EUGENE E. WHITE

INDEPENDENT ARTIST, AUTHOR & GALLERY PROPRIETOR

Biography & Selected Achievements:

Eugene E. White began creating art when he was a young child, though he received no formal artistic training. Born in Ozan, AR in 1933, he studied agriculture and worked in the cotton field with his father. He eventually migrated north and found work as a sign painter and sketch artist at the Cadillac plant in Detroit. Continuing west, he arrived in San Francisco in 1958 and opened an art gallery – the first Black-owned art gallery in the city – in 1963.

White’s first public art show was in Golden Gate Park’s Hall of Flowers, sponsored by Bulart, in 1964. He has also displayed his work at such historic festivals as the original Black Expo in Chicago (1971) and FESTAC in Lagos, Nigeria (1977). In 1967, he became the first Black visual artist to display his work at the Monterey Jazz Festival.

From 1975 through 2012, White published a quarterly magazine entitled KUJIONA: To See One’s Self. The magazine, distributed both locally and nationally, was intended to spread the work of African American artists, writers and thinkers. White also published an autobiography, Jabo’s Boy – Now His Manchild, in 2004.

Locally on the Buchanan Mall, White regularly displayed his work and curated African American arts festivals at the Ella Hill Hutch Community Center throughout the 80s, 90s and 00s. Two of his murals have graced the community center’s walls; one, entitled “Juneteenth,” depicts the migration of African Americans out of the south and is still on view today.

In recognition of his many contributions to African American arts and culture, White received a Commendation from the San Francisco Appreciation Society in 2013, and Mayor Ed Lee proclaimed July 11, 2013 to be Eugene E. White

Day.

At 84, White is still painting; he recently completed a portrait for historic Black college Bennett in North Carolina and is presently working on three commissioned works. Today, White’s paintings and prints are on permanent display at his gallery, as well as on the Buchanan Mall and at the Oakland Museum of California.

A more detailed listing of White’s works and achievements may be found on the following pages.

Select EXHIBITIONS, Honors & Awards

1964 Hall of Flowers, Golden Gate Park (first public art show) 1967 Black Power Conference, Howard University

1967- Monterey Jazz Festival (first Black artist to exhibit) 1984

1968 Resurrection City USA, Potomac Park

1969 First Experimental Black Expo

1969- Chicago Black Expo 1972

1970 Congress of African People

1970 First Black Arts Festival

1972 First Place Award & Trophy for Juneteenth Festival Art Show

1972 The First Black National Convention

1972 The Black Social Workers Convention

1973 The Black Quake, Brooks Hall Civic Auditorium

1974 Certificate of Award: First Annual Cygnus Award, presented by Donald Warden

1975 A Day for Black Artists, Lone Mountain College

1975 Guest Artist & Black History Month Certificate of Award presented by the San Francisco African American Historical and Cultural Society

1976 Father of the Year Award presented by KDIA Public Radio Oakland

1977 FESTAC (Second World African Festival of Arts and Culture)

1977 Guest Lecturer, The Neighborhood Arts Program of the Arkansas Arts Center

1977 Commissioned work for Community Streetwork’s “Save the Children” event

1978 One Man Art Show, The University Gallery, Cal Poly

1978 Wajumbe Cultural Celebration, Japan Center Theater

1978 First Annual Black Historical Exposition & Cultural Festival, Nairobi Institute of Culture

1978 African Cultural Festival, Martin Luther King Center

San Francisco, CA Washington, DC Monterey, CA

Washington, DC Richmond, CA Chicago, IL

Washington, DC Flint, MI Menlo Park, CA

Gary, IN Nashville, TN San Francisco, CA San Francisco, CA

San Francisco, CA San Francisco, CA

Oakland, CA Lagos, Nigeria Little Rock, AR San Francisco, CA

San Luis Obispo, CA San Francisco, CA East Palo Alto, CA

Richmond, CA

1980 Exhibition and dialogue tour of 11 San Francisco Public Schools, paid for by SF Unified School District

1981 Tribute to Black History Month, Trinity Gallery

1981 Coordinator/Exhibitor of special activities for The National Dental Assoc. Convention, SNDA, NDHA, NDAA, and the NCCNDA

1981 Black Cultural Renaissance Expo presented by the CA Black Cultural Assembly and Sacramento Bee

1982 Black History Day, North Oakland Co-Op

1982 Annual National Afro American History Month Exhibit,

Laney College

1982 23rd National Assembly of Arts Activists, The Links Convention

1982 FESTAC 82 Expo, Oakland Auditorium

1983 The National Association for Speech, Language and

Hearing

1983 US Black Chamber of Commerce Trade Faire, Hyatt Convention Center

1983 NAACP National Convention, New Orleans Convention Center

1983 Guest Artist at Creative Arts & Expressive Lab

1983 Black American Political Convention

1983 National Association of Black Social Workers

1986 Monterey Bay Blues Festival (official poster artist)

1990 Display artist at the 12th Annual National Alliance of Black School Educators

1992 Ella Hill Hutch Community Center’s First Annual Arts & Crafts Fair

1994 Beaux Arts Frolic (presented with award from Assembly member Willie Brown, Jr.)

1996 Speaker & presenter for Young African American Achievers Program, Jones Memorial United Methodist

1997 Limited Edition Souvenir Cover Design for 12th Annual Monterey Bay Blues Festival

1997- Graphic Designer & Program Coordinator for Annual 2000 Unity Day Parade & Rally sponsored by the Bayview

Hunter’s Point Committee

San Francisco, CA

Berkeley, CA San Francisco, CA

Sacramento, CA

Oakland, CA Oakland, CA

Las Vegas, NV

Oakland, CA Los Angeles, CA

Oakland, CA New Orleans, LA

St. Louis, MO Sacramento, CA San Francisco, CA Monterey, CA Dallas, TX

San Francisco, CA San Francisco, CA

San Francisco, CA Monterey, CA

San Francisco, CA

2002 Grand Marshall, San Francisco Juneteenth Parade (White participated in San Francisco Juneteenth events annually since the 1970s)

2003 “My Race, My Grace” Exhibitor in the Sargent Johnson Gallery sponsored by the African American Art & Culture Complex

2004 Published autobiography: “Jabo’s Boy – Now His Manchild” (Publish America Baltimore)

2005 Black History Month exhibition at St. Mary’s Medical Center

2006 Received Medallion from the City of Nashville, AR

2013 Commendation & Certificate of Honor from SF

Supervisor London Breed & Mayor Ed Lee

2013 The Elders Project: A Tribute at the African American Arts & Culture Complex

2016 Eugene E. White Day: Gallery show & documentary film premiere at the African American Art & Culture Complex

2016 “I Am An Artist” Youth Appreciation event; Certificate of Achievement presented by the African American Art & Culture Complex

San Francisco, CA San Francisco, CA

San Francisco, CA San Francisco, CA

Nashville, AR San Francisco, CA

San Francisco, CA San Francisco, CA San Francisco, CA

West

Fresno State University, CA

San Francisco State University, CA Stanford University, Palo Alto, CA Univ. of California, Berkeley, CA University of San Francisco, CA University of Oregon, Eugene, OR

South

Tuskegee Institute, Tuskegee, AL

Philander Smith College, Little Rock, AR Atlanta University, Atlanta, GA

Atlanta University Center Consortium, Atlanta, GA

AT&T, Greensboro, NC

Bennett College, Greensboro, NC

Duke University, NC

Johnson C. Smith University, Charlotte, NC Shaw University, Raleigh, NC

University of North Carolina, Greensboro, NC University of North Carolina, Durham, NC Fisk University, Nashville, TN

Lane College, Jackson, TN

LeMoyne-Owen College, Memphis, TN Bishop College, Dallas, TX

University of El Paso, El Paso, TX

Holy Rosary Catholic School, Galveston, TX

Notre Dame University, South Bend, IN Oberlin Teacher’s College, Oberlin, OH University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI University of Chicago, IL

Genesee College, Flint, MI

Cleveland Ohio Jr. College, Cleveland, OH Kent State University, Kent, OH

Cincinnati University, OH

Washtenaw Community College, Ann Arbor, MI

Michigan University, Kalamazoo, MI

Lincoln University, Jefferson City, MO

St. Louis University, St. Louis, MO

University of Kansas, Lawrence, KS

Northeast

Yale University, New Haven, CT

Howard University, Washington, D.C.

Elma Lewis School of Fine Arts, Roxbury, MA Harvard University, Cambridge, MA

Bowie State University, Prince George's County, MD

Southside Cultural Center, Providence, RI

SHORT-TERM RESIDENCIES

Midwest