{"id":1309,"date":"2020-04-22T18:40:16","date_gmt":"2020-04-22T18:40:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.wilmu.edu\/news\/?p=1309"},"modified":"2025-02-07T15:58:58","modified_gmt":"2025-02-07T20:58:58","slug":"brushstrokes-for-humanity-with-artist-richmond-garrick","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.wilmu.edu\/news\/2020\/04\/22\/brushstrokes-for-humanity-with-artist-richmond-garrick\/","title":{"rendered":"Brushstrokes for Humanity with Artist Richmond Garrick"},"content":{"rendered":"<style>.kadence-column1309_9434d2-04 > .kt-inside-inner-col{padding-right:var(--global-kb-spacing-lg, 3rem);padding-bottom:var(--global-kb-spacing-lg, 3rem);padding-left:var(--global-kb-spacing-lg, 3rem);}.kadence-column1309_9434d2-04 > .kt-inside-inner-col,.kadence-column1309_9434d2-04 > .kt-inside-inner-col:before{border-top-left-radius:0px;border-top-right-radius:0px;border-bottom-right-radius:0px;border-bottom-left-radius:0px;}.kadence-column1309_9434d2-04 > .kt-inside-inner-col{column-gap:var(--global-kb-gap-sm, 1rem);}.kadence-column1309_9434d2-04 > .kt-inside-inner-col{flex-direction:column;}.kadence-column1309_9434d2-04 > .kt-inside-inner-col > .aligncenter{width:100%;}.kadence-column1309_9434d2-04 > .kt-inside-inner-col:before{opacity:0.3;}.kadence-column1309_9434d2-04{position:relative;}@media all and (max-width: 1024px){.kadence-column1309_9434d2-04 > .kt-inside-inner-col{flex-direction:column;justify-content:center;}}@media all and (max-width: 991px){.kadence-column1309_9434d2-04 > .kt-inside-inner-col{flex-direction:column;justify-content:center;}}<\/style>\n<div class=\"wp-block-kadence-column kadence-column1309_9434d2-04 dynamic-main-col\"><div class=\"kt-inside-inner-col\"><style>.wp-block-kadence-advancedheading.kt-adv-heading1309_fe2cc1-ec, .wp-block-kadence-advancedheading.kt-adv-heading1309_fe2cc1-ec[data-kb-block=\"kb-adv-heading1309_fe2cc1-ec\"]{font-size:1.5rem;line-height:30px;font-weight:500;font-style:italic;font-family:proxima-nova;color:#808080;}.wp-block-kadence-advancedheading.kt-adv-heading1309_fe2cc1-ec mark.kt-highlight, .wp-block-kadence-advancedheading.kt-adv-heading1309_fe2cc1-ec[data-kb-block=\"kb-adv-heading1309_fe2cc1-ec\"] mark.kt-highlight{font-style:normal;color:#f76a0c;-webkit-box-decoration-break:clone;box-decoration-break:clone;padding-top:0px;padding-right:0px;padding-bottom:0px;padding-left:0px;}.wp-block-kadence-advancedheading.kt-adv-heading1309_fe2cc1-ec img.kb-inline-image, .wp-block-kadence-advancedheading.kt-adv-heading1309_fe2cc1-ec[data-kb-block=\"kb-adv-heading1309_fe2cc1-ec\"] img.kb-inline-image{width:150px;vertical-align:baseline;}<\/style>\n<p class=\"kt-adv-heading1309_fe2cc1-ec p1 wp-block-kadence-advancedheading\" data-kb-block=\"kb-adv-heading1309_fe2cc1-ec\"><span class=\"s2\">Through it all, <\/span><span class=\"s3\">Richmond Garrick<\/span> <span class=\"s1\">always had his art. Ever since that day in grade school, when he picked up a colored pencil, opened a music book, and began drawing almost exact images of the composers he saw there \u2014 Chopin, Mozart, Bach, Brahms \u2014 he had his art.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\"> It sustained him through a childhood of hardship in his native Sierra Leone, the war-ravaged, <\/span><span class=\"s5\">diamond-rich yet impoverished nation <\/span><span class=\"s1\">on the southwest coast of West Africa. <\/span>A few years later, after graduating from <span class=\"s1\">high school, he found himself jobless and unable to afford college, and he sank into a depression that bordered on suicidal. <\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\"> But he rallied, began searching for funds to continue his schooling, <\/span><span class=\"s5\">finally receiving a scholarship from the <\/span><span class=\"s1\">European Economic Community. At 21, he entered Milton Margai Teachers College in Freetown, his hometown and the capital of Sierra Leone. <\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\"> Meanwhile, carrying his paintings in a homemade cloth portfolio, he went to galleries, restaurants and studios to sell a few and gain some local fame. He also earned his teaching certificate and started teaching art in secondary schools in Freetown.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\"> But a brutal civil war exploded in March of 1991. When a friend who had been on the front line described to him the daily atrocities, it so unnerved Garrick that he decided to join his older sister, who had moved to New Brunswick, New Jersey. <\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\"> In September of 1991, he fled the savagery in his homeland and made the 4,400-mile journey to the U.S. Here, he worked odd jobs while looking <\/span>for scholarships to slake his thirst for education.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\"> Eventually, he found funding, and earned an associate degree in Media Arts from Middlesex County College, a Bachelor of Fine Arts\/ Graphic Design from Montclair State University, and a Master of Fine Arts from Rutgers University.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\"> Now he\u2019s pursuing an Ed.D. in <\/span><span class=\"s5\">Educational Leadership at Wilmington <\/span><span class=\"s1\">University. When Garrick receives his doctorate, it will mark the latest in a series of stepping stones that have led him, despite monumental obstacles, to a life as a respected educator, successful artist, husband, and father. He and his wife, Wanona, have three children in college: a son who is pursuing a master\u2019s degree in music management, and two daughters, <\/span>both majoring in the sciences.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">Garrick teaches graphic design at Williamstown High School in New Jersey, and has been a visiting professor at DeVry University in Cherry Hill as well as an <\/span><span class=\"s5\">adjunct at both Rutgers and Middlesex <\/span><span class=\"s1\">County College.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\"> His art has received wide acclaim. He has exhibited in museums and galleries, including the Hunterdon Art Museum in Clinton, New Jersey, the African American Heritage Museum in Hammond, Louisiana, and the PPOW Gallery in New York City. He works in all mediums, but mostly oils and ball point pen. The latter are portraits of iconic African-Americans, including Martin Luther King Jr., Harriet Tubman, Nelson Mandela and Barack Obama. <\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\"> Garrick has collected many awards, including the Gloucester County NAACP Game Changer Award for Education. He received a Sierra Leone @50 Culture Award during the nation\u2019s <\/span>50-year celebration of independence. Garrick earned a <span class=\"s1\">Legends Award from the Sierra Leone Association of Artists &amp; Musicians. <\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\"> The civil war Garrick left behind was never far from his mind. And in 2000, the savagery reached across the miles and touched him more personally than ever when he received a phone call telling him that his brother, Sydney \u2014 six years older \u2014 <\/span>had been captured and killed in the conflict.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\"> Garrick was in grad school at Rutgers at the time, and news of his <\/span>brother\u2019s death, he says, was particularly \u201cpainful, very hard.\u201d When he met with his academic committee after the devastating <span class=\"s5\">phone call, they discussed how he could deal with the inhumanity of the war. <\/span>The obvious answer: through his art.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">\u201cI wanted to recount my experiences, the brutality of war, the sadistic nature of it, through the didactic nature of the brush strokes,\u201d Garrick says. \u201cWhen I met with my committee, [I decided that] red was symbolic of blood for me, and greens and browns were earth colors for me.\u201d&nbsp;<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\"> On canvases thick with layers of paint, he used these bold colors to create art that portrayed the war more powerfully than any photograph. His work was not only didactic \u2014 instructive, educational \u2014 in some cases, it shocked viewers, or brought tears to their eyes. One painting, titled \u201cBlood Diamond, Peering into the <\/span>Future,\u201d portrays a boy whose right arm ends at the elbow in a bloody stump.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"p1\">\u201cThe curator in a museum that I exhibited refused to show this painting because she felt it was too strong,\u201d says Garrick.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\"> He defends \u201cBlood Diamond,\u201d saying it \u201cdoes not provide escapism or fantasy, but examines human rights, ethics, and confronts the viewer face-to-face with such issues.\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\"> While gaining some fame for his art, Garrick also wanted to enhance his credentials as an educator. \u201cMy wife had been pushing me to get my Ed.D. for the last two years,\u201d he says. \u201cShe has <\/span>been instrumental in my education. Everything I have accomplished I owe to her.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\"> He enrolled in WilmU\u2019s Educational Leadership program in 2018. \u201cSome of my colleagues had received their master\u2019s from Wilmington, and they recommended this institution highly,\u201d he says. \u201cThey told me most of the instructors were either teachers or principals and have long-term experience in education. Based on their recommendations, I decided to come to WilmU, which welcomed him. \u201cI was delighted to have a gifted artist in our classes,\u201d says Dr. Joseph Crossen, chair of the Educational Leadership program. \u201cHe reminds us \u2014 and demonstrates \u2014 that the arts <\/span>are important for leaders as they try to build rich and fulfilling cultures in their schools.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\"> Garrick travels from his home in Willingboro to Wilmington one day a week for classroom work. The rest of his studies are online.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\"> \u201cIt\u2019s quite an amazing program,\u201d Garrick says. \u201cIt gives you very good groundwork, and [in his cohort] we <\/span><span class=\"s5\">have a lot of professionals in the field of <\/span><span class=\"s1\">education who are starting to become leaders, and all of us individually are bringing various experiences from our <\/span>education and personal lives.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\"> He cites, in particular, classes taught by Adjunct Professor Dr. T. J. Vari, whom he calls \u201cmotivational and collaborative.\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\"> Dr. Vari, who has Garrick in two of his courses, says: \u201cRichmond adds value to every discussion with an often unique perspective on the topics we cover. It\u2019s clear that he challenges the status quo, as many artists do. He prompts others to think deeply about an issue, without passing judgment or staking a claim.\u201d<br><\/span><span class=\"s5\"> After Garrick receives his doctorate, <\/span><span class=\"s1\">he hopes to teach art full-time on the college level while continuing to use his art to address humanitarian issues around the world. <\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\"> \u201cI want my paintings to have a dialogue with viewers,\u201d he says. \u201cI want people to be sensitive to what is going on in the world. If there is terrorism going on in the world, it affects all of us.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Through it all, Richmond Garrick always had his art. Ever since that day in grade school, when he picked up a colored pencil, opened a&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":1310,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_kad_blocks_custom_css":"","_kad_blocks_head_custom_js":"","_kad_blocks_body_custom_js":"","_kad_blocks_footer_custom_js":"","_kad_post_transparent":"","_kad_post_title":"","_kad_post_layout":"","_kad_post_sidebar_id":"","_kad_post_content_style":"","_kad_post_vertical_padding":"","_kad_post_feature":"","_kad_post_feature_position":"","_kad_post_header":false,"_kad_post_footer":false,"_kad_post_classname":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[135],"tags":[632],"class_list":["post-1309","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-magazine","tag-magazine-spring-2020"],"acf":[],"taxonomy_info":{"category":[{"value":135,"label":"MAGAZINE"}],"post_tag":[{"value":632,"label":"Magazine Spring 2020"}]},"featured_image_src_large":["https:\/\/blog.wilmu.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/Richmund-Garrick-26-scaled-1-580x480.jpg",580,480,true],"author_info":{"display_name":"Rebecca Slinger","author_link":"https:\/\/blog.wilmu.edu\/news\/author\/rebecca\/"},"comment_info":0,"category_info":[{"term_id":135,"name":"MAGAZINE","slug":"magazine","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":692,"taxonomy":"category","description":"","parent":0,"count":431,"filter":"raw","cat_ID":135,"category_count":431,"category_description":"","cat_name":"MAGAZINE","category_nicename":"magazine","category_parent":0}],"tag_info":[{"term_id":632,"name":"Magazine Spring 2020","slug":"magazine-spring-2020","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":1189,"taxonomy":"post_tag","description":"","parent":0,"count":17,"filter":"raw"}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.wilmu.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1309","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.wilmu.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.wilmu.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.wilmu.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.wilmu.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1309"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blog.wilmu.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1309\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":15245,"href":"https:\/\/blog.wilmu.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1309\/revisions\/15245"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.wilmu.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1310"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.wilmu.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1309"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.wilmu.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1309"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.wilmu.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1309"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}