“Washington, James Jr. (1911-2000): Art as Holy Land
By Deloris Tarzan Ament Posted 3/01/2003 HistoryLink.org Essay 5328″
The eminent African American sculptor and painter James Washington Jr. was a leading member of the Northwest School. He grew up in Mississippi. After working as a WPA artist, he came to the Puget Sound region in 1944 to work in the Bremerton Naval Yard as a journeyman electrician. He found exhibition space at Frederick & Nelson’s Little Gallery and through that venue met Mark Tobey (1890-1976) and other Northwest artists. He places his visionary paintings and sculptures in the service of religious faith. They express the unity of God, humankind, and nature, with symbols derived from freemasonry and from the animal world. This biography of James Washington Jr. is reprinted from Deloris Tarzan Ament’s Iridescent Light: The Emergence of Northwest Art (Seattle: University of Washington Press, 2002). Read more
“Washington, Janie Rogella (1908-2000)
By Mary T. Henry Posted 7/21/2008 HistoryLink.org Essay 8682″
Janie Rogella Washington was a Seattle nurse and supportive wife who shared and inspired the spirituality that shaped the art of her husband, Dr. James W. Washington Jr. (1911-2000), the internationally known Northwest artist. Read more
Dr. James & Janie Washington Cultural Center 