Larry Dell Alexander (1953 - 2021)

Born 30 May 1953 in Dermott, Chicot, Arkansas, United States

Died 8 Jun 2021 at age 68 in Arkansas, United States

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Biography

Larry Alexander is Notable.

Larry Dell Alexander was an African-American artist, Christian author, and catechist.^[1][2]

Larry Dell Alexander was born on May 30, 1953 in Dermott, Arkansas. He was the son of Robert and Janie Alexander. His father was a truck driver and his mother was a beautician. He began drawing at age four and never received formal art training. He graduated from Dermott Hight in 1971 and moved to Pine Bluff, Arkansas. There he studied Architectural Residential Design at Pines Vocational Technical School (now Southeast Arkansas College). He later attended Richland College in Dallas, Texas, where he studied AutoCAD.^[3][2][1]

After two years of school, he moved to Detroit, Michigan, and was unable to find work in his chosen field. He found work at the Chrysler auto assembly plant. He became interested in the interworkings of cars and became a certified mechanic, a craft he would work for the next seventeen years.^[3][1]

He met and married Patricia in Detroit, and they moved to Irving, Texas where he opened his own auto repair shop and operated until 1991.^[1][2][3]

In 1991, he began to create greeting cards under the now defunct Alexander Greeting Card Company name. Over the next three years, he created more than eighty pieces of pen-and-ink fine art, including Renetta, Girlfriends, Cowboy Fiddler, Young Kennedys, and Roundup. Much of his art depicts Black experience, but also American experiences. Many of his drawings were used on Finear's T-shirt line in the mid-1990s.^[2][1]

In 1996, he released his popular "Dermott Series", a twenty-piece collection of oil and acrylic paintings that looked back on his childhood in southeast Arkansas. The paintings included images of people, buildings and other sites in Dermott, Arkansas. The series included "Birthplace", "Where I grew up", "Picking Cotton", "Cotton Gin", "Hot Girls", "in the kitchen with mama", and the old Chicot County High School, among others.^[1]

In 2001, he published his first book, African-American History at a Glance. In 2006, he published his second book, Sunday School Lessons from the Book of Acts of the Apostles.^[2] Through his career, Alexander has used his art to explore themes related to African-American culture, history, and spirituality.^[2][1]

Alexander's work has been exhibited in galleries and museums across the United States, including the Simthsonian Institution's Anacostia Museum in Washington D.C.. He has also received numerous awards and honors for his artistic achievement, including a National Endowment for the Arts Fellowship in 1985.^[2]

In addition to his artistic career, Alexander is also a dedicated Christian and catechist. He has taught religious education classes and written extensively on the subject of Christian spirituality.^[4]

He died on June 8, 2021 in Arkansas and was buried at Cypress Memorial Gardens in Pine Bluff, Jefferson County, Arkansas.^[5]

Sources

1. ↑ ^{1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6} Wikipedia Contributors. Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia, last edited on 27 Nov 2022. "Wikipedia:Larry_D._Alexander." Accessed 17 Mar 2023.
2. ↑ ^{2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 2.6} Crockett, J. E., Grand Prairie, Texas. Encyclopedia of Arkansas, last updated on 8 Dec 2021. "Larry Dell Alexander (1953–)." Accessed 17 Mar 2023.
3. ↑ ^{3.0 3.1 3.2} Black Art Story, (n.d.). "Profile: Larry D. Alexander." Accessed 17 Mar 2023.
4. ↑ Estafanos, Samy A. H.   Princeton Theological Seminary ProQuest Dissertations Publishing,  2015. 10109764. "Teaching for Christian wisdom: Towards a holistic approch to education and formation of the Presbetrian Church in Egypt." Accessed 17 Mar 2023.
5. ↑ Burial: Find a Grave, database and images (accessed 17 March 2023), memorial page for Larry Dell Alexander (30 May 1953–8 Jun 2021), Find A Grave: Memorial #245579730, citing Cypress Memorial Gardens, Pine Bluff, Jefferson County, Arkansas, USA; Maintained by RS Green-Starnes (contributor 47410223).