“At the Seat of the Heart: Examining the Legacy of Dr. David Driskell’s Stained Glass Liturgical Designs”

David Driskell, renowned artist, scholar, author, art collector, and professor, is revered as the “Dean of African American Art.” He was a celebrated artist whose paintings are featured worldwide in the most prestigious galleries and museums and coveted private collections. This faith-based presentation by Debra Ambush, honors and highlights his sixty four liturgical stained glass compositions that he designed for the DeForest Chapel at Talladega College, an historically Black College (HBCU) in Alabama where he taught in the 1950s, as well as his commissioned windows at the People’s Congregational United Church of Christ in Washington, D.C., where he and his family were members of the congregation for many years. His ability to create these vibrant and meaningful liturgical compositions were in part the result of his career as an art professor at three HBCUs—Talladega, Fisk, and Howard —culminating in his career at the University of Maryland, College Park, where he taught for 21 years.