{"id":74115,"date":"2024-02-04T05:26:40","date_gmt":"2024-02-04T12:26:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/artistsofutah.org\/15Bytes\/?p=74115"},"modified":"2024-02-16T06:32:18","modified_gmt":"2024-02-16T13:32:18","slug":"everyday-moments-universal-emotions-the-art-of-james-ransome","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/artistsofutah.org\/15Bytes\/everyday-moments-universal-emotions-the-art-of-james-ransome\/","title":{"rendered":"Everyday Moments, Universal Emotions: The Art of James Ransome"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>

James Ransome, “Just a Lucky So and So”<\/p><\/div>\n

Among the more persistent and valid criticisms thrown at creators, critics, curators, and collectors of the art world alike is this: Your art is not for anyone except yourselves.<\/h4>\n

Blustering indignation aside, the message stings because, in some cases, maybe even many, it\u2019s true. Artworks abstracted beyond all recognition, citation-riddled Marxist and postcolonial analyses, the marking up of a painting to a million dollars or much more (in 2017, Leonardo da Vinci\u2019s Salvator Mundi sold at auction for $450.3 million)\u2014all place art far beyond the reach of everyday people.<\/h4>\n

James Ransome<\/a> brings it back.<\/h4>\n

Born in rural North Carolina, Ransome grew up far from galleries and museums. His only early exposure to art was found in comic book pages and Bible illustrations. By imitating these drawings, he discovered his lifelong passion and skill. He went on to study photography and film-making\u2014elements of which are evident in the strong use of perspective and pacing in his painting\u2014before earning a BFA in Illustration from the Pratt Institute.<\/h4>\n

Since then, Ransome has illustrated more than 60 children\u2019s picture books. He has won the Coretta Scott King Award for Illustration, among many others, and is named by the Children\u2019s Book Council as one of 75 authors and illustrators \u201ceveryone should know.\u201d Perhaps this is because he makes art for everyone.<\/h4>\n
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A selection of books illustrated by James Ransome is on display as part of Everyday People: The Art of James Ransome at the Provo Library<\/p><\/div>\n

To help \u201ceveryone\u201d discover his work, the National Center for Children\u2019s Illustrated Literature in Abilene, Texas, organized Everyday People: The Art of James Ransome<\/em>. The exhibition has traveled across the country for several years, with stops in the Joslyn Museum in Omaha, Nebraska; the Children\u2019s Museum of Houston; the Abraham Art Gallery at Wayland Baptist University in Plainview, Texas; the Northern Illinois University Art Museum, and the Orlando Museum of Art. Curators in Orlando noted that across the more than 60 artworks on display, what Ransome\u2019s works have in common is their \u201ccelebration of the simplest and most joyful moments in our lives.\u201d From listening to good music to making that same music with good friends, to dancing and singing and sitting quietly to contemplate the falling autumn leaves, Ransome\u2019s is the best kind of art, the kind that captures and evokes in us the strongest and purest emotions of our lives.<\/h4>\n

At the Provo Library, librarians have made a public space in which everyone can view Ransome\u2019s art. Soft jazz music plays through speakers in a nod to two of Ransome\u2019s books: Just a Lucky So and So: The Story of Louis Armstrong<\/em> and Benny Goodman and Teddy Wilson: Taking the Stage as the First Black-and-White Jazz Band in History<\/em>. A large bookshelf holds the library\u2019s copies of dozens of Ransome\u2019s books, with bookmarks to indicate the works on display.<\/h4>\n

While the printed illustrations are captivating, the varied textures, vibrant colors, and piercing gaze of protagonists found in the original watercolors, oils, acrylics, and pastels hanging on the wall, come alive.<\/h4>\n

\"\"<\/a>One particularly striking picture is Ransome\u2019s portrait of legendary baseball player Satchel Paige, who signed with the Cleveland Indians in 1948, one year after Jackie Robinson\u2019s desegregation of Major League Baseball. The red accents of Paige\u2019s uniform starkly contrast with the rich blue sky behind him, the contrasting colors enriching one another in turn. Set against a low horizon line and inch-high infielders, Ransome makes Paige take up the entire frame. His tall figure splits the scene slightly off-center, creating a captivating, larger-than-life tribute to the storied player.<\/h4>\n

Just because art is accessible does not mean it is watered down. Ransome\u2019s paintings, many of which depict poignant stories of Black Americans, are uncompromising. One of these is “A Love Worth Waiting For” from Patricia and Frederick McKissack\u2019s Let My People Go: Bible Stories Told by a Freeman of Color to His Daughter<\/em>.\u00a0The painting depicts an enslaved man and woman standing in for the biblical figures of Jacob and Rachel. The two form a striking figure in the center of the composition. Though they wear dull brown clothes meant to erase their identity, \u201cJacob\u2019s\u201d bright red kerchief and \u201cRachel\u2019s\u201d vibrant blue head wrap are stark reminders of their individuality. Their downcast expressions, combined with the bouquet of purple flowers lying flat on Rachel\u2019s lap, communicate their somber mood. A few bright brushstrokes in the midground evoke chickens pecking in the yard. Their implied clucking, contrasted with Jacob and Rachel\u2019s obvious silence, makes palpable the figures’ silent sorrow. In a way that is simultaneously sensitive, direct and powerful, Ransome forces viewers to confront the cruelty of slavery and recall the sacred love in their own lives.<\/h4>\n
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James Ransome, “A Love Worth Waiting For”<\/p><\/div>\n

This is what art is about\u2013capturing the little moments and the big feelings, the ones we can\u2019t express and yet feel compelled to share. Ransome\u2019s art is a celebration of everyday people, for everyday people.<\/h4>\n

One of the art world\u2019s most popular taglines is, \u201cart is for everyone.\u201d In Everyday People<\/em>, this is actually true.<\/h4>\n

Everyday People: The Art of James Ransome<\/em>, Provo Library<\/a>, Provo, weekdays from 3:30-8:00pm, through February 22.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Among the more persistent and valid criticisms thrown at creators, critics, curators, and collectors of the art world alike is this: Your art is not for anyone except yourselves. Blustering indignation aside, the message stings because, in some cases, maybe even many, it\u2019s true. Artworks abstracted beyond all […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1724,"featured_media":74119,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_piecal_is_event":false,"_piecal_start_date":"","_piecal_end_date":"","_piecal_is_allday":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[19,14],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-74115","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-exhibition_reviews","category-visual_arts"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/artistsofutah.org\/15Bytes\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/James-E-Ransome_Just-a-Lucky-So-and-So_2016.jpeg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-05-06 15:26:44","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/artistsofutah.org\/15Bytes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/74115","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/artistsofutah.org\/15Bytes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/artistsofutah.org\/15Bytes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/artistsofutah.org\/15Bytes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1724"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/artistsofutah.org\/15Bytes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=74115"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/artistsofutah.org\/15Bytes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/74115\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":74141,"href":"https:\/\/artistsofutah.org\/15Bytes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/74115\/revisions\/74141"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/artistsofutah.org\/15Bytes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/74119"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/artistsofutah.org\/15Bytes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=74115"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/artistsofutah.org\/15Bytes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=74115"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/artistsofutah.org\/15Bytes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=74115"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}