the opening, Lloyd participated in the 1968 round-table discussion "", convened at the Metropolitan Museum of Art and chaired by Romare Bearden. The discussion included Richard Hunt, Jacob Lawrence, Hale Woodruff, Sam Gilliam and William T. Williams. In 1971, Lloyd edited a volume of commissioned essays written by African-American cultural producers called "Black Art Notes", to which he also contributed. In his essay he addressed the need for a relationship between art and social and political action. The publication as a whole was intended as a “counter-statement” to Robert Doty ’s catalog introduction of the "Contemporary Black Artists in America" exhibition held at the Whitney Museum in 1971. Also in 1971, Lloyd founded the Store Front Museum in Queens, NY. Located in the predominantly Black neighborhood of Jamaica, the space served as a vital cultural hub hosting exhibitions, concerts, lectures and festivals as well as other community enrichment activities like dance and karate lessons. Political activism. Lloyd was a founding member of the Art Workers Coalition, and initially, the only Black artist. He was instrumental in recruiting Faith Ringgold into the group and together with John Hendricks and others, used  the group as a platform to advocate for integrating museums through the creation of Black and Puerto Rican advisory boards and through acquiring and holding more exhibitions of Black and Puerto Rican artists' work. Before joining the AWC, Lloyd briefly joined the Black Emergency Cultural Coalition (BECC), but found their approach to social change too meek. Selected exhibitions. 1965, Amel Gallery 1965, "Art Turned On", Institute of Contemporary Art, Boston 1965, "Light as a Creative Medium", Carpenter Art Center, Harvard University 1966, "Light in Art", Contemporary Arts Museum Houston 1966, "Art Electric", Sonnabend Gallery, Paris 1966, Wadsworth Atheneum, Hartford, Connecticut  1967, "Counterpoints", Lever House, New York 1968, Howard Wise Gallery 1971, "Electronic Refractions II", Studio Museum in Harlem, New York 1971, "Contemporary Black Artists in America", Whitney Museum of American Art   2006, "Energy/Experimentation", Studio Museum in Harlem, New York 2007, "Black Light White Noise", Contemporary Arts Museum Houston 2019, "Black Refractions: Highlights from the Studio Museum in Harlem", traveling exhibition