Ascension Academy
Artist
Terry Adkins
(American, 1953 - 2014)
Date1989
MediumWood and pigment
DimensionsOverall: 16 x 61 x 10 1/4 in. (40.6 x 154.9 x 26 cm)
ClassificationsContemporary art
Credit LineMuseum purchase with Funds from the Virginia Commission for Arts Grant and Art Purchase Fund
Object number93.48
On View
Not on viewLabel TextTerry Adkins American, 1953–2014 Ascension Academy, 1989 Wood and pigment This subtle, abstract work represents a personal narrative from the artist’s life. Raised in the 1960s during school desegregation, Terry Adkins was the first African American to attend Ascension Academy in Alexandria, Virginia. The school, he said, “allowed me to acquire a sense of myself that didn’t even deal with the idea of being inferior but also didn’t deal with the idea of being superior either. It made me, very early on, able to see that, [as] Dr. King would say…the ‘content of one’s character’ is what matters most.” The gentle curves of this sculpture evoke the embrace and acceptance Adkins felt at the school, while the symmetrical form recalls a church altar with the soft, golden hues reminiscent of radiant liturgical objects. Museum purchase with funds from the Virginia Commission for Arts Grant and Art Purchase Fund 93.48
