For a listing of this weekend’s events, visit BannisterProject.org.

By some accounts, Rhode Island painter Edward Bannister was the first Black artist in America who was formally trained in a studio as an apprentice. In 1876, he won a prize at the Philadelphia Centennial Exposition for one of his paintings. Joseph Norman is an artist and educator who has studied the life of Edward Bannister.

“And there was a lot of controversy surrounding this award to him,” Norman said. “Given that he did not acknowledge ahead of time that he was a person of color, it was met with a great deal of anger. And they decided to revoke, to reverse the decision of the judges. And then give it to another artist.”

But the other artists in the competition defended Bannister. They protested the judge’s decision, and eventually the prize was returned to him.

“And he was given first prize, a medallion, and also awarded $1,500, which would be closer to $44,000 or $50,000 today,” Norman said.

In 1880, Bannister was one of the 16 people who founded the Providence Art Club. Nancy Gaucher-Thomas is a past president of the Art Club and the co-chair of the Bannister Community Art Project. She said Bannister played an important role in the organization at the time. 

“He was just one of those people that was able to pull people together – so much so that there was a silhouette on the wall of the art club of his profile. And there was a number one that signifies that he was, you know, really a shaker and mover at that time,” Gaucher-Thomas said.

Sculptor Gage Prentiss created the Edward Bannister sculpture that will be unveiled this weekend.

“My awareness of Bannister crept up on me. First, when I took a tour of the art club, and I saw his striking – the silhouette on the top wall. … And I found him very striking and kind of mysterious, and just had this powerful countenance. … And when I first saw his paintings, I was just kind of blown away, and I loved landscapes,” Prentiss said. 

“It was just kind of overwhelming. And then getting to spend time with the art, and seeing the brushstrokes and the intimate size of the paintings, and just like windows inside of Edward Bannister’s mind … these environments of power and optimism and joy, but very sublime joy, because there’s always just a little bit of somberness. They’re just so complex,” Prentiss said. “Getting to know Edward Bannister that way as an artist very intimately amongst you know, his friends, through time, just made me kind of fall in love with them.”

Prentiss’ bronze sculpture will feature Bannister sitting on a bench in Market Square, across South Main Street from the RISD Museum. I asked him to describe the piece.

“Edward Bannister is sitting on a bench. He’s sitting there very comfortably, one leg crossed over the other, supporting his sketchbook in his hand. He’s using a pencil,” Prentiss said. “I tried to position him in a way so that he wouldn’t just be in a bubble working on his own, but he’d have a slight lean to whoever might be sitting next to him, almost inviting you to look over at what he’s doing. His glance is across the little walkway towards the river, looking at another bench that at this point still exists there. And I’m trying to create a tableau where he is actually sketching his wife Christiana Carteaux across the way.”

The sculpture of Bannister will be sitting on a bench, not on a pedestal, like so many statues – including the one a few blocks away featuring Ambrose Burnside riding a horse on top of a pedestal. I asked Prentiss why he made that choice. 

“When you put someone up on a box, you know, you kind of objectify them. You turn them into an idea instead of a person,” he said. “I wanted him to be as approachable, I wanted you to be able to interact. I want you to be able to just exist in the same bubble as this amazing human being from long ago.”

I go through that area almost every day when I’m commuting home from work. It’s a space where you can often find RISD students sketching, filming, or taking photos. I asked Prentiss if, in making his sculpture, he was thinking about the way it might interact with artists using the space today? 

“Every day of this project, I’m kind of learning more and more that gets added to it as far as context and possibility. So though that didn’t occur to me at the time, I knew that it was a very vital location that has a lot of creative people traversing it all the time,” he said. “It’s very public, but also very intimate. And there’s just so much movement and light, and it’s a great spot.”

Now that the sculpture is about to be unveiled, participants will have a weekend full of events to mark the occasion, including a Friday night cocktail party at the Art Club where people can meet sculptor Gage Prentiss and artist Joseph Norman, as well as a block party on Saturday where you can visit the Art Club galleries and enjoy their courtyard. Jennifer Davis-Allison is one of the co-chairs of the Bannister Community Art Project.

“On Sunday is our big finale that starts off with a parade. And we’re doing that in collaboration with PVD Fest. And it’s along the lines of sort of first line New Orleans parades,” she said. “The mayor will lead it off, we will have a couple of honorees. We have a drum troupe, the David [Lee] Black [Providence] Drum Troupe is going to kick us off. We will have dragon dancers from the Asian community. One of our concluding acts is actually a masquerade mask performer, he’s from Nigeria. And he will be there supported by drummers that will actually conclude that event.”

The parade and unveiling will take place 12-3 p.m. on Sunday, Sept. 10. And the final event will be a lecture and presentation from Joseph Norman about the life of Edward Bannister and his contributions.

“Bannister represents a series of firsts,” Norman said. “He is the first nationally, internationally known African-American artist. He is the first African-American artist to win a national award that brought him to national prominence. He is, in effect, the father of African-American art in America. And I will go as far as to say that he is our first superstar. And without Edward Mitchell Bannister, there is no Basquiat, there is no Joe Norman, there is no Henry O. Tanner. Because Bannister was simply the first.”

Catch Joseph Norman’s presentation at the First Baptist Church in Providence on Sunday, Sept. 10, at 4 p.m. You can find details about all of the events at BannisterProject.org.

Got a question, comment or suggestion for Artscape? Email us at arts@thepublicsradio.org.