Houston Conwill
Arc, 1986 - Metals and Concrete, span 26 feet
Houston Conwill received his BFA from Howard University and his MFA from University of Southern California. He received several prestigious awards including the 1984 Prix de Rome. Conwill’s most recognized sculptures are site-specific installations created in collaboration with architect J. DePace and poet Estella Majozo. Their designs are often floor installations that can be entered and contemplated from within.
Arc’s shadow aligns with thin bronze inlays drawn in the concrete below that chart time as the sun moves overhead. The metal arch was created using arc spraying, an unusual technique for fine art sculpture. One can walk under and around Arc to examine the multitude of symbols rising from its surface. But there are no translations.
Conwill often looks to the Kongo peoples of the Democratic Republic of Congo for artistic inspiration. Arc includes three bronze circles imbedded in the concrete paving each with one word repeated twice. The first, Memory, lies beneath the arch as if asking us to somehow recall those ancestral symbols. Descend a few stairs to stand inside Vision, climb a few more to encounter Imagination. All three circles are divided into four equal parts after Yowa, the Kongo sign for the continuity of human life: youth, maturity, old age, and death. Perhaps Conwill saw York College as a place of transformation that welcomes students at all stages of life as long as they are willing to put memory, vision and imagination to work.
Links to Related Content (links open in a new browser window)
- http://www.nycsubway.org/perl/artwork_show?56 - The 4 Houston Conwill compositions on tile are all in similar triangular form. The first two are virtually the same in structure with criss- crossing bars and multiple decorations within each square. The last two are virtually the same, though much different from the first and second works.
- http://www.askart.com/AskART/artists/biography.aspx?artist=101205 - Houston Conwill's works can be viewed in numerous major cities throughout the United States. His main themes are architectural constructions which are set in major public buildings.
- http://www.niagara.edu/cam/special/Art_of_80s/Artists/conwillbig.html - The Stations of the Underground Railroad contains seven sculptures, each of which has a house as a main theme. They are symbolic of safe houses in which negroes were able to stay during their journey north.
- http://www.miamidade.gov/publicart/photo-mover-pw-conwill.asp - The new Calypso is a historical and spiritual carving in blue stone which commemorates the history of American Negroes, which was made by Conwill, Majozo, and DePace.
- http://www.colorado.edu/cuartmuseum/xF_conwill.html - The Conwill silk screen, the Langston Hughes River is based on the terrazzo and brass composition in the lobby of the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture which was originally made by Conwill, his sister Estella Conwill Majoza and Joseph De Pace.
Notes
- Biographical data was taken from Thomas Riggs, ed. St. James Guide to Black Artists (Detroit, 1997), p.188-121.
- Rivers is located in Harlem’s Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture.
- Molten metal, usually zinc or copper, is sprayed in fine droplets that cool and solidify. Common applications are for corrosion control and decorative detailing on architecture.
