Renowned artist J Michael Walker was born and raised in Little Rock, AR, at a time “when legalized segregation was in its clawingin- the-dirt death throes, and … culture [was] standing on the wrong side of history.” Having no formal artistic guidance, Walker explains, “creating art was my way to break free of the restrictions I experienced — social and class issues, cultural values, authoritarianism, a broken home — and as a consequence I never took, or took kindly to, structured or instructional art classes (life drawing, still life, etc.), because they felt like more impediments to the self-expression that was practically killing me to be released — so I remained largely

self-taught.”

 

Meet Michael at the Artist’s Opening Reception on Sunday, November 9, 12 noon to 1:30 p.m. in Angelina Forbes Hall. His art has been well received and well praised since the 1980s. “J Michael Walker sees angels everywhere, the divine in the ordinary, saints in survivors.

 

And that, in our era of fear and rage, is enough for me,” said Sandra Cisneros, author of “The House on Mango Street.”

 

Walker experienced an artistic awakening when visiting Mexico’s northern region of Sierra Tarahumara to illustrate the first textbook in that region’s native dialect. “Integrating myself into families and communities of mestizos and Tarahumaras provided perspective and understanding,” says Walker, “and filled holes in my heart. And when I moved to Los Angeles to forge some kind of an art career, Mexico essentially ‘explained’ the city to me, its cultural roots churning beneath LA’s asphalt.”

 

J Michael Walker continues to use art as a way to express his feelings and observations – essentially a diary of how he sees the world. As Walker puts it, art helps him “attempt to answer the questions that still plague me, and compensate for the wrongs I’ve witnessed; and…[offer] gratitude for the beauty and wonder I’ve been blessed to behold.”

 

For information about exhibiting at UU Santa Monica or other questions about the Art Wall, contact our Art Director Beverly Alison.