For several years, I struggled with the possibility of developing a series of paintings on Black writers. My desire was to move beyond traditional portraiture and capture the essence of the writing itself. To achieve this goal, I needed to explore the lives of these writers not only through their fiction and/or poetry but through their speeches, essays, and interviews as well as the biographical information available. Each of the resulting portraits is a composite of the writer's life experiences, work habits, struggles, passions, and, I hope, final achievements. Although each painting stands on its own, the series as a whole represents the Black experience of oppression, resistance, and relentless search for identity and home. The story of these writers is our story; the long journey they undertook to become not just Black writers but writers acknowledged by the entire literary community embodies our journey to recover our rightful place in the world. From Ralph Ellison to Toni Morrison, from Amiri Baraka to Maya Angelou, these writers all use language that is different in context yet connected in struggle. As painterly counterparts of that language, the portraits inevitably share several symbols, among them water (the river), fire, music, and light. As I listened to these writers' words, their words became my colors, their stories became symbols, their sorrows turned into shadows, and their inspirations became light. Thus, the brightness that flares behind John Edgar Wideman and swirls around Ishmael Reed recalls the candle that burns persistently at the edge of Zora Neale Hurston's portrait. As an outsider looking in, I listened to the writer's voice and found that it was not so different from my own. I quickly discovered that the inspiration that drove these writers was mine, that their creative process paralleled my experience as I prime a canvas and begin to paint. In the end, we are all connected, coming together to tell our story of love, family community, struggle, and, most importantly survival. "Painted Voices: An Artist Journey into the World of Black Writers" is a celebration of the writers who dedicated their lives to the telling this story in their writing.

Gilbert Fletcher

August Wilson (30w x 40h - Oil)	John Edgar Wideman (30w x 40h - Oil)	Walter Mosley (30w x 40h - Oil)
Alice Walker (30w x 40h - Oil)	Toni Cade Bambera (30w x 40h - Oil)	Tom Dent (30w x 40h - Oil)
Wole Soyinka (30w x 40h - Oil)	Robert Hayden (30w x 40h - Oil)	Tony Morrison (30w x 40h - Oil)

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