Lorenzo Pace

Lorenzo Pace (born 1943) [1]is an American artist best known for his African Burial Ground Memorial sculpture in New York City, Triumph of the Human Spirit.[2]

Biography

Pace, who had 12 siblings, was born in Birmingham, Alabama, where his father was a minister in the Church of God in Christ.[2][3] He spent his youth in Chicago, except for a year spent abroad studying in Paris.[2] By the time he returned to Chicago, he was determined to become an artist and soon was inspired by a wood carving of the Last Supper to pursue that specialty.[3]

Pace had his first exhibition at the South Side Community Art Center,[2] where a University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC) dean lured him to the UIC art school with a full scholarship.[3] After one year there, he transferred to the School of the Art Institute of Chicago (SAIC), again on a scholarship, where he attained Bachelor of Fine Arts and Master of Fine Arts degrees.[3]

He attended the Illinois State University’s (ISU) School of Art in Normal, Illinois after being introduced to chairman Fred Mills by SAIC president Donald Irving.[3] At the outset of his dissertation defense, Pace performed a flute concerto by candlelight.[3] Under thesis advisor Max Rennels,[3] he obtained his doctorate in art education from ISU in 1978.[2] After teaching at UIC, he moved to New York City where he became part of the Harlem arts community.[3] Pace has also taught at Medgar Evers College and served as director of the Montclair State University art galleries, a position he was first appointed to in 1988.[4]

In 2000, his black granite[3] abstract monument, Triumph of the Human Spirit, was dedicated; it had been commissioned eight years earlier and rejected twice along the way.[4] It was funded by New York City's Percent for Art to be the centerpiece of Foley Square in Lower Manhattan and as a memorial to the nearby rediscovered African burial ground located at what is now known as African Burial Ground National Monument.[5] The top-level crown is based on the Chiwara female antelope forms in Bambaran art. The middle-level long form represents the Middle Passage slaves endured in the Atlantic slave trade.[5] At the front, a replica of Pace's forefather Steve Pace's slave lock, a family heirloom, is embedded into the work.[5]

Pace has exhibited at the Birmingham Civil Rights Institute in Birmingham, Alabama, as well as galleries in Brazil, China, France, Peru, Senegal, and Suriname.[6]

Pace is also the author of Jalani and the Lock, a children's book which tells the story behind his ancestor's captive restraint which became a familial keepsake.[7]

Pace works at the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley as a professor of art.[8]

References

  1. ↑ https://books.google.com/books?id=wEKXZ0Fo-IUC&pg=PA288&dq=lorenzo+pace+1943&hl=en&newbks=1&newbks_redir=0&source=gb_mobile_search&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwix6L3Bo7eWAxWZmWoFHfWpL2wQ6AF6BAgOEAM
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 "Lorenzo Pace's Biography". The HistoryMakers. December 17, 2000. Retrieved May 19, 2025.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 Sealock, Barbara (August 1, 2011). "Artist Lorenzo Pace creates and captivates". News - Illinois State. Retrieved May 19, 2025.
  4. 1 2 Finn, Robin (September 27, 2000). "PUBLIC LIVES; With Memorial, a Monumental Predicament". The New York Times. Retrieved May 20, 2025.
  5. 1 2 3 "Honoring the African-American Experience: Triumph of the Human Spirit". New York City Department of Parks & Recreation. Retrieved June 8, 2025.
  6. ↑ "Dr. Lorenzo Pace and Phillip Harrison @ 5p". Alys Stephens Performing Arts Center. Archived from the original on June 14, 2024.
  7. ↑ "Jalani and the Lock". publishersweekly.com. January 1, 2001.
  8. ↑ "Jalani and the Lock | Rosen Publishing". rosenpublishing.com.
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