Celebrating the Memory of a Dedicated Artist

As a youngster growing up in Chicago during the Great Depression, artist Charles White shined shoes and painted signs to help his mother, a domestic worker, pay the bills.

He twice won citywide scholarships to art schools, but each time the award was canceled when the young artist showed up to take his place in the all-white classes.

White, however, was not discouraged.

During his senior year in high school he won a scholarship to the Chicago Art Institute. To save money he walked 60 blocks from his home to the school, and supported himself by working as a valet and cook.

In his 20s, White crafted murals depicting black heroism and history and he became a widely acclaimed artist whose works were reproduced on calendars that eventually made their way into the former East Germany and Soviet Union.

In 1947, White moved to Mexico City and studied lithography. Two years later, White, W.E.B. Du Bois, former U.S. Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall, Duke Ellington and Langston Hughes formed the Committee for the Negro in the Arts in New York.

In 1956, White moved to Los Angeles because of failing health. He died in 1979 at age 61.

This weekend, admirers will gather at Farnsworth Park in Altadena to celebrate this activist, historian and teacher at the 11th annual Charles White Art Exhibit and Festival.

The two-day event in the park at 568 E. Mount Curve Ave. will begin at 6 p.m. Friday with a reception, an exhibit of White’s drawings and works of local artists, and live music until 10 p.m. The festival will continue Saturday from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. with speakers, comedy acts, storytelling and food and beverage booths.

The festival is sponsored by Friends of Charles White, a nonprofit organization, and the County of Los Angeles.