Creator Record
Images
Metadata
Artist |
Burwell, Vernon |
Category |
env builder |
Biography |
Vernon Lee Burwell's life encompassed the height of Jim Crow oppression and the struggles and successes of the American civil rights movement. Burwell was raised by a community of North Carolina sharecropping families after being orphaned at age thirteen. Retiring in 1976, Burwell decided to reflect on the dramatic changes he had witnessed during his lifetime, and a nascent pastime of making animals and figures in painted concrete grew into a passionate full-time engagement. Surrounding his home, he installed tableaux that paid tribute to African American heroes including Martin Luther King, Jr.; Coretta Scott King; Sojourner Truth; and John Baker, North Carolina's first black sheriff. His subject matter is wide ranging, including the Vietnam War, American politics, the Bible, and animals. Burwell's treatment of the animals' postures and features is so nuanced and animated that each of them projects a sense of individual personality. The jungle-cat motif-one of few he repeated-may have struck a chord with Burwell as a symbol of African heritage and pride, an animal of strength, perseverance, and kingly domain over the land, the agile cat who will always land on its feet. |
