Weekly Work: Georgia II

This week’s Weekly Work focuses on "Georgia II" by Leo Twiggs. The Georgia Museum of Art is thrilled to host this iconic artist’s work.

Twiggs was born in St. Stephen, South Carolina. He attended Claflin University for his undergraduate degree, and later studied at the Art Institute of Chicago and New York University. At NYU, he studied with the celebrated African American painter and muralistHale Woodruff. Twiggs received his doctorate in Art Education right here at the University of Georgia in 1970. He was the first African American student to receive a Doctorate of Arts (Ed.D) from UGA.

Throughout his career, Twiggs has been honored in more than 70 solo shows. As professor of art at South Carolina State University, he helped develop the I.P. Stanback Museum. He was named Professor Emeritus in 2000. Furthermore, Twiggs was the first visual artist to receive the Verner Award for outstanding contributions to the arts in South Carolina.

Twiggs is best known for the style of painting he developed, which makes use of the batik technique. This technique involves the artist using wax to prevent certain areas of cloth from being dyed. Master batik artists are especially skilled in color mixing. Perfecting batik is very difficult because layers of colors are blended to create the desired shade. The technique can be clearly seen in "Georgia II" and allows Twiggs to create many subtle textures. Twiggs often deals with the role of relics, images and icons in southern culture in the United States.