PSU Magazine Fall 2000

A a P U art tudent 35 years ago, Isaka Shamsud-Din could hardly have imagined the Art Department's mural contest would have such a last– ing influence on his career, the city of Portland, and Portland State. His winning entry in the contest– a vibrant, 14-foot mural of luminous colors and tragic figure - till glows in Smith Memorial Center's south stair– well. Among the kaleidoscope of images is John Daniels, a Portland African American activist (and one of PSU's first African American class presidents) who became a teacher before committing suicide. Daniel i shown twice-falling in the upper right quadrant, his body in the grip of fo rces beyond his control, and again in the lower left, his corpse draped with African cloth and tenderly held by two figures. "My work is a message for African people," says Shamsud-Din (born Isaac 16 PSU MAGAZINE FALL 2000 Allen). "At the same time I want my work to have aesthetic qua litie that anyone can appreciate." Judging by the critical acclaim his work has garnered over the years, many do. ( hamsud-Din's artistic ability showed ) itself early. At 14 he entered a national art competition, earning the right to attend summer essions at a Midwestern art camp for the next three year . But when he graduated from Jefferson High School in 1959, Shamsud-Din saw no path into the world of serious art-he wasn't even sure there wa a place for true African American art as he wanted to make it, not the African American "lite" art he had seen, filled with appeasing stereo– types. He drifted for several years, then found a toehold at Portland State. The schoo l offered him much– needed training in such basics as how to stretch canvas over a frame. But as the only African American art major, hamsud-Din fe lt alienated. Two years later, he dropped out to become an organizer for the Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee, helping with integration efforts in Arkansas before moving to San Francisco in the mid-1960s. In the Bay Area, his political involvement grew. He organized a conference on Black Power and Black Art, was active in the Black Panther Party, and lectured at San Francisco State Experimental Co llege in a pro– gram that later became the co llege's Black tudies program. Wherever he wa , though, Sham– sud-Din always painted, his work consistently recognized by critics. He directed an Franci co's Black Arts We t and was featured in the book Black Artists on Art, Vol. 2 under the name Isaac Nommo, which he had .