In Memoriam David C. Driskell, Hon. DFA ’96 passed away at the age of 89 on April 1, 2020, in Hyattsville, Maryland. Born in Eatonton, Georgia, he was a celebrated artist and one of the country’s most prominent scholars in the field of African American art. A graduate of Howard University, he held an MFA degree from Catholic University and nine Honorary Doctoral degrees. He was professor emeritus at the University of Maryland, College Park, where The David C. Driskell Center for the Study of the Visual Arts and Culture of African Americans and the African Diaspora was named in tribute to him and honors his legacy. In 2000, David was honored by President Bill Clinton as one of 12 recipients of the National Humanities Medal. At MECA, David served as a Trustee from 2002 to 2006 and was a Visiting Artist, an Advisory Partner, and an ambassador for the College as a Board of Visitors member. He also helped establish the College’s MFA Program. MECA awarded David an Honorary Doctorate in Fine Arts in 1996. At the time of his death, David was a Senior Advisor to the nonprofit Indigo Arts Alliance, with which MECA is currently conducting a collaborative partnership to promote a culture of racial equity and social justice. One of the country’s most prominent African American artists and scholars, David came to Maine in 1953 to study at the Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture. In 1961, he purchased property in Falmouth, Maine, where he spent summers. As an artist, collector, historian, teacher, and curator, his work was hugely influential. The landmark exhibition Two Centuries of Black American Art: 1750-1950 at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art was one of the most important surveys of African American art and established the integral contributions that these artists made to the artistic and cultural landscape of the United States. David himself worked in a range of media and styles. In 2019, critic John Yau wrote, “Driskell never tried to fit in or accommodate his work to prevailing, white, avant-garde styles: he never became a Pop artist, Minimalist, Conceptualist, Pattern and Decoration painter, or Neo-Expressionist. Nor did he ever harken back to some earlier style, as a way of avoiding the confusions of his own time. Rather, he absorbed aspects of various styles and, in the cauldron of his art practice, welded them to his personal and cultural history.” David is survived by Thelma Driskell, his wife of 68 years, two daughters, and a son. Image Caption: David Driskell, Hon. DFA ’06 (seated) with (L-R) Indigo Arts Alliance co-founder Marcia Minter, Hon. DFA ’19, Azari Minter, Sarah Khan, Desiree Nicole Lester, Alejandra Cuadra ’20, and Asata Radcliffe. Photo by Marcia Minter, Hon. DFA ‘19 Sylvia Morrison Bangs ’58 passed away at the age of 83 on February 18, 2020, at the Gosnell House in Scarborough, Maine. Born in Gray, Maine, on December 19, 1936, Sylvia attended Pennell Institute in Gray and Portland School of Fine and Applied Art (now Maine College of Art). At MECA, she studied under well-known artists and teachers Lawrence Sisson, James Elliott, and Jack Muench. She
worked at Cole Farms, Denny’s, and Howard Johnson’s for a total of 23 years before going to work at Maine Medical Center for 15 years as a unit helper. After her retirement in 2000, she volunteered at the New England Rehabilitation Hospital, visiting patients and passing out her drawings to them. Many of these patients and staff would frequently tell her she lit up their day. Her true love and passion was art, specifically incredibly detailed pen and ink drawings, usually of animals, which she exhibited at many museums, festivals, and universities, as well as at Maine Art Gallery in Wiscasset. She also participated in MECA’s annual COLLECT Art Sale. She is survived by Neal Bangs, her husband of 43 years, as well as two daughters, one son, six grandchildren, and other relatives. (L) Sylvia Bangs ‘58 (R) Tux, pen and ink, 18” x 24”,
Laurie Parlee Hadlock ’97 passed away on April 20, 2020, at her home in Freeport, Maine, surrounded by family, from pneumonia, a complication of her Parkinson’s disease which was first diagnosed in 2010. She called Parkinson’s “a tiny diagnosis” and approached it with awe-inspiring courage, optimism, and tenacity. Born in Dexter, Maine, Laurie was president of her high school class and graduated from Portland School of Art (now MECA) in 1997 with a BFA in Photography. While there she studied with artists Veronica Benning, Johnnie Ross, Glenn Renell, and John Ventimiglia. About her experience, she said, “It was the first place in the world I truly felt like I belonged.” Laurie and her husband, Parker, built their home atop a ledge in Freeport, Maine to which they added barns and boathouses. She continued her photography and went on to explore other media, including painting and printmaking, becoming most well known for her paintings of the Maine coast. She loved the ocean and became an avid sailor on her husband’s J24 boat Airplay, cruising throughout the Northeast. Later in life she also owned a lobster boat, The Laurie H. Her artwork has been widely exhibited and collected and she organized an annual tradition known as Art Camp for 15 years in which eight artist friends gathered on a Maine island to work for a week. A celebration of Laurie’s art and life was held in May in the Hadlocks’ barn. Her portfolio, blog, and book can be viewed at lauriehadlock.com. She is survived by her husband and her two children, Ilka and Finn, with whom she created art, read books, cooked, sailed, rowed, explored islands, ice skated, skied, water-skied, and bushwhacked. Laurie’s favorite “sign-off” was, “Listen, be well, dance often.”
24
