James W. Washington, Jr. (1909-2000) was born in Gloster, Mississippi.  As a young man he escaped the Jim Crow South via a Civil Service job, moving through Vicksburg, Little Rock and in 1944, settling in Seattle where he quickly became involved in the local art community as a painter and sculptor.
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In this Year of the Protester, Dox Thrash’s watercolor from 1940 depicting striking union workers seems very of-the-moment–although his style immediately dates it as WPA era. Thrash worked on the Federal Art Project from 1936-1939 and during this time invented a printmaking technique known as carborundum mezzotint, which uses a carbon-based abrasive to burnish copper plates. His greatest works depicting the struggles and daily lives of 20^th century African-Americans were created using this process.   More

This is the first post for Red Writing, the official blog for The Metro Show. I’ll be writing about interesting and historic items that you’ll be able to see for yourself, come January at the fair. Feel free to comment or ask questions. We welcome all feedback!   More