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Kerry James Marshall

Born in 1955, artist Kerry James Marshall’s work is inspired by the social and political climate of Los Angeles, California in the 1960s. His family home was in the same area as the Black Panthers Party’s headquarters, which fueled his desire to create revolutionary art. As a Black creative, Marshall views it as imperative to create work centering Black bodies and beauty in a White-centric space. The link below goes to a video interview with Marshall by the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art where he explores the purpose of his art and the ideas that sit at the heart of it. His piece Black and Part Black Birds in America (Magpies and Baltimore Orioles) is on view now in the Schneider Museum of Art’s Entry Gallery.

Bob Thompson

Kentucky-born artist Bob Thompson had a short but vibrant career. As a Black artist, his work is often pushed to the margins in the art world. His paintings combined elements of classical and modern European art with New York School of Art abstraction to create something entirely his own. A lot of his work features human and animal figures that held conversations of morality. He also found inspiration in jazz. His loose and gestural strokes captured the way jazz resonated with audiences and performers alike. Playful, distinct, and bright are words that could be used to describe Thompson’s collection of work. His piece Journey can be found in the Schneider Museum of Art’s Entry Gallery as a part of our Masterworks on Loan program. Learn more about Bob Thompson with the link below, see his painting while it’s still showing.

Brian Beck

Pacific Northwest wood carving artist Brian Beck draws inspiration from his materials. More than 25 years of construction, prototyping, and production inform Beck’s whimsical creations. He views his work as meditative and honest in a capitalistic world. His use of simple, geometric shapes and flat colors echo mass produced wooden toys. Learn more about Beck and his art with the link below, and find his piece Three Ghosts in the Entry Gallery of the Schneider Museum of Art.

The Schneider Museum of Art is located within the ancestral homelands of the Shasta, Takelma, and Latgawa peoples who lived here since time immemorial. These Tribes were displaced during rapid Euro-American colonization, the Gold Rush, and armed conflict between 1851 and 1856. In the 1850s, discovery of gold and settlement brought thousands of Euro-Americans to their lands, leading to warfare, epidemics, starvation, and villages being burned. In 1853 the first of several treaties were signed, confederating these Tribes and others together – who would then be referred to as the Rogue River Tribe. These treaties ceded most of their homelands to the United States, and in return they were guaranteed a permanent homeland reserved for them. At the end of the Rogue River Wars in 1856, these Tribes and many other Tribes from western Oregon were removed to the Siletz Reservation and the Grand Ronde Reservation. Today, the Confederated Tribes of Grand Ronde Community of Oregon (https://www.grandronde.org) and the Confederated Tribes of Siletz Indians (http://www.ctsi.nsn.us/) are living descendants of the Takelma, Shasta, and Latgawa peoples of this area. We encourage you to learn about the land you reside on, and to join us in advocating for the inherent sovereignty of Indigenous people.

Kerry James Marshall

Bob Thompson

Brian Beck

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