Among my fondest memories from my time running the Center for Collaborative Art and Visual Education in Washington, DC are my encounters with founding Washington Color School artist Sam Gilliam.  During the time I knew him, living as my wife and I were at the time, out of a studio apartment in his studio building in the U Street/Cardozzo neighborhood, I was able to glean tips from him and his assistants on materials and technique as well as marvel at his works in progress – which at the time ranged from set pieces for the National Ballet and privately commissioned works.

Sam’s work has had a huge influence on how I think about the artist’s process, color, and abstract composition. At the same time, I was able to pick up on the history of Washington’s art scene during its height in the 1960s.  The Color School movement included many great American painters, among them Kenneth Noland and Gene Davis.

Over the years, Sam’s work has encompassed many styles and media, from soak-stain and shaped canvasses to dynamic, textured paper constructions. Among my favorite of Sam’s vast body of work are his compositions of vibrant pigments – on occasion with subtle transparencies embedded in the surface – applied to birch or maple panel.