Category: Quaker Artists 3

A Benjamin Banneker stamp was issued by the United States Post Office in February 1980.  It depicts a distinguished-looking older man, a smaller figure with surveying equipment in the foreground.  Part of the Black Heritage series, it was designed by Jerry Pinkney and cost 15 cents.  Additionally, several other images of Banneker exist, among them another stamp from the Turk and Caicos Islands; a mural in the Washington D.C. Recorder of Deeds Building by Maxine Merlino; a cartoon by Charles Alston; and a woodcut frontispiece on Benjamin Banneker’s Almanac.  A statue also stands in the National African American History Museum, and a poem was composed by Rita Dove.

Benjamin Banneker (1731-1806) was a writer, astronomer, surveyor, mathematician and farmer.  During his life, he was most famous as the author of a series of 11 almanacs, some of its material based on his astronomical work.  He also included political writings in his Almanac, including peace and anti-slavery pieces.  Banneker assisted in the original survey of Washington DC’s boundaries and built the first clock in America.  He corresponded with Thomas Jefferson regarding justice for African Americans.

Banneker had a long association with Friends.  As a child, he attended a Quaker school run by Friend Peter Heinrich.  He was also close to the Quaker Ellicott family, whose son George lent him books to study astronomy.  His almanacs included an extract from Quaker poet Thomas Wilkinson’s “An Appeal to England, On Behalf of the Abused Africans; A Poem” as well as the schedules for Friends Yearly Meetings.  Banneker worshipped at Elkridge Meeting.  However, it is unknown whether he was a member of the Religious Society of Friends or if he was denied membership as were many African Americans in those times.  He dressed in Quaker plain clothes, including a broadbrim hat. 

A quote from Tyson Ellicott in his “A Sketch of the Life of Benjamin Banneker, from notes taken in 1836″

“Although he made no profession of religion, he loved the doctrines and mode of worship of the Society of Friends, and was frequently at their meetings. We have seen Banneker in Elkridge Meeting house, where he always sat on the form nearest the door, his head uncovered. His ample forehead, white hair, and reverent deportment, gave him a very venerable appearance, as he leaned on the long staff (which he always carried with him) in quiet contemplation.”

The Benjamin Banneker stamp is a fine remembrance of a gifted man.

Gary Sandman

May 2025

Ferdinand Barlow (1881-1951) was a French classical musician.  Originally an engineer, he studied music with Jean Huré and Charles Koechlin.  He composed in an Impressionist style, writing sonatas, symphonies, operas and ballets.  Among Barlow’s works are Sylvie ou Le Double Amour, La Grande Jatte, Ave Maria and Sinfonietta des Saisons.  His operetta Mam’zelle Prud’homme was presented at the Monte Carlo Opera.

Barlow became a Friend in 1926.  He helped found the Paris Quaker Centre, which organized peace activities, penal reform and conscientious objection support.  Barlow and his wife Ella led the Centre’s International Youth Circle, bringing French and foreign young people together to build friendships.  In 1930 the IYC sent a petition about disarmament to the London Naval Conference.

Ferdinand Barlow created grave, deeply felt music.  Sadly, he is for the most part unknown today.  Below is a link to three pieces of his music, “La Fleur Merveilleuse” “Droite dans la Candeur” and “When-Chûn”:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=caB7PZbbviU

                                                                                      Gary Sandman

April 2025

The Quakers, by Lisa Maltby, are four portraits of three early Friends and a person sympathetic to Friends, commissioned as part of a Swarthmore Hall exhibition about the birth of the Quaker movement.  Illustrated, in turn, are George Fox, Margaret Fell, Sarah Fell and Thomas Fell.  Because few authentic paintings of early Friends and friends of Friends exist, the portraits depict what these people may have looked like.  George Fox and Thomas Fell do resemble paintings supposed to represent them.  Margaret Fell and Sarah Fell are not based on any known paintings.  (Sarah and Thomas were the daughter and first husband of Margaret.  Thomas, while not a Quaker, supported Friends).  The intent of the portraits was to create a colorful and contemporary version of the subjects.  Approximately 300 mm by 420 mm, they are digital and were drawn using Pencil and Procreate brushes on a drawing tablet.  David Sudlow and Simon Leach designed the exhibition.

Lisa Maltby is a painter from Sheffield in the United Kingdom.  Her work includes publishing, design, editorial and heritage images, ranging from small digital illustrations to large murals, with a client list that includes Penguin Random House, The Guardian, the National Trust and Politico.  Maltby is a teacher, lecturer and writer, as well.  Among other initiatives, she supports Arts Emergency, which assists young artists.  She is not a Quaker, though she shares many Friendly values, like social justice and stillness.

The Quakers are charming pictures.  The subjects are brought to life by Maltby, a gifted artist.

A link to The Quakers project: https://www.lisamaltby.com/project-updates/quakers-portrait-illustration.

                                                                                            Gary Sandman

March 2025

A portrait of the Public Universal Friend appeared in the frontispiece of David Hudson’s 1821 biography, History of Jemima Wilkinson, a Preacheress of the Eighteenth Century.  It depicts a smiling figure, short hair on top, long hair in back, with black robes and a white cravat.  The artist is anonymous.  Additionally, other pictures of the Public Universal Friend exist.  These are an oil painting, four pencil drawings, two pastel sketches and a cartoon.  All the artists are anonymous, except Paheli, who drew one of the pencil drawings, and Vin Salesi, who created the cartoon.

The Public Universal Friend (1752-1819), born Jemima Wilkinson, was an American minister.  They were born a Rhode Island Quaker, growing up in Smithfield Meeting.  After almost dying from typhus, they declared that they had had a vision.  They said that Jemima Wilkinson had ascended to heaven, and God had reborn them with a spirit within them that they called the Public Universal Friend.  They stated that they no longer had a birth name or gender and wore androgynous clothing.  Asking not to be referred to by gendered pronouns, they said that they wanted to be addressed as “The Public Universal Friend” (or “The Friend” or “P.U.F.”).   Quakers disowned them.  But preaching a message that was similar to Friends beliefs, they drew many people, including Quakers, to form the Society of Universal Friends.  (The Public Universal Friend also continued to use the plain language and now wore a Quaker broadbrim).  The Universal Friends established the town of Jerusalem in western New York and built Meetinghouses in Rhode Island and Connecticut.  By the 1860’s, however, the group had died out.

The Public Universal Friend remains a controversial figure.  Many of their contemporaries regarded them as a fraud.  Many in the present day see them as a pioneer in non-binary and women’s rights.  They appear to have been a sincere preacher, trying to lead people to God.

Gary Sandman

February 2025

Howard Thurman (1899-1981) was an American minister, teacher, activist and writer. A mentor to a generation of civil rights leaders, he inspired Martin Luther King Jr, Bayard Rustin, Pauli Murray and James Farmer. He served as pastor at Roanoke First Baptist Church and Oberlin Mount Zion Baptist Church and as co-pastor at the Church for the Fellowship of All Peoples, the first major interracial and interdenominational church in the United States. He was also a member of the Fellowship of Reconciliation. Thurman taught philosophy and religion at Spelman College and Morehouse College, where he was a noted scholar of mysticism. Among his books were Jesus and the Disinherited, Meditations of the Heart and The Centering Moment. His poem “I Will Light Candles This Christmas” has been set to music, both as a song and as a choral piece.

Thurman was not a Friend but was greatly influenced by Quakers. While a student at Haverford College, he looked on Friend Rufus Jones as a role model. Later, he had long associations with Douglas Steere, Wilmer Cooper and Louise Wilson, also Quakers. Thurman served as a Visiting Professor at the Earlham School of Religion. His writings were published in Friends Journal, and his books were published by Friends United Press. An eloquent speaker, he appeared frequently at events for the American Friends Service Committee, Friends General Conference and Friends United Meeting. He was a member of the Wider Quaker Fellowship.

Howard Thurman was a profoundly important figure in 20th century religion and activism. His dedication to prayer and nonviolence was foundational to the American civil rights movement.

A quote about Friends Meeting for Worship:

“Nobody said a word … just silence. Silence. Silence. And in that silence, I felt as though all of them were on one side and I was on the other side, by myself, with my noise. And every time I would try to get across the barrier, nothing happened. I was just Howard Thurman. And then … I don’t know when it happened, how it happened, I wish I could tell you, but somewhere in that hour I passed over the invisible line, and I became one with all the seekers. I wasn’t Howard Thurman anymore; I was, I was a human spirit involved in a creative moment with human spirits, in the presence of God”.

Gary Sandman

January 2025

Standing in the Light (1998) is a film about Caty Logan, a teenager captured by the Lenape Indians in 1764.  It stars Stephanie Mills as Caty; its director is Stacey Stewart Curtis.   The movieis based on the young adult novel of the same name by Mary Pope Osborne.  Part of the Dear America series from Scholastic, Inc., the format is a diary written by a teenage girl.  It is an HBO film and appears currently on Amazon Prime.

Caty Logan is from a Quaker family.  She is taken, with her brother, to replace Lenape children who have died.  Gradually, she comes to feel part of the Lenape, realizing their Great Spirit and her Inner Light are the same.  English settlers attack their camp, however, and she and her brother are returned to her family.  After Caty approaches her father to speak to him about her time with the Indians, he points out that she has witnessed to the Inner Light in the Lenape.  He says that she has been “Standing in the Light”.  Pope Osborne attended Richland Meeting and read widely about 18^th century Friends to research the Quaker aspect of the story.

Standing in the Light is a very good movie.  Though it is a low budget production, the actors are excellent, and the story is surprisingly moving.

Gary Sandman

December 2024

Jane Harry (1755-1784) was a Jamaican/British painter.  The daughter of a plantation owner and a servant, as with many mixed-race children, she was sent to Britain for her education.  While there, she studied with Sir Joshua Reynolds, the famous portrait painter.  It is thought that she painted portraits, though no paintings attributed to her are known.  In 1778 she won a gold medal from the Society for the Encouragement of the Arts, Manufacturing and Commerce.

Harry became interested in Quakerism because of the death of Margaret, her younger sister.  Supported in her grief by Mary Morris Knowles, a Friend, she converted to Quakerism.  In response, her father withdrew his financial support and many of her friends turned against her, some using racist language.  Those who rejected her included Samuel Johnson, the writer, who attacked her because he felt women were incapable of choosing their own religion.  Friends took her in and provided her with employment.  She married a Friend, by whom she had a child.  Harry’s Quakerism also led her into abolitionism.  After she was left a small bequest, following her father’s death, she wrote to her mother that she wished to free the slaves her mother owned and that they be given religious instruction in Quakerism.  Only her early death prevented her from pursuing this.

It is greatly sad that none of Jane Harry’s paintings survive.  As well, no portrait of her remains.  Above is the silhouette of an anonymous African/British woman from the 18^th century.  Because of Friends’ traditional use of silhouettes and the plainness of her dress, it is included here to remember Harry.

Gary Sandman

November 2024

Rachel Anne Morris (b. 1996) is an American painter, designer, poet and teacher. She paints abstract figures, usually in watercolor and gouache, and designs assorted merchandise (greeting cards, posters, jewelry, clothing). Her work has been exhibited at Art on First and the Virginia Tech Carilion School of Medicine. As well, Morris has led poetry workshops at the Floyd Center for the Arts and the Little River Poetry Festival. Whatever kind of art she is focused on, she sees her creative process as an exploration, during which she opens herself up to “play, emotion and transformation”. The poet Mary Oliver is also a major influence on her work.

Morris is an attender at Roanoke Meeting. She lives nearby, noticed the Meetinghouse when she was out walking one day and decided to investigate. Because her art has always intertwined with her spirituality, she values her involvement with Friends.

I love Rachel Anne Morris’s art. I first noticed her work in a video on her Instagram account as she painted a mural at the West End Center in Roanoke. (And I have enjoyed her sitting in Meeting for Worship with her multi-colored hair). A very special artist!

Please check out her Instagram account at @cairnradesign. Above is her painting, “Maiden Voyage on the Time Sea”.

Gary Sandman

October 2024

Todd Drake (b. 1961) is an American graffiti artist, printmaker, photographer and teacher. Using the street name The Quaker Pirate, he places his graffiti in spots in New York City where they are allowed, like disused postage storage bins and plywood covers on buildings, and in locations in the city that celebrate graffiti, such as Angelina Jolie’s storefront. The graffiti consists of linocut prints applied with wheat paste. While he has concentrated on graffiti lately, Drake has also exhibited art or held workshops in the United States, Palestine, Saudi Arabia and Bahrain. Among the several books he has authored, designed or contributed to are Going to Carolina del Norte, Feeling a Type of Way, A Journey Like Us -Getting from There to Here and Give Me Eyes.

Drake is a member of Brooklyn Meeting. He taught art at New Garden Friends School and Guilford College. At Pendle Hill he led a workshop called Graffiti as Witness: The Art and Activism of a Quaker Pirate and he staged the exhibition titled Leading in Linocut – The Graffiti Prints of a Quaker Pirate. Because of his leading to activism, Drake joined other Friends in “Quaker Canvassing Peace Walks” that encourage Friends to speak to people who differ from them politically. He and his wife are the current managers at Penington House, the New York City Friends residence, where he created the Bayard Rustin Residency for BIPOC artists and activists.

I admire Todd Drake’s graffiti very much. They are beautiful, glorious images.

Two quotes:

“One central thing to my graffiti: I am trying to create one of those special moments, where you unexpectedly find something that deeply moves or speaks to you. Like often happens at a museum. But I am trying for that on the street. I have had those moments- seeing a quote or an image that speaks to me. I want to share that they are the same experience while giving people a small taste of Quaker Testimonies, which really are humanist and universal”.

“Graffiti is illegal. That is at the root of my street art name Quaker Pirate – the pirate part. I have tried to boil down my thoughts on this to a phrase, but it’s not yet perfect. “Speaking Truth Without Permission” is the closest I have come….”

(Above is the graffiti “Persistence of Nature” in its East Village location).

Gary Sandman

September 2024

The Quakers Synod is an engraving of the 1696 London Yearly Meeting, an annual conference of Friends.  It depicts William Penn, George Whitehead, William Bingley and other Friends gathered at the Clerk’s table.  In captions, when Penn asks, “Call over ye list, Are none of Truths enemies here” and Whitehead questions, “are the doors shut”, Bingley responds, “Yea the doors are lockt”.  At a table in front of them sit Benjamin Bealing and other Friends, with the books “church canons” and “ye Journal of G. Fox”.  “Deputies”, apparently Quaker ministers, are assembled to the left and right and in the foreground.  Whitehead was Yearly Meeting Presiding Clerk; Bealing was Yearly Meeting Recording Clerk.   The Quakers Synod appears in Chapter XIII of Francis Bugg’s The Pilgrim’s Progress from Quakerism to Christianity (1698).  The drawing measures about 12 inches by 16 inches, and the artist is anonymous.

Francis Bugg was an apostate to Quakerism.  He published numerous attacks on Friends, including The Pilgrim’s Progress from Quakerism to Christianity. The Quakers Synod was meant to expose Friends as a cabal.  Since he was sometimes not entirely truthful, what Bugg wrote should be read with some skepticism. 

The Quakers Synod is a fascinating illustration.  It is probably the earliest picture of a Yearly Meeting.  It also contains perhaps the only accurate portrait of William Penn.  Though several alleged likenesses exist, the only authentic one is the Bevan medallion, and The Quakers Synod version closely resembles the medallion. 

(Please note: The Quakers Synod has no identifying year attached to it.  The year 1696 was assigned to the image because it was featured in Chapter XIII of The Pilgrim’s Progress from Quakerism to Christianity, which includes material from that Yearly Meeting).

Gary Sandman

August 2024