Artist, designer shows works focused on black heritage
by Lauren Crider, nw news editor

    The nationally recognized artist and designer of the Freedman’s Cemetery, David Newton, spoke to NW Campus students recently.

   Newton presented a slide series of various works while advising students on techniques and elaborating on the pieces.

   He also included slides highlighting specific processes of some techniques.

   Though he does not focus exclusively on African-American culture, he includes African Americans in much of his work.

   “I saw that it was something missing in Western art ... I want to portray African Americans in a dignified way but still use Western style,” he said.

   Newton also mentioned that much of his work, such as a sculpture of Eve with the proverbial apple and Christ’s entombment, has biblical influence.

   “A lot of my work has strong biblical themes ... I wanted to use that to understand biblical stories ... and to delve into different human conditions,” he said.

   Newton breaks away from typical portrayal of biblical forms.

   Unlike many common portrayals of Christ, his Christ figure is muscular and powerful.

   The slide presentation also exemplified the progression of his career from polished, precise surfaces to a rougher, fractured, abstract form.

   Newton earned his master’s degree from the New York Academy of Art and completed graduate studies in Florence, Italy, at Studio Art Centers International.

   While in Italy, he broke away from standard Italian sculpture and experimented with more abstract and gestural form.

   “I love rough groggy clay that’s fired. I enjoy the spontaneity and power you get,” Newton said.

   Newton advised students to look at their own work in different lights.

   “As you change, you’ll see things in your own pieces that you didn’t see before,” he said.

   He also spoke to students about taking inspiration from their own pieces.

   He showed an example of a work he had done, and then showed other pieces he had taken from it.

   “You can use your own work as kind of a found object-something you can use to create another piece,” he said.

   While in graduate school, Newton studied the human form in depth. Like many Renaissance artists, Newton gained valuable knowledge of the human build from dissecting cadavers.

   Newton does not often use models. Instead, he uses his knowledge of muscle and bone structure to sculpt. However, he warned students against using this knowledge without models too often.

   “You don’t want your work to become so stylized that you forget what the human body is,” he said.

   While in graduate school, Newton had a professor who was known for ripping apart students’ work, causing much emotional pain. This taught Newton a valuable lesson.

   “You can’t be precious with your work. Don’t think of it as a jewel you can’t touch. If you can do it once, you have to have the confidence to do it again better,” he said.

   Newton has been working in the DFW area for seven years and was commissioned to construct a memorial for a forgotten slave cemetery in Dallas.

   In the 1940’s the entire cemetery was desecrated during the construction of Central Expressway when tombstones were used as construction material.

   Nothing was done to stop the destruction of human remains in the long forgotten slave cemetery.

   In the 1980s, when the expressway was widened, workers again stumbled into the past as more remains of the cemetery were uncovered.

   Society, however, had progressed, and construction was halted for two years.

   The political scene was such that politicians and city officials were able to stop further destruction.

   Archeologists were brought to preserve the pieces of history.

   Plans for the memorial of this site and the Freedman’s Cemetery began.

   After officials conducted a national search for artists to commemorate the cemetery, Newton was chosen from 75 artists to create the memorial.

   Newton is now in the final stage of the Freedman’s Cemetery project.

   He told students the premise of the memorial: to tell a story from freedom in Africa, to slavery in America and then to the Emancipation Proclamation.

   After finishing this project, Newton said he intends to pursue other opportunities elsewhere.