Limited Edition Sojourner Truth pin.
Copyrighted, stamped Inge, 1982
A former actress, artist, and photographer, (Ruth) Inge Hardison sculpted “Negro Giants in History”. Included were busts of Harriet Tubman, Frederick Douglass, George Washington Carver, W.E.B.
Du Bois, Paul Robeson and others. Her bust of Jackie Robinson is installed at the Jackie Robinson Recreation Center in Harlem and her bust of Frederick Douglass is in Princeton University’s Library.
Born in Portsmouth, Va. on Feb. 3, 1914, Inge Hardison was the granddaughter of slaves. To escape segregation in the South, the family moved to Brooklyn, where she began a career on Broadway.
In 1936, she landed the role of Topsy in “Sweet River,” George Abbott’s adaptation of “Uncle Tom’s Cabin” and starred in “The Country Wife” with Ruth Gordon. Also on stage with Ossie Davis and Ruby Dee, it was then that she began making sculptures of actors.
She later studied and taught at Vassar College, studied at the Art Students League of New York and was a founding member of the Black Academy of Arts and Letters.
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Hardison died in Manhattan on March 23, 2016. Looking back, her daughter, Yolande, remembers, “Her intent in creating the Sojourner Truth pin was to leave a legacy of heroism in the form of wearable art”.
In 1990, Gov. Mario M. Cuomo of New York presented her sculpture of Sojourner Truth, abolitionist and women’s rights advocate, to Nelson Mandela – the very sculpture that inspired the creation of her pins.
Check out this Hands of Inge 1962 documentary film on American sculptor Ruth Inge Hardison, directed by John Fletcher, narrated by Ossie Davis, with a music composed by Mal Waldron and performed by Mal Waldron, Eric Dolphy and Ron Carter. Click the link on the image! --->
Julio Velasquez
JV Collection by Julio Velasquez
Julio Velasquez is a talented artist skilled in the art of wire sculpture.
His is one-of-a- kind bracelets, earrings and necklaces showcase his unique hand work and artistic vision.
Shop Julio Velazquez
Collection
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“A lifetime of making something from nothing.”
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To me, making art is a continual search of self and, consequently, a work in progress. I am inspired by so many things: nature, art, music, the musings of writers and thinkers.
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As a young boy growing up in Puerto Rico, I made my own toys out of twigs, cigar boxes and metal coils from sardine cans - anything I could find. In college, I started to do charcoal drawings, and graduating from that, marble sculpture. That led me to experimenting with wire sculptures, starting with small trees that morphed into larger pieces. I am particularly proud of my 12 ft. giraffe wire construction, which was the third-place winner at the Westhampton Art Show. My latest work is a wire sculpture of a life size horse.
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“I enjoy coiling wire and love stone and glass. In opposition to my larger sculptures, jewelry made with imagination and skill is also art – in miniature.”
