John T. Scott (b. New Orleans, Louisiana, 1940 - d. Houston, Texas, September 1, 2007) was an African American sculptor, painter, printmaker and collagist. He was awarded a Bachelor of arts degree from Xavier University in New Orleans and a Master of Fine Arts degree from Michigan State University in East Lansing, Michigan. After completing his master’s degree in 1965, he returned to Xavier to teach. He received an honorary Doctor of Humanities from Michigan State University in 1995 and a Doctor of Humanities from Tulane University in New Orleans in 1997.
Scott is best known for creating large woodcut prints and for his African-Caribbean-New Orleans- inspired kinetic sculptures. He was the subject of a major retrospective exhibit at the New Orleans Museum of Art entitled "Circle Dance," in 2005. His public works can be found at Woldenberg Park, the DeSaix traffic circle and in City Park (New Orleans). Scott used to say he tried to capture the musicality of New Orleans in the colors and rhythms of his sculptures.[1].
John T. Scott’s works are included in the permanent collections of the Ogden Museum of Southern Art in New Orleans; the Louisiana State University Museum of Art in the Shaw Center for the Arts in Baton Rouge, Louisiana; the Amistad Research Center Collection in New Orleans, LA; the Blanche and Norman C. Francis Collection at Xavier University of Louisiana; Loyola University of the South in Louisiana; the Museum of Fine Arts in Houston, Texas; the Scripps College in Claremont, California; the Smithsonian American Art Museum in Washington D.C.; and Fisk University in Nashville, Tennessee, among others. In 1992, he was awarded a “genius” grant from the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation and used the money to build a larger studio.
Scott fled his hometown just before Hurricane Katrina struck in August 2005, and settled in Houston, Texas. He died after two double lung transplants and his long struggle with pulmonary fibrosis.[2].
An exhibit "Beyond Black" featuring Ed Clark , Eugene J. Martin and John T. Scott opened at the LSU Museum of Art, Shaw Center for the Arts, Baton Rouge, LA on Jan. 28-May 8, 2011.