What:

Journalists are invited to a reception and private tour of the exhibition, Rising Above Jim Crow: The Paintings of Johnnie Lee Gray.

A self-taught artist from Spartanburg, South Carolina, Johnnie Lee Gray (1941-2000) left a legacy of remarkable paintings, offering a personal vision of African-American life during the Jim Crow era and its aftermath. Little known during his lifetime, Gray's artworks are now the subject of a nationally touring exhibition.

This exhibition of 35 of Gray's paintings has been acclaimed by critics and the public since it opened in New York City in autumn 2002. The exhibition will be presented on the West Coast only at Cal State Northridge from Saturday, Oct. 11 to Saturday, Nov. 15.

Rising Above Jim Crow: The Paintings of Johnnie Lee Gray is sponsored by New York Life Insurance Company, which also was the sole corporate underwriter of the four-part television series, The Rise and Fall of Jim Crow, broadcast in 2002-2003 on PBS. KCET will re-broadcast this Peabody Award-winning series on four consecutive Fridays, beginning Friday, Oct. 31 at 10 p.m.

When:

10 a.m., Thursday, Oct. 9, 2003

The Art Galleries
California State University, Northridge
18111 Nordhoff St., Northridge
(between Halsted and Plummer Streets, just east of Etiwanda Avenue)
2004 Thomas Guide Grid 500 J-5<

Who:

Gwendolyn H. Everett, exhibition curator
Shirley Sims Gray, widow of Johnnie Lee Gray
Ronald Davis, CSUN history professor and contributor to the educational Web site www.jimcrowhistory.org

NOTE: Dr. Everett and Mrs. Gray will also be available for interviews Oct. 9-12. Please contact us ASAP to book a time.

Carmen Ramos Chandler, CSUN Public Relations, (818) 677-2130
Susanna Wallgren, The Kreisberg Group, Ltd., (917) 447-5836