The headlines read “Groundbreaking Artist Who Brought Abstraction into the Third Dimension,” “Abstract Artist of Draped Paintings,” “Groundbreaking Abstractionist,” and “Basking in Sam Gilliam’s Endless Iterations.” Yes, Sam Gilliam, who died on June 25 at the age of 88—after years of being ignored by the upper levels of the art world—had only recently received the highest acclaim and commercial success he deserved for his originality and constant evolution of ideas, which challenged the art establishment from a position of extraordinary talent in a community that was marginalized. Sam stood out as an African American artist whose talent, invention, self-confidence, and stubbornness kept him focused and made him, to me, a model of professionalism and commitment that I could follow.
I have been inspired by the legacy of Sam Gilliam, the Abstract Expressionist artist, from the first day I met him in 1975 when serving as his printer when he first visited Brandywine Workshop and Archives (BWA). Sam was making regular trips to Philly for his Sea Horses project at the Philadelphia Museum of Art, the first-ever installation of his groundbreaking draped-canvas works on a museum exterior. I always loved abstraction and Sam, always innovative, kept my eyes open to the possibilities of composition, textures, and shape as dynamics to be explored in printmaking, a traditionally two-dimensional art form. It was obvious that he respected the medium and would challenge those who printed with him to explore those possibilities. In the studio, Sam won me over when he turned to the high school students I was training in edition printing and asked “What do you think?”, inviting them to share their thoughts on what they were doing and seeing in his proofing stage.
Over 50 years as director of BWA’s visiting artist series, I have never known an artist so confident, so sure of themself, that they would invite students’ comments about works-in-progress. This was empowering for the students and master printers Sam worked with for over five decades.
Someone once told me that although in life we can build a tangible legacy of material and financial resources to pass on to future generations, our true legacy is who we are as a person. I loved Sam because he was not only a creative genius whose art inspired but a father who was proud of his three daughters and did whatever he could to ensure their success and happiness. He was, as well, a friend who supported me and BWA in any way possible—as an artist, donor, board member, and confidante—to keep my dreams alive and ensure the growth of BWA as a Black visual-arts institution. He helped me, and he helped BWA, to explore the world through art and to advocate and pursue, successfully, the need for diversity and inclusiveness as a measure of excellence.
My mom, Fannie Edmunds, once wrote, “They, the dead, still live on earth in the acts of goodness they performed and in the hearts of those who loved them and cherish their memory.” My mom’s sentiment shall keep Sam close.
— Allan L. Edmunds
Allan L. Edmunds
Interim Project Director, Artura.org | Founder & President, Brandywine Workshop & Archives, Philadelphia, PA
Allan L. Edmunds is recognized as an award-winning artist-printmaker, educator and arts manager. As founder of Brandywine Workshop and Archives, arts management consultant and lecturer, he has built a strong following nationally and internationally among artists, art historians and curators. Over a five-decade career, Edmunds has been driven to create wider access for artists of color and their art in institutions, and document, broadly, their contributions to global culture. He has a BFA and MFA degrees in fine art from Temple University, Tyler School of Art, served as a Senior Research Associate in computer graphics at Cardiff Art School in Wales (UK), and was a Fellow of the Getty Museum Management program.