A Drawing in the Sand: A Story of African American Art

by Jerry Butler

Describes Jerry Butler's development as an artist and his discovery of the long and beautiful tradition of Afro-American art that preceded him

Genres: African American, Art

Hardcover

Published February 1, 1999

About the author

Jerry Butler Jr. was an American soul singer-songwriter, producer, musician and politician. He was the original lead singer of the R&B vocal group the Impressions, inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1991. After leaving the group in 1960, Butler achieved over 55 Billboard Pop and R&B Chart hits as a solo artist including "He Will Break Your Heart", "Let It Be Me" and "Only the Strong Survive". He was inducted into the National Rhythm & Blues Hall of Fame in 2015.
Butler served as a Commissioner for Cook County, Illinois, from 1985 to 2018. As a member of this 17-member county board, he chaired the Health and Hospitals Committee and served as Vice Chair of the Construction Committee.

Reviews

[Caterina · Rating 4 out of 5]

Artist Jerry Butler narrates and vibrantly illustrates his own life story, while in parallel columns he interweaves stories of some of the most significant African American artists of the 19th and 20th centuries. For most of the artists he includes an image of one work of art.

While young Jerry was growing up on a farm in Mississippi, his grandmother "Grand Mo Lu" caught sight of his drawings in the sand with a stick, and began to nurture and encourage him to embrace both the work and the identity of an artist, helping him get jobs painting murals in local churches. Later as an art student and as a teacher he encountered both racism and community support, exclusion of Black artists from the mainstream, Black artists starting their own movements, and the importance for many contemporary African American artists, including himself, of embracing cultural and family roots in their art. He includes advice for young aspiring artists -- target audience middle grades.

It's a beautiful book but the format is a bit confusing -- the way the two interwoven narratives are chopped up on each page and between pages. Here's what worked best for me: for each chapter I read his entire autobiographical narrative first from start to finish, then went back and read the narratives of that chapter's featured artists. I would have liked more images for each featured artist, and also more information on Butler's own rich images -- paintings and collages which were often uncaptioned.

[Renee · Rating 5 out of 5]

WOW WOW WOW.

Jerry Butler wrote a great primer for kids telling his personal journey to becoming a professional artist in the 70's and interweaving it with the history of a century of black art in America. Loved reading about black art luminaries from Henry Ossawa Tanner to Betye Saar. Jerry Butler designed the book himself, and you can tell that an artist was responsible behind the design of the book. There's so much intentionality with font, kerning, and color. Love it!

[Pam · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book by the artist Jerry Butler has two parts; his biography/memoir which includes examples of his work and a overview of the history of African-American artists with some examples of their work. Readers interested in art will enjoy both story lines as well as the fabulous artwork. The book was laid out such that both story lines run concurrently throughout the book. Despite the interesting stories and artwork, this format was confusing and distracting to me. The columns of text belonging to Butler's personal story and the other artists are differentiated only by slightly different fonts. It left me confused if I should read one story to the end or switch back and both from one to another. Likewise some of the artists featured include examples of their work but others do not which left me flipping from page to page looking to see if I missed something. Unfortunately Butler's work was not identified by title and date making it impossible to understand how his art career has progressed. It was an interesting idea that just didn't work and one that made the sum of the parts less than each individually.

[Andi · Rating 5 out of 5]

I will read this to my neice and newphew. I will use this in a class when I can it was a good book.