Photo Gallery
Community prayers, comments requested as artist Charlie Newton completes Ed Johnson painting
SCHEDULE OF EVENTS
› Monday, June 18: Black Arts and Ideas Festival hosts a viewing of the painting at 6 p.m. at the AVA Gallery, 30 Frazier Ave. Panel discussion follows at 7 p.m.› Friday, June 22: The finished painting will be revealed in a reception from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. at AVA Gallery.
Charlie Newton says he hopes a planned painting of a man unjustly hanged on the Walnut Street Bridge will bring hope and healing to the Chattanooga community.
Ed Johnson was lynched on the Walnut Street Bridge in 1906 for allegedly raping a white woman. He was later found innocent of the charge.
The iconic bridge will be in the picture, but it will show no hanging, says Newton.
Instead it will show Johnson surrounded by saints.
"I'm trying to bring healing," says Newton.
The local artist created his own opportunity to do the painting when he found his own sponsor and came to the Association for Visual Arts to be its first artist-in-residence.
The Black Arts and Ideas Festival will host a viewing of the painting at the AVA Gallery at 6 p.m. Monday, June 18. Then Newton will participate in a panel discussion at 7 p.m. The discussion will deal with "access for local black visual artists," according to the festival's website, BlackArtsAndIdeasFest.com.
The finished painting will be revealed during a reception from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. Friday, June 22, the closing day of Newton's residency at AVA. It will remain on display for another week after the reveal and then be deinstalled, says Kreneshia Whiteside, AVA's chief curator.
Local dentist Dr. Robert Clark is sponsoring Newton's artist-in-residence project, called "Let Freedom Ring." The painting is called "The Lamentation of Ed Johnson."
It will be a large-scale painting on canvas, according to an AVA news release.
Newton invites the community to stop by the AVA office while he's working on the painting to write prayers, comments and words concerning Johnson and healing.
"It's kind of like African art," says Newton. "It's meant to hold power and to do something, and so by the community coming together, black and white, young and old, they're writing their hopes and dreams for the future."
He plans to embed some of the community comments in his painting.
Being AVA's artist-in-residence means that during this month, Newton will work out of the AVA office and paint the Johnson painting there. He also will host his summer art classes there, giving dozens of youth involved in his SPLASH art program a chance to visit AVA for the first time.
Contact Yolanda Putman at yputman@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6431.