Edward P. Speaks To Me

I drew this while listening to Edward P. Jones give a commencement speech at Georgetown University on May 21st, 2010. As you may know, Edward P. Jones is the author of a historical novel set in antebellum Virginia, The Known World, written in 2003. This book wonderfully explores the issues of ownership of black slaves by free blacks as well as by whites. He also has 2 other award-winning books of short stories, all well worth reading.
He is the scholar in blue in the painting. Mr. Jones struck a chord with me when he talked about James Hampton, an Afro-American janitor who secretly worked for 14 years to build religious assemblages made out of aluminum, golf foil, light bulbs, shards of mirrors and other odds and ends, which he paired with a manifesto he wrote called The Throne of the Third Heaven of the Nations' Millennium General Assembly. His work is in the National Museum of American Art at the Smithsonian and is a stunning example of naive art. I feel compelled to return to it every time I am in D.C. Edward P. Speaks To Me is 7" by 10" and on Arches Cold Press Watercolor Paper. $100 plus $10 shipping. To purchase or see more work go to:
www.susanmedyn.wordpress.com or email me @ susanmedyn.cox.net.