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Prof contributes to book on Black Panther artist
3:25 p.m., Feb. 23, 2007--Colette Gaiter, UD associate professor of art, is one of six contributing authors to a recently published 224-page monograph on artist Emory Douglas, a catalyst for change during the civil rights movement of the late '60s and early '70s and a member of the Black Panther Party for Self-Defense. Written from a personal standpoint, Gaiter's essay, “What Revolution Looks Like: The Work of Black Panther Artist Emory Douglas,” frames Douglas' work in an historical context and outlines the impact it had on the Black Panther newspaper and its readership. While analyzing Douglas' use of imagery to attain both strong graphic appeal and political clout, Gaiter also summarizes the history and context of the artist himself, from his beginnings as an art student in the late '60s to his current presence as an artist and activist for change in the African-American community. “I find Emory Douglas to be really inspiring as a person, and one of the reasons I enjoy writing about him--and eventually making a video about him--is that he's a great story-teller and a really nice person,” Gaiter said. “In the 1960s, he was an incredible artist both because of his style and because of the way he incorporated other styles of other artists, and technically he was very adept at production, which, as a graphic designer myself, I find really interesting,” Gaiter said. “Another thing I find compelling about Douglas' work is that you as the viewer can tell that being a part of the Black Panther Party was really important to him. He was in his 20s when he did many of the illustrations for the Black Panther, and in the '60s that was an age at which black men were regularly getting harassed by police,” Gaiter said. “Douglas tried to fight back and do something about that to empower black people, and that came across in his work. That was the mission of the Black Panther organization--empowering black people. They really wanted there to be change for the way poor and oppressed people were treated all around the world, and Douglas' work illustrated that.”
“It's a beautiful book with more than 200 full-color illustrations,” Gaiter said, “and the fact that the essays are by contemporaries of Emory Douglas gives him and the black arts movement a certain perspective.” Published on Feb. 5 by Rizzoli International Publications, the book is available online at Amazon.com and at local booksellers. Gaiter has had many solo and group exhibits of her work, both nationally and internationally, and has a folio of 17 of her digital prints on permanent display at the Tweed Museum of Art in Duluth, Minn. A scholar on Emory Douglas and on African-American graphic design of the 1960s and '70s, she has contributed articles to periodicals, books and web sites for more than a decade, and curated the show, Speaking Truths: 9.11.2002, which ran from September-November 2002 at the Intermedia Arts Gallery in Minneapolis. Gaiter earned her bachelor of fine arts degree from Carnegie-Mellon University in 1976 and her master of arts degree from Hamline University in 1999 and studied computer and graphic arts training from Parsons School of Design in New York City. Before joining UD's Department of Art last September, Gaiter held professorships at Columbia College in Chicago and the University of Minnesota and the Minneapolis College of Art and Design, both in Minneapolis. She is currently editing a video of Emory Douglas that she created from interviews and footage she collected over the past several years. She has lectured and presented widely and has won several grants, including Columbia College Summer Faculty Development grants, Jerome Foundation Travel and Study grants and McKnight Foundation Fellowship grants. Her work can be viewed at [www.digidiva.net]. Article by Becca Hutchinson
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