Elevation From Within, 

The Study of Art at Historically Black Colleges and Universities 

Curated by Dr. Leo Twiggs 

Presented by The Johnson Collection 

“No man or community of men can elevate another. Elevation must come from within.” ––Bishop Benjamin Tucker Tanner (1835–1923) 

Elevation from Within pays homage to HBCU alumni and professors whose  educational backgrounds chronicle a vital chapter of American history and whose aesthetic achievements  have made an indelible mark on this nation’s art. 

SELECT ARTISTS 

• Benny Andrews • John Biggers • Beverly Buchanan • Elizabeth Catlett • Loïs Jones • Gwendolyn Knight • Norman Lewis • James Porter • Alma Thomas • Mildred Thompson • Laura Waring • Hale Woodruff

Elevation from Within is curated by Dr. Leo Twiggs.  A native of St. Stephen, South Carolina, Dr.  Twiggs is a summa cum laude graduate of Claflin  University (1956), where he now holds the position  of Distinguished Artist in Residence. With no state sponsored graduate program available to black  South Carolinians at mid-century, Twiggs received  his master’s degree from New York University  (1964). In 1970, he became the first African American to earn a doctorate in art education from  the University of Georgia. As a professor at South  Carolina State University from 1972 to 1998, Dr.  Twiggs taught generations of aspiring artists and  established the college’s museum.  

This exhibition speaks both to and of Dr. Twiggs’s  own experiences. “For African Americans living  in a segregated society, the sources for our creative  expression came from within.

-From the Johnson Collection