David
Newton
David
Newton is a classically trained sculptor who has studied in
New York and Florence Italy. He is Nationally recognized for
his award winning commission for the Freedman's Memorial project
of Dallas Texas which consists of 5 over life-size bronze
sculptures featuring elements of African American History.
David is currently working on two 12ft bronze figures for
the State Fair of Texas, and a monumental equestrian sculpture
for the City of Fort Worth Texas.
Education:
BFA Center for Creative Studies-Detroit, Michigan.
MFA Graduate School of Figurative Arts, New York, followed
by further training at Studio Art Centers International, Florence,
Italy.
FREEDMANS
MEMORIAL, DALLAS TEXAS.....
In
October 2004, SCULPTOR AND MEMORIAL DESIGNER DAVID NEWTON'S
five larger-than-life-size sculptures of Africans and African
Americans cloistered under a stone archway will preside over
the 1.2 acre reinterment site. They will form a sculpture
garden and haven of solitude and reflection for families,
visitors, and descendants of the city's black pioneers.
Newton's
massive sculptures are classical in style and show Africans,
warriors, griots, guardians and freed slaves in various contemplative
poses. "I wanted to show the genesis of African life
in America," he says. "I wanted a narrative feel
so that the sculptures would tell a story from slavery to
freedom."
The
cast-bronze pieces show a range of facial and physical emotions
and portray an evolution of black life from free Africans
to enslaved Africans in America and finally, to free African
Americans. The narrative begins in Africa, with sculptures
of free black men and women in their homeland.
Other
figures represent the indignities and abuses of slavery. In
the memorial and in this album you'll find, a male straining
against chains, a violated woman in the posture of shame and
a couple with whip lashes on their backs "Dream of Freedom".
This couple depicts figures dressed in everyday 19th-century
clothing, ready to begin living lives as freedmen. These figures
represent the pioneering denizens of post-Civil War Texas.
"At
the entrance to the archway, there are symbolic male and female
figures, a warrior ["The Sentinel"] and a griot
["The Prophetess"]. The griot keeps the history
alive, and the warrior protects the cemetery, so that it will
never be destroyed again," says Newton
