Works of Art and Americana

he son of an African American Baptist minister who was run out of town by the Ku Klux Klan and never to be seen again, and a deeply religious and supportive mother, James W. Washington, Jr. (1909-2000) knew from an early age that he had something unique within him—that his abilities and imagination would manifest and take him away from the segregated and oppressive environs of Gloster, Mississippi. Washington’s spirited, but quiet carvings can be seen as a cross between two other direct carvers; the African American Folk Artist William Edmondson (1874-1951) and American sculptor John Flannagan (1895-1942). Washington felt that it was the spirit of God that he drove into stone to bring it to life. Edmondson thought his work was driven by the hand of God, while Flannagan felt that direct carving or taille directe , ensured vitality to the final carving. Improvisationalists know that something too studied may be proficiently academic, but often void of life. Therefore, Washington took right to the chisel—life starts with a spark—like a hammer’s first blow against granite! From an early age, Washington displayed a sense of general inquisitiveness and proficiency for drawing. He remembered when he was thirteen or so, he would have friends make a random mark in crayon along the sidewalks and he would improvise upon it and “convert it into something alive and moving.” At seventeen years of age, it was through a government job with the Civil Service that Washington found his way out of Gloster and into Vicksburg, Little Rock, and then to the Seattle area in 1944 where he and his wife, Janie Rogella Washington, remained. Along the way, while still working for the Civil Service, Washington developed his drawing and painting and became involved in the Works Progress Administration (WPA). In Vicksburg, in response to not being able to exhibit with white artists of the WPA, he organized and exhibited what he called “the first negro art exhibition sponsored by the WPA in the state of Mississippi.” Once in Seattle, Washington continued to paint and befriended Mark Tobey, with whom he studied for a time. Washington also organized exhibits and showed with Morris Graves, Kenneth Callahan, and Glen Alps. Life changed for Washington in 1951, when he traveled to Mexico to meet with the muralist Diego Rivera. During that trip ‘I have to be him [the animal]. Not until I get to the point where I am the animal can I release the spiritual force into the inanimate material and animate it. When this happens, I feel like I’m working with flesh rather than stone.’ —James W. Washington, Jr. James W. Washington, Jr. Stone Mason Washington carving Sacrificial Lamb. Photo: Josef Scaylea/ The Seattle Times © used with permission T