To the casual viewer, his home studio doesn't look like much. Several works in progress hang from concrete walls, secured by tape. Another slightly larger-than-life drawing lies on an old mattress.

But it is the quality of his work and its message that resulted in Damond Howard earning the South Carolina Arts Commission Visual Arts Fellow honor for 2009-2010. Howard becomes the first Orangeburg County artist in more than 13 years to win a commission fellowship and the first in the visual arts category.

"It's encouraging, it's validation and it is reaffirming that someone thinks the work is worth exploring the kind of issues that I explore," Howard said. "I certainly hope that someone thinks it is both important and significant. I hope the content is award-worthy along with the skill. It certainly encourages me to keep doing what I'm doing."

Howard's drawings in charcoal and black pencil on paper and fabric place him and others in different contexts. He said his work is research-based.

"It's the kind of work that I've done in graduate school and since then," Howard said. "My subject matter is I reference history and historical figures and events. That's what really motivates me to make the work that I make.

"I use the self-portrait to explore and question relationships that construct African-American identity and subjecthood," Howard said. "As a black male in a largely white culture, I want to capture feelings of domination, subordination, oppression and suppression that are a part of my experience. At the same time, especially as it relates to issues of race, it is the most fruitful way to address the conditions of African-Americans at this moment in history."

An assistant art professor at Claflin University since 2004, Howard said his journey as an artist began early but didn't solidify until his undergraduate days at South Carolina State University.

"When I was about 6 or 7, my cousins and I created our own characters in drawings, but I never really knew that I wanted to pursue art until I graduated from high school," Howard said. "I was always creating and making things, so drawing was one of those blessings that came along with it. My mother encouraged me to get a college degree, so I enrolled in State's art program.

"I was influenced by the African-American artists I was exposed to during the art course we were required to take," he said. "Artists like Charles White and John Biggers. Later, when I took art appreciation, I was also influenced by the Baroque classical artists like Rembrandt. The way Rembrandt and the black artists dealt with value, light, shade and darkness was a major influence on my work. I also must credit Dr. Terry Hunter, a former S.C. State and Claflin professor."

Arts Commission Communications Director Milly Hough said the honor comes with a $5,000 award, an invitation to join a juried artist online registry and increased exposure.

"During the year, they are awarded and the following year, we do some extra marketing on the commission's Web page and we have an exhibit artist promotion page," Hough said. "We started cranking up the marketing efforts for our fellows a few years ago."

Along with previous art teaching positions at Benedict College and Kenyon College in Ohio, Howard also taught art in a public school for 18 months following his graduation from S.C. State.

"I teach general ed(ucation) art appreciation at Claflin, and I get to see things in a different way every semester," Howard said. "My hope is that the students can see the relevance of art in American society and in their own lives. I get them to analyze and critique what this means to African-Americans and America; to go beyond what they see.

"The award will also help me celebrate and share with my students," Howard said. "Once and for all, they can see that I know what I'm talking about."

A member of the Orangeburg County Fine Arts Center's subgrant committee, Howard wants to show the community the relevancy of art.

"I think there was once a time in American history it was very relevant. It was in the 1960s and in the Great Depression, especially with the Harlem Renaissance," Howard said. "We have to get out there to promote art. As university officials, we have to make our curriculum relevant, and we need to reach out more. I certainly try to do that, especially with the OCFAC.

"I was at an exhibition of my work in 2003 when a man approached me and asked if I felt African-Americans are still seen as caricatures," he said. "I said, 'I think so,' because every once in a while, something pops up on the American landscape that betrays that mind-set. It lets me know that my work is still relevant."

T&D Staff Writer Phil Sarata can be reached by e-mail at psarata@timesanddemocrat.com or by telephone at 803-533-5540. Discuss this and other stories online at TheTandD.com.

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