- Born: Baltimore, Maryland, August 2, 1927
- Died: Manassas, Virginia, January 6, 2005
- Active: Nashville (Fisk University)
- Region: Middle
- Mediums: Sculpture, Ceramics, Photography
- Amistad Research Center | Instagram
Earl J. Hooks
Earl J. Hooks was a nationally renowned artist celebrated for his contributions in sculpture, ceramics and photography. His artistic oeuvre spanned over sixty years and was highlighted in an exhibit titled “The Art of Photography: Through the Eyes of Earl J. Hooks,” which featured fifty photographs and three-dimensional works. This exhibition was co-curated by his son Earl “Bing” Hooks and Jordan Exum gallery director at the Artfactory in Manassas, Virginia. That exhibit aimed to recontextualize Hooks’ legacy by creating visual connections that redefine his studio practice, emphasizing his nuanced interest in color, shape, texture, depth, and space. The two photographs shown here, “Benin Blew Blue” and Untitled “Rag Doll Resting” were focal points of that exhibition.
Hooks had a distinguished academic background, graduating from Howard University and studying under notable figures such as Lois Malou Jones, James Porter, and James Wells. He also completed his graduate studies at the Rochester Institute (previously known as the School of American Craftsmen) under Frans Wildenhain. His teaching career spanned several institutions, including Shaw University, Indiana University Northwest, Indiana Public Schools, and Fisk University, where he served as a professor and chair of the art department for 30 plus years. Throughout his career, Hooks exhibited his sculpture and other art forms in the Smithsonian Institution, the Art Institute of Chicago, Festac 77 in Lagos, Nigeria, and many exhibitions nationally and globally. His most notable sculpture “Man of Sorrows” now in the Paul R. Jones collection at The University of Delaware was included in “Two Centuries of Black American Art” at LACMA. This year, Hooks sculptures were included in “Kindred Spirits: Intergenerational Forms of Expression 1966-1999” and “Driskell and Friends, Creativity, Collaboration and Friendship,” both at the Frist Art Museum and Fisk University’s Van Vechten Gallery in Nashville.
CRAFTING BLACKNESS 
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