[Congressional Record Volume 163, Number 125 (Tuesday, July 25, 2017)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E1049]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                       TRIBUTE TO DR. LEO TWIGGS

                                 ______
                                 

                         HON. JAMES E. CLYBURN

                           of south carolina

                    in the house of representatives

                         Tuesday, July 25, 2017

  Mr. CLYBURN. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to pay tribute to a great 
South Carolinian and personal friend, Dr. Leo Twiggs.
  Dr. Twiggs hails from St. Stephen, South Carolina, and currently 
lives in Orangeburg. His artwork has won him fame and recognition 
across the state and around the world. Recently, he received the Order 
of the Palmetto, the state's highest civilian honor at a ceremony held 
at the Statehouse in Columbia. During that ceremony, he also received 
the highest honor the state presents in the arts--a Lifetime 
Achievement Award from the South Carolina Arts Commission at the 2017 
Elizabeth O'Neill Verner Governor's Awards for the Arts. In 1980, Dr. 
Twiggs was the first visual artist ever to receive the Elizabeth 
O'Neill Verner Award.
  Dr. Twiggs' powerful artwork employs batik, an ancient Indonesian 
technique of manual wax-resistant dyeing applied to whole cloth. He 
recently spent several weeks manually dyeing and dipping fabric pieces 
to achieve a texturally rich and deep-toned series titled, ``Requiem 
for Mother Emanuel,'' to honor the victims of the Charleston massacre 
of June 17, 2015. His new series of paintings is titled, ``The Nine,'' 
and focuses on the individual Charleston church. shooting victims 
themselves.
  Mr. Speaker, Dr. Twiggs has spoken of the ``powerful kind of 
catharsis'' of his work, and his fondness for batik includes how the 
art form draws an individual into a piece. His unique paintings have 
received international acclaim. Several paintings have been displayed 
in U.S. embassies in Rome, Senegal, Sierra Leone and elsewhere; and his 
works have appeared in numerous textbooks, other publications and 
documentaries. He has designed official White House Christmas ornaments 
for former Presidents Barack Obama and George W. Bush. Dr. Twiggs is 
particularly proud that the new National Museum of African American 
History and Culture in Washington, D.C. has accepted two of his 
paintings for display.
  Dr. Twiggs has served on many important boards and commissions, 
including the South Carolina State Museum, the South Carolina 
Governor's School for the Arts & Humanities, and the South Carolina 
Hall of Fame. His tenure in the latter capacity saw the induction of 
late Judge Matthew Perry, a personal hero of mine, former Governor 
Richard Riley, longtime former Charleston Mayor Joe Riley, and Ernest 
A. Finney, the first African American elected to the state Supreme 
Court since Reconstruction who later became the first African American 
Chief Justice of the state Supreme Court. Dr. Twiggs also influenced 
the induction of two pioneering African American women Septima Clark, 
another personal hero from my younger days and Marian Wright Edelman, a 
woman whose work I have long admired.
  Dr. Twiggs was the first African American to earn a Doctorate of Art 
Education from the University of Georgia. He graduated Summa Cum Laude 
from Claflin University and received his Masters of Arts from New York 
University. He found the Art Department at South Carolina State 
University, my alma mater, and is credited with developing the I.P. 
Stanback Museum and Planetarium on campus. He was named Professor 
Emeritus in 2000. The Georgia Museum of Art organized a retrospective 
of his works that toured the southeast from 2004 to 2006: His lovely 
wife Rosa hails from my hometown of Sumter, South Carolina.
  Mr. Speaker, it is with great pride that I call to your attention and 
to the attention of the Members of the 115th Congress, the 
accomplishments of this outstanding South Carolinian, Dr. Leo Twiggs.

                          ____________________