Tom Lloyd (1929–1996) was an American sculptor, activist and community organizer.

Early life and education

Tom Lloyd was born in 1929 in

Jamaica, Queens Jamaica is a neighborhood in the New York City borough of Queens. It is mainly composed of a large commercial and retail area, though part of the neighborhood is also residential. Jamaica is bordered by Hollis to the east; St. Albans, Springfi ...

, where he spent majority of his childhood and started gained his love for art. He studied art at the

Pratt Institute Pratt Institute is a private university with its main campus in Brooklyn, New York (state), New York. It has a satellite campus in Manhattan and an extension campus in Utica, New York at the Munson-Williams-Proctor Arts Institute. The school was ...

in Brooklyn and the

Brooklyn Museum The Brooklyn Museum is an art museum located in the New York City borough of Brooklyn. At , the museum is New York City's second largest and contains an art collection with around 1.5 million objects. Located near the Prospect Heights, Crown H ...

Artistic career

In 1968, Tom Lloyd’s work was chosen as the subject for the inaugural exhibition of the

Studio Museum in Harlem The Studio Museum in Harlem is an American art museum devoted to the work of artists of African descent. The museum's galleries are currently closed in preparation for a building project that will replace the current building, located at 144 W ...

. The exhibition, ''Electronic Refractions II'', opened on September 24, 1968, and featured his electronically programmed light sculptures. The exhibition of electronically-programmed light works by artist Tom Lloyd (1929–1996) opened The Studio Museum in Harlem. That exhibition inspired the title of the current traveling exhibition, “Black Refractions: Highlights from The Studio Museum in Harlem. Lloyd’s work in the exhibition proved controversial, departing as it did from a figurative aesthetic prevalent in African-American art at the time. He usually used art method that included murals such as designs, painting, fresco and glass. Lloyd talks about his work and the mission of the museum to create opportunities for black artists who serve as mentors to young artists in the Harlem community. He implores black artists to be more involved with politics. A few months before the opening, Lloyd participated in the 1968 round-table discussion, '' The Black Artist in America: A Symposium'', convened at the

Metropolitan Museum of Art The Metropolitan Museum of Art of New York City, colloquially "the Met", is the largest art museum in the Americas. Its permanent collection contains over two million works, divided among 17 curatorial departments. The main building at 1000 ...

and chaired by Romare Bearden. The discussion included Richard Hunt,

Jacob Lawrence Jacob Armstead Lawrence (September 7, 1917 – June 9, 2000) was an American painter known for his portrayal of African-American historical subjects and contemporary life. Lawrence referred to his style as "dynamic cubism", although by his own ...

, Hale Woodruff, Sam Gilliam, and

William T. Williams William T. Williams (born 1942) is an American painter and educator. He is known for his process-based approach to painting that engages motifs drawn from personal memory and cultural narrative to create non-referential, abstract compositions. ...

. I 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. The Store Front Museum in New York, a cultural center that hosted exhibitions, concerts, classes, and lectures for the predominantly Black community of Jamaica, Queens, for over a decade. The center acted in tandem with his call for the marriage of social action and aesthetics in ''Black Art Notes'', published the same year.

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 Faith Ringgold (born October 8, 1930 in Harlem, New York City) is an American painter, writer, mixed media sculptor, and performance artist, best known for her narrative quilts. Early life Faith Ringgold was born the youngest of three children ...

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 The Institute of Contemporary Art (ICA) is an art museum and exhibition space located in Boston, Massachusetts, United States of America. The museum was founded as the Boston Museum of Modern Art in 1936. Since then it has gone through multiple na ...

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'',

, New York 1971, ''Contemporary Black Artists in America'',

Whitney Museum of American Art The Whitney Museum of American Art, known informally as "The Whitney", is an art museum in the Meatpacking District and West Village neighborhoods of Manhattan in New York City. It was founded in 1930 by Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitney (1875–1942), ...

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

References

External links