Oliver Lee Jackson facts for kids

Oliver Lee Jackson, born in 1935, is a talented American artist. He is known for his paintings, sculptures, and prints. He also worked as a teacher.

He has an art studio in Oakland, California. For many years, he taught at California State University, Sacramento. From 1971 to 2002, he helped create a special program there. This program focused on Pan African Studies.

Early Life and Education

Oliver Lee Jackson was born in 1935. His family lived in St. Louis, Missouri. After graduating from Vashon High School, he went to Illinois Wesleyan University. He earned a degree in Fine Arts in 1958.

He served in the United States Army. He left the army with honor in 1961. Later, he studied at the University of Iowa. He earned another art degree there in 1963.

Teaching Career

In the 1960s, Oliver Lee Jackson taught art classes. He worked at local universities and colleges in St. Louis. He was also active in his community. From 1967 to 1968, he directed a program called Uhuru. This program was at the Pruitt and Igoe public housing in St. Louis. It helped low-income African Americans express themselves through art.

He taught at several places:

• St. Louis Community College (1964 to 1967)
• Southern Illinois University (1967 to 1969)
• Washington University in St. Louis (1967 to 1969)
• Oberlin College (1969 to 1970)

In 1971, he moved to California. He joined the faculty at California State University, Sacramento. He taught there until 2002.

Art Journey

Jackson was connected to the Black Artists Group (BAG) in St. Louis. This was a group of artists from different fields. He was good friends with Julius Hemphill, who helped start BAG. Even though he wasn't an official member, he supported their goals. BAG helped African American artists share their creative ideas. They wanted to have a bigger voice in the art world.

Jackson's paintings often show figures and strong brushstrokes. They are often very expressive. His art mixes different cultures and symbols. You can see ideas from historical African art and European Modernism.

A sad event, the Sharpeville massacre in South Africa in 1960, inspired him. Photographs of this event led him to create his Sharpeville Series. He worked on this series from 1968 to 1977.

Oliver Lee Jackson's artworks are in many famous museums. These include:

• Museum of Modern Art
• Metropolitan Museum of Art
• Studio Museum in Harlem
• National Gallery of Art
• San Francisco Museum of Art
• San Jose Museum of Art
• Seattle Art Museum

Many other public collections also own his pieces.

Art Shows

Solo Exhibitions

• 1979 – Oliver Jackson, Bixby Gallery, Washington University in St. Louis, Saint Louis, Missouri
• 1982 – Oliver Lee Jackson, Seattle Art Museum, Seattle, Washington
• 1983 – Oliver Lee Jackson, Matrix Gallery, UC Berkeley Art Museum, Berkeley, California
• 1990 – Currents 43: Oliver Jackson, Crocker Art Museum, Sacramento, California
• 1993 — New California Art: Oliver Jackson, Newport Harbor Art Museum, Newport Beach, California
• 1993 – Oliver Jackson: Works on Paper, Crocker Art Museum, Sacramento, California
• 2002 — Duo, Sert Gallery, Carpenter Center for the Arts, Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts
• 2017 – Oliver Lee Jackson: Composed, San Jose Institute of Contemporary Art, San Jose, California
• 2019 – Oliver Lee Jackson: Recent Paintings, National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.
• 2021–2022 – Oliver Lee Jackson–Any Eyes, di Rosa Center for Contemporary Art, Napa, California
• 2021–2022 – Oliver Lee Jackson, Saint Louis Art Museum, Saint Louis, Missouri

Group Exhibitions

• 1976 – Other Sources: An American Essay, curated by Carlos Villa, including Ruth Asawa, Bernice Bing, Rolando Castellón, Claude Clark, Robert Colescott, Frank Day, Rupert García, Mike Henderson, Oliver Jackson, Frank LaPena, Linda Lomahaftewa, George Longfish, Ralph Maradiaga, José Montoya, Manuel Neri, Mary Lovelace O'Neal, Darryl Sapien, Raymond Saunders, James Hiroshi Suzuki, Horace Washington, Al Wong, René Yañez, Leo Valledor, San Francisco Art Institute, San Francisco, California
• 1983 — 1983 Biennial Exhibition, Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, New York
• 1984 – An International Survey of Recent Painting and Sculpture, Museum of Modern Art, New York, New York
• 1987 – The Ethnic Idea, curated by Andrée Maréchal-Workman, including Lauren Adams, Robert Colescott, Dewey Crumpler, Mildred Howard, Oliver Lee Jackson, Mary Lovelace O'Neal, Joe Sam, Elisabeth Zeilon, Tom Holland, Celeste Conner, Jean LaMarr, Sylvia Lark, Leta Ramos, Judy Foosaner, Joseph Goldyne, Belinda Chlouber, Carlos Villa. Berkeley Art Center, Berkeley, California
• 1989 — The Appropriate Object, Albright-Knox Art Gallery, Buffalo, New York, with travel to Detroit Institute of Arts, Detroit, Michigan; San Jose Museum of Art, San Jose, California; and Speed Art Museum, Louisville, Kentucky
• 1994 — The Exchange Show: San Francisco/Rio de Janeiro, Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, San Francisco, California, and Museu de Arte Moderna, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
• 1994 – Continuing the Legacy of the Rockefeller Collection: Recent Acquisitions of 20th Century American Art, including Joan Brown, Wayne Thiebaud, Manuel Neri, Robert Arneson, Oliver Lee Jackson, Frank Lobdell. De Young Museum, San Francisco, California
• 2016 — Dimensions of Black, Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego, La Jolla, California, and Manetti Shrem Museum, University of California, Davis, California
• 2020 — Expanding Abstraction: Pushing the Boundaries of Painting in the Americas, including Alice Baber, Ibore Camargo, Fernando de Szyszlo, Helen Frankenthaler, Manuel Hernández Gómez, Grace Hartigan, Hans Hofmann, Dorothy Hood, Norman Lewis, Morris Louis, Kenneth Noland, Miguel Ocampo, Jules Olitski, Beverly Pepper, and Alma Thomas. Blanton Museum of Art, University of Texas, Austin, Texas