An Interview with Virgie Patton-Ezelle
- An Interview with Virgie Patton-Ezelle
I don’t remember when I first became aware of black figure vases, but I do remember what I thought: these have to be the black folks of ancient Greece that people never talk about. At the age of ten or thirteen, maybe during one of my many visits to the Cleveland Museum of Art—or while studying “World History” in a junior high school class—it must have struck me that the black figures prancing around the circumference of these elegantly shaped vessels were like me.
In her recent series of “Black Figure” paintings, Virgie Patton-Ezelle made my wishful thinking come true. Patton-Ezelle isolates single black figures on large, 41/2’ x 5’ canvases. Although the paintings are figurative, her images seem abstract or abstracted since there are no details, contours of the body, or facial features. But the figures are not quite blank, either. Using wistful strokes and a subtle palette, Patton-Ezelle captures them in perilous positions, bodies unfolding like Chinese fans or stretched, with arms held high as if reaching for the sky or the surface of the sea. Her figures seem to radiate color.
Although she has experimented with many different styles and worked in oil, watercolor, and acrylic—as well as terra cotta and plaster casts for sculptures—Patton-Ezelle has always remained interested in the figure. Born and raised in Cleveland, Ohio, Patton-Ezelle was trained at the Cleveland Institute of Art and Karamu House, the oldest black arts and cultural institution in the United States. Founded in 1915 by Russell and Rowena Jelliffe as an interracial arts settlement, a rarity at the time, Karamu alumni include Langston Hughes, dancer Marjorie Whitt Johnson, and painter Hughie Lee-Smith; regular visitors included Paul Robeson, Marian Anderson and Ruby Dee.
I spoke with Virgie Patton-Ezelle on the phone at her home in South Euclid, Ohio, a small suburb of Cleveland.
How long have you been painting? When did you start?
I suppose I began to realize I had something going for myself about 35 years ago. That’s when I started wanting to move my way into the professional realm. Well, I actually started doing art years before that. Starting as a very young person, actually. I was 5 years old when my school, realizing that I had some special abilities, called for my parents. I could visually recall the day and the mood of the day when the rest of the class had gone home and my mother showed up and the teacher and the principal had my work spread out on the floor at a school. This was in kindergarten—Quincy Elementary School. They stood there discussing my work. I was busy doing things; I was aware that they were talking about me, but it didn’t seem important to me. You know, I was busy playing with the blocks on the [End Page 163] shelves. After that there was always attention focused on me, and they would have me do special art projects for the class or the school. Upon entering Junior High School and Senior High School, the same things took place. I was always known as the school artist—there were these contests all the time. The art teacher would see that I was involved in these contests, and I would always win.
You said you started doing visual arts 35 years ago. There seems to be some time gap. Was it getting married? Raising a family?
No, actually there was never a time gap. I was always doing art, painting at home on my own. Eventually—shortly after high school—what do you do? You get married. This is what the parents want to see you do. So you get married. I had a family, started having children, but I was so determined never to have time lapse in between anything. I always found a way to paint. Even when the children were young, I’d send them off to school, paint all day, and at night, I’d do my household duties so that I could paint all...
