Benny Andrews, artist of record

BENNY ANDREWS (75), a painter and teacher whose work drew on memories of his childhood in the segregated South, has died.

Andrews painted socially conscious works that addressed issues including the civil rights movement, the Holocaust and the forced relocation of American Indians. Even in an era dominated by abstract art, he exhibited his work in galleries and won awards and prizes including a National Endowment for the Arts Fellowship in 1974.Andrews was born in Plainview, Georgia, in 1930 into a family of sharecroppers.He was one of 10 children who all worked in the cotton fields.In 1948 he became the first member of his family to graduate from high school He moved to New York in 1958 and had his first solo exhibition, at Forum Gallery, in 1962.Andrews taught art at Queens College from 1968 to 1997 and established an art programme in New York state’s prison system.He travelled to the Gulf Coast this year to work on an art project with children displaced by Hurricane Katrina.Nampa-APEven in an era dominated by abstract art, he exhibited his work in galleries and won awards and prizes including a National Endowment for the Arts Fellowship in 1974.Andrews was born in Plainview, Georgia, in 1930 into a family of sharecroppers.He was one of 10 children who all worked in the cotton fields.In 1948 he became the first member of his family to graduate from high school He moved to New York in 1958 and had his first solo exhibition, at Forum Gallery, in 1962.Andrews taught art at Queens College from 1968 to 1997 and established an art programme in New York state’s prison system.He travelled to the Gulf Coast this year to work on an art project with children displaced by Hurricane Katrina.Nampa-AP