John Scott

Art Brokerage: John Scott African-American Artist: b. 1940-2007. John T. Scott (1940 - September 1, 2007) was an African-American sculptor, painter, printmaker and collagist. Scott was born on a farm in Gentilly, a historic section of New Orleans, Louisiana. When he was 7 years old, his family moved to the Lower Ninth Ward. After high school, he attended Xavier University of Louisiana in New Orleans and received a Bachelor of Arts degree. He received his Master of Fine Arts degree from Michigan State University in East Lansing, Michigan in 1965, after which he returned to Xavier to teach. In 1995, Scott received an honorary Doctor of Humanities from Michigan State University and a Doctor of Humanities from Tulane University in New Orleans in 1997. In 1992, he was awarded the exclusive MacArthur Grant (also known as the "Genius Grant") from the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation. He used the money to build a larger studio. Scott is best known for creating large woodcut prints and for his African-Caribbean-New Orleans-inspired kinetic sculptures. In 2005, he was the subject of a major retrospective exhibit at the New Orleans Museum of Art entitled "Circle Dance: The Art of John T. Scott." Scott was also commissioned to create several pieces that are placed throughout the City of New Orleans. These public works in New Orleans include Spirit Gates at the DeSaix Boulevard traffic circle (at St. Bernard and Gentilly Boulevards) in the Seventh Ward and River Spirit at Woldenberg Park along the Mississippi River near the Port of New Orleans. Scott had been quoted as saying that he tried to capture the musicality of New Orleans in the colors and rhythms of his sculptures.