# @drawingcenter on Instagram

- **Type:** Image
- **Original URL:** https://www.instagram.com/p/BJBD6U7gF5e
- **Gondola URL:** https://gondola.cc/posts/16048288-drawingcenter-instagram
- **Thumbnail:** https://img.gondola.cc/tr:w-,h-,fo-auto/thumbnails/1288a3905f.jpg
- **Posted:** 2016-08-12T17:12:13.000+00:00
- **Account Owner:** The Drawing Center (@drawingcenter) — https://gondola.cc/drawingcenter

## Caption

Artists have a variety of methods to make their mark. Every Friday we will share a photograph of an #ArtistInAction. 
Jack Whitten, the son of a seamstress and a coal-miner, spent much of his youth preparing for a career in army medicine. He studied medicine and trained as a pilot at Tuskegee Institute before transferring to Southern University. Here, Whitten became involved in art and the Civil Rights movement. During the Montgomery Bus Boycott Whitten travelled to hear Martin Luther King Jr. speak about the need for change in America. Whitten continued his study of art at the Cooper Union and has lived and worked in New York City since graduating in 1964. His work highlights the connection between artistic techniques and content. In 2001 Whitten observed the terrorist attacks of 9/11 unfold from his studio in Tribeca and spent the next two years constructing a memorial piece that incorporated ashes from the attacks. 
#JackWhitten

Image: Jack Whitten in his 40 Crosby Street studio, New York, circa 1974–1975, courtesy of the artist and Alexander Gray Associates.

## Stats

- **Views:** 0
- **Likes:** 621
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- **Comments:** 5

## Tags

jackwhitten, artistinaction

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