John Outterbridge

American artist. Died 12 November 2020, aged 87. John W. Outterbridge's Biographical Summary Born in segregated North Carolina in 1933 Personal History: Born: March 12, 1933, Greenville, North Carolina. Education: North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University, 1952; American Academy of Art, Chicago, 1957-60; special teaching credential, art, state of California, 1970. Military Service: corporal, United States Army, 1953-56. Spouse: Beverly McKissick Outterbridge, divorced; one child. Career History: Bus driver, CTA (Chicago Transit Authority), 1956-59, 1960-63. Singer, Opus de Four, Chicago, 1956-60. (Vocal quartet Opus De Four ) Artist assistant, Tony Hill, lamp designer, Los Angeles, 1963-64. Artist/designer, reproduction department, Artcraft, TRIAD Corporation, Los Angeles, 1965-69. Instructor, sculpture, education department; preparator, installation department, Pasadena Art Museum, Pasadena, California, 1967-70. Instructor, African-American art history, California State University, Dominguez Hills, 1967-71. Cofounder, Communicative Arts Academy, Compton, California, 1969; artistic director, 1969-75. Director, Watts Towers Arts Center, Los Angeles, 1975-92. After his departure from the Watts Towers in 1992 to focus on his artistic career, his studio practice, which he continued up until the mid-2010s, remained inseparable from his role as an activist and educator. Selected Exhibitions: One-man show, Brockman Gallery, Los Angeles, 1967. Sixth Southern California Annual, Long Beach Museum of Art, Long Beach, California, 1968; Ninth Southern California Annual, 1970. Los Angeles County Museum of Art, 1969. "Dimensions in Black Art," La Jolla Museum of Contemporary Art, La Jolla, California, 1970. "Street Art by Black Americans," Merabush Museum, Willingboro, New Jersey, 1975. "West Coast Artists," Studio Museum in Harlem, New York City, 1977. "John Outterbridge: A Retrospective," California Afro-American Museum, Los Angeles, 1993-94. "Los Angeles, 1955-1985: The Birth of an Artistic Capital," Pompidou Centre, Paris, France, 2006. "John Outterbridge: Rag Man", Aspen Art Museum, Aspen, Colorado, 2016. "Outliers and American Vanguard Art” the Lynne Cooke–curated at the National Gallery, London, UK, 2018–19. "Soul of a Nation: Art in the Age of Black Power" organized by Mark Godfrey for Tate Modern, London, UK, 2017–20.