Diary Entry #46 LEROI: Living in Color Exhibition Period 5: Colored People 2000-Present / December 30, 2022 by LeRoi Johnson

This fifth period of my art for the LEROI: Living in Color Exhibition features work from my “Colored People” Collection. Below are the first two paintings I created in this series, circa 2000.

What’s interesting is that in the 1970’s I drew a sketch that got misplaced, both in my home and in the recesses of my mind. Three decades later I re-discovered the sketch hidden away underneath a couch. In reviewing it, I was astounded to see that it reflected the “Colored People” paintings I was creating at the time.

There are over 200 paintings in this series. They started out primarily as small works---10 in. x 8 in.---but morphed into larger works of 6 to 8 ft in height. While their size varied, my message never changed: there is a universality among us, in that we are all people of color.

As you can see, the painting of the single person is a figurative design. I was trying to identify and show the many colors that can make up one individual. In the painting with two individuals, they appear like real people wearing masks, which define their many colors. This is one of my favorites in this series.

One other note, as you can see in both of these paintings I used a cursive variation of my first name as my artist’s signature. I’ll write more about this in my next post.

LEROI: Living in Color Exhibition includes the work of students from Buffalo Center for Arts and Technology (BCAT,) Buffalo Public Schools (BPS,) Just Buffalo Literary Center (JBLC,) and Squeaky Wheel Film & Media Art Center. The exhibition will be on view at the Burchfield Penney Art Center through March 26, 2023, presented by M&T Bank, with additional support from organizations and individuals throughout the Western New York community.

Diary Entry # 45 Secret to Success / December 30, 2022 by LeRoi Johnson

After the first year of COVID, Buffalo Rising, an independently owned and operated digital publication, began a video series they titled, “Still Talking.” They defined the series as, “… short vignettes composed of expressive footage and each subject’s answer to a single (not always simple) question.”

I was one of the people they profiled, in June of 2021. The singular question they asked me was, “What is the secret to your success?” My response became a 1-minute video where they show me walking around Buffalo, displaying some of my artwork, and painting, all the while answering their question in voice-over format.

Recently I watched this video again, and was surprised by the answer I gave. Not because it’s incorrect or has changed. Because much of what I stated reflects my purpose in including student artists in LEROI: Living in Color.

Many of the 80 young people involved in this project have not had a chance to develop their art, or even dream about what is possible in their futures. Their experiences in working with me and interpreting my paintings have changed that, and may open art career opportunities for many of them.

Moreover, in mentoring these students I have done my best to share my life and career experiences that I hope will encourage them to dream and to go after those dreams--- something I summarized in the last line of this “Still Talking” video---"Remember my success is your potential success."

Diary Entry# 44 LEROI: Living in Color Media Recognition / December 30, 2022 by LeRoi Johnson

Sixteen days and counting until the November 11th opening of LEROI: Living in Color Exhibition at the Burchfield Penney Art Center. While everyone at Burchfield is busy defining and setting up the exhibition space, local media is starting to take note and promote.

Thanks to Buffalo Spree magazine for the special full color calendar highlight, to Buffalo SocietyofArtists for their LinkedIn shout out and The Challenger News for sharing my FB post featuring the LEROI: Living in Color Exhibition Curator, Tiffany Gaines, and posting their own promo for the opening.

It’s always an honor to be noted by the media and organizations in my hometown.

Diary Entry #43: LeRoi Living in Color: Exhibition Period 4: Identity and Relationships / December 30, 2022 by LeRoi Johnson

This section of my exhibition is pretty self explanatory, especially in this painting titled, “The Lover.” It is one in a series that I created it in 2010 when I was spending a great deal of my time in Brazil.

As with earlier paintings, “The Lover” combines geometric art (background) with figurative art ( lovers and flowers.) I also added elements onto this canvas that are personal to me.

I painted the stems of the flowers in shapes resembling women’s bodies embracing, as an expression of my appreciation for women.

The fingernails of the lover on the right are painted blue in memory of a man named, California. He was my brother Rick’s valet and the first man I ever saw wearing nail polish…a different color on each finger!

The two people are multi-faceted, in that they are turned sideways and forward. Their positions reflect the ideal that true love can only happen when you love yourself first, and then another.

And there is the black and white striped earring, worn by the blue lover---a rendition of a pair of earrings my mother often wore. After her passing, I gave them to a flamenco dancer/guitarist from Barcelona Spain who was appearing here in Buffalo.

Her luggage had been lost in flight and the earrings were a perfect accessory to the performance outfit she managed to pull together. I include them in my paintings in memory of my mother.

Diary Entry #42 Video Friday: "100 Years From Mississippi" /December 30, 2022 / December 30, 2022 by LeRoi Johnson

It’s VIDEO FRIDAY, so today I am posting about a movie related to the Black Lives Matter Period of my LEROI: Living in Color Exhibition, "100 Years From Mississippi.”

What’s the connection?

Simply put--- Mamie Lang Kirkland.

As a kid growing up on the East Side of Buffalo, Mrs. Kirkland’s son, Tarabu Betserai Kirkland, was one of my best friends. The side benefit to our friendship was the homemade meals Mrs. Kirkland continually fed us, and the stories of her life that she told as we ate.

While every family has pivotal moments they like to share around the table, Mamie Kirkland’s stories were so much more. They entailed the history of life-threatening discrimination against Black people that happened in the 111 years of her life between September 3,1908, and December 29, 2019.

For instance, having to flee with her family at age 7 from their home in Ellisville, Mississippi to Buffalo to escape an approaching lynch mob. Or the horrific Mississippi lynching of her father’s friend before an assemblage of 10,000 spectators.

Despite Mrs. Kirkland’s staunch refusal to ever return to Mississippi, Tarabu ultimately wore down her resistance. At the age of 107 Mamie Kirkland began a journey with her son into the deep South and the lifetime of traumatic memories she had endured and would now once again face.

Thankfully, Mrs. Kirkland agreed to allow the experience to be filmed, and under her son’s caring production and direction a documentary of her life now exists from which we can learn as no history book could ever teach us.

On November 17th, one week after my LEROI: Living in Color Exhibition Opening, the Burchfield Penney Art Center will present a special screening of “100 Years From Mississippi” as part of their, Beyond Boundaries Screening & Discussion Series.

I encourage everyone to attend---meet Mamie Lang Kirkland in this wonderful film--- and hear her remarkable stories, just as I did those many years ago at her kitchen table.

The Burchfield Penney Art Center screening of “100 Years From Mississippi” will be presented in conjunction with the LEROI: Living in Color Exhibition. The film will begin at 7pm and will include a post screening discussion. Admission is free. Check out the trailer below for a clip of this remarkable film.

Diary Entry #41: LEROI: Living in Color Exhibition Period 5: Colored People 2000-Present / December 30, 2022 by LeRoi Johnson

Two years before the tragic death of George Floyd in 2020, I was asked by Sugarcane Magazine to interview about the Black Lives Matter Movement (BLM.) I was hesitant at first as I did not want to attach my art solely to BLM.

Then I recalled the 1970’s.

There was very little Black art in the world-- a reality that pushed me to co-found The City Museum of Washington, DC, where I was living at the time.

The museum became the source of Black historical art, artifacts and legacies of the city, as created and crafted by the city’s citizens---people who were historically and predominately Black.

Then when I began my painting career as a Black Artist, I was dedicated to creating and advancing a true presence of Black art through my work.

All of those memories shaped my response to Sugarcane.

I would agree to an interview but on a different topic---one I created--- Black Art Matters.

(Link: https://bit.ly/LeRoiBlackArtMatters.)

One of the paintings from my career dedicated to that ideal is included the Black Lives Matter Segment of LEROI: Living in Color. I painted it in 2019 after randomly coming across a black bottle. As I examined the bottle, I envisioned the form of a headless, armless, Black person’s body.

That vision inspired me to create the image on canvas. I added orange bands around the neck and body as expressions of the bondage and imprisonment suffered by Black people throughout history. I then surrounded the Black person with witnesses sharing in the pain that is portrayed.

My dedication to Black art, this painting, and all the art in this series, serve as meaningful reminders of the Black Lives Matter message--- and equally important---the Black Art Matters message that I have brought to the world through my art and my life.

Diary Entry #40 Abidas' Black Art Museum and "The Crucifixion" / December 30, 2022 by LeRoi Johnson

Over the weekend I enjoyed conversation with many of you about my post on the “Abdias Nascimento and Black Art Museum,” exhibition at Instituto Inhotim.

A number of the discussions focused on the inclusion of my 1996 painting, "Crucifixion," in the Second Act of the Abdias "Dramas Para Negros e Prólogo Para Brancos,” Exhibition.

Based on that interest, I thought I would share an image of “Crucifixion," a large work of geometric and figurative shapes that I painted in 1996 using oil a

There is a great deal of symbolism in this painting beginning with the Black person looking from Africa towards the Straits of Gibraltar and beyond into the new world---an unknown world of enslavement crucifixion.

The religious icon of Jesus crucified casts a feint shadow of a cross ready for society’s genocidal crucifixion of races across the world.

The bronze vessel in the painting is a Bakota, an exact replica of a piece of traditional African Art. I included it in acknowledgement of Picasso, who it has been said was influenced by such works when he created “Les Demoiselles d’Avignon (1907. ) It was the first of Picasso's Cubism Period paintings, and employed a style that he and other contemporary artists of the time emphasized in their movement from classical to modern art.

Diary Entry #39 LeRoi Living in Color: Exhibition Period 2: Brazilian/Abdias Nascimento / December 30, 2022 by LeRoi Johnson

In June of this year, I was invited to participate in an exhibition at Instituto Inhotim, a contemporary art museum located in the municipality of Brumadinho, Brazil. It was the second in a series of four temporary exhibitions, or “acts,” this one titled, "Dramas para negros e prólogo para brancos,” or, “Dramas for Blacks and Prologue for Whites.”

It will take two years (December 2021-2023,) for the four acts to be showcased at Inhotim, all under the collective title of, “Abdias Nascimento and Black Art Museum,” honoring the life of renowned Afro-Brazilian artist, activist, scholar, poet, and Nobel Peace Prize nominee, Abdias Nascimento (1914-2011.)

Abdias’ vision for this project began in 1950 when he began espousing the idea of “Museu de Arte Negra” a Black Arts Museum. Sadly, it was a vision never fully realized in the artist’s lifetime, but which he advanced through the founding of his Black Experimental Theater and the co-founding (with his wife, Elisa Larkin Nascimento) of the Afro-Brazilian Research and Studies (IPEAFRO.)

“Abdias Nascimento and Black Art Museum” is a joint undertaking between Instituto Inhotim and IPEAFRO. Within their commitment to this two-year project is a dedication to secure a permanent home for Museu de Arte Negra, just as Abdias envisioned.

So, what is my connection to all of this?

Abdias and I were connected in our art and our souls.

We first met in Brazil in the late 1990’s and bonded immediately. He not only became my mentor in the art world, he became one of my closest friends. His personal and professional support inspired me as an artist, and raised awareness of my paintings, which collectively provided connections and platforms through which to exhibit my work around the world.

Abdias also had a direct connection to my hometown of Buffalo, in that he lived here from 1967 until 1981, after being exiled by Brazil’s military regime. During those years, he taught and held the title of Professor Emeritus at the University at Buffalo, where he founded the Chair of African Cultures in the New World in the Center of Puerto Rican Studies.

My June return to Brazil to celebrate Abdias was an honor, heightened by the inclusion of my 1996 painting, " Crucifixion," in this second act dedicated to his legacy.

There are no words to truly express my emotions on the opening of this exhibition. So, instead, I share this brief video from that day, where everyone was guided into the museum by Brazilian musicians and singers.

This is a sacred tradition at Inhotim whenever an exhibit opens, and one I look forward to sharing at LeRoi: Living in Color, in honor and loving memory of my friend and mentor.

Diary Entry #38 LEROI Living in Color Exhibition Period 2: Brazilian / December 29, 2022 by LeRoi Johnson

Featured here is of one of the paintings from my Brazilian Period (late 1990’s-early 2000’s) that will be on exhibit in LEROI: Living in Color, November 11-March 26, 2023, at the Burchfield Penney Art Center. It is a 5-foot x 5-foot oil and acrylic on canvas, which I titled, “The Conversation.”

I look at this painting as a celebration, a carnival of the kind they have in Brazil or Rio de Janeiro. However, in creating it, I made it more of a dream-like sequence.

For example, instead of a donkey at the festival, which would be the norm, I added a flying bull---that I eventually named, "Bullis,--- and which became part of many of my future paintings. And I painted the people all busily interacting with each other in various ways.

In 2011, this painting was featured at New York City’s famed, Agora Gallery, located in the Chelsea Art District. It garnered so much interest that the gallery owners extended its ‘exhibition for six months.

By the time I evolved through my Brazilian Period, I had created 100 paintings within this theme, a variety of which will be exhibited in LEROI: Living in Color.

Diary Entry #37 LEROI: Living in Color Exhibition Period #2: Brazilian / December 29, 2022 by LeRoi Johnson

The second grouping of my paintings that Burchfield Penney Curator Tiffany Gaines has put together for LEROI: Living in Color is from my Brazilian Period (late 1990’s-early 2000’s.)

These paintings were a dramatic departure from my Geometric art, not only in style but in size, as I began working on canvases as large as seven feet in height. The subject matter tended to be variations of mountains, oceans, and favelas (poor villages), reminiscent of scenes I recalled from my time in Brazil in the early 1970’s.

While I enjoyed the creative transformation from bold graphics to brightly colored and imaginative people and places, the work took me out of my comfort zone and made me question if this was a style I wanted to continue.

Then, in late 1990, a friend invited me to return to Brazil. While there we visited museums and galleries in both San Paolo and Rio de Janeiro. I always carried with me Xerox copies and polaroids of my work (yes, this was before the world of phone cameras and selfies!)

Whenever I shared those mediocre quality images with representatives of the various museums and galleries, they expressed interest in my art and wanted to know if I had more.

The thing was, I was not concerned with the art world at that time. I just wanted to paint and be sure of my direction.

By the end of my time in Brazil, I’d become passionate about the style of art I discovered there. Even more important was the realization that the paintings I had already created in this new period clearly reflected the culture of this South American Nation. I took that as a sign that my art was moving in the right direction.

Between the large scale of these paintings and the wealth of inspiration Brazil provided, I found myself in need of a process to help me create the volume of artwork I was envisioning. Fortunately, an associated of mine was renovating one of Buffalo’s classic mansions and allowed me use of the 10,000 sq.ft. second floor.

From there I began creating my Brazilian paintings in groups of 25 at a time. It was a massive project that I undertook twice in this time frame. While it was highly successful it ultimately became overwhelming, and eventually I stopped. But during those years, Brazil and its people were the inspiration for my artwork, and I had no doubt it was exactly what I was supposed to be painting.

Diary Entry #36 Around the World with LEROI: Living in Color / December 29, 2022 by LeRoi Johnson

Today marks five weeks until the opening of LEROI: Living in Color.

This opening will reflect a year of invested time, talent, and energies by Burchfield Penney Art Center administrators and staff, along with project managers and student artists from Buffalo Center for Arts and Technology, Buffalo Public Schools, Just Buffalo Literary Center, and Squeaky Wheel Film & Media Art Center.

It will also be the culmination of 50 years of my life as an artist, a fact that has people and media across the United States, and around the world, joining together in celebration. It all began last week with a “First Look,” article about the exhibit in the nationally respected American Alliance of Museums’ Magazine.

That honor resulted in RSVP’s to the opening from family, friends, and fellow art associates from New York City to Miami, Washington, DC to Los Angeles and across the Great Lake states of New York, Ohio and Michigan. Then there were the international responses, from Brazil, Canada, England, and Japan.

This week, Houston Style Magazine joined the party as they published an online story about the exhibition, complete with images (click image below to read.) Again, more responses and congratulations.

As these next five weeks morph into days and hours until the opening, I know there will be additional media stories, and more supporters becoming part of what Burchfield Penney has defined as my, “…first retrospective exhibition.”

While I value this honor, I am also equally thrilled for the 80 student artists who have used paints, materials, words, and videos to create their interpretations of my art. And which now, people across America and around the world will have the opportunity to experience and enjoy.

Link to article

Diary Entry #35 Robin Jordan of Just Buffalo Literary Center / December 29, 2022 by LeRoi Johnson

Meet Robin Jordan, Writing Center Coordinator for Just Buffalo Literary Center (JBLC.) She’s also the person supervising the JBLC student poets participating in LEROI: Living in Color.

Robin has been involved with JBLC for eight years and has become an integral part of the writer’s workshops offered by the nonprofit. In that role she has incorporated the creative concept of ekphrastic poetry---a poetry defined by the ancient Greeks as, "... describing a thing with vivid detail."

Today the term is categorized as, "... poems written about works of art," and Robin has encouraged her student poets to experiment with the process.

Early this year, Burchfield Penney Curator, Tiffany Gaines, and I went to one of the JBLC writer’s workshops to listen to the student’s poems and talk about LEROI: Living in Color.

The groups' interest in ekphrastic poetry, along with our search for student artists to intrepret my exhibition artwork, resulted in the perfect collaboration.

Robin notes that every nonprofit can get overloaded with projects, making it important to choose carefully when and how to best engage. In commiting to LEROI: Living in Color, she said all at JBLC fully supported their engagement.

One thing she didn't anticipate is the number of groups, students, and organizations collaborating on the exhibition. It's a surprise she assesses as, "... a positive," as she and JBLC student poets look forward to the November 11th opening---an experience she imagines, “…will be one of the most energizing art exhibitions I’ve seen in a long time.”

Diary Entry #34 Buffalo Center for Arts and Technology and Squeaky Wheel / December 29, 2022 by LeRoi Johnson

Over the last two months, I have been writing about the student artist groups collaborating on my LEROI: Living in Color exhibition--- Buffalo Center for Arts and Technology (BCAT), Buffalo Public Schools (BPS), Just Buffalo Literary Center (JBLC), and Squeaky Wheel Film & Media Art Center

Each group has worked individually in creating their interpretation of my artwork, all of which will be included in the exhibit as art, poems, and videos.

The pieces created by Buffalo Public Schools, BCAT, and Squeaky Wheel artists will be displayed strategically around my own. The presentation of poetry in the exhibition is a joint project among BCAT and JBLC students. JBLC students have authored the poems and BCAT students have produced video and audio recordings of the poet students performing their works.

The presentations of the poems will be twofold: printed versions of each poem will be displayed on the wall alongside the artwork that each student chose to interpret. Additionally, a QR code will be on display which, when accessed by a viewer’s cell phone, will produce the clip of the poet performing their work.

Last week JBLC poets Theo, Keira, and Abuk teamed up with BCAT videographers Mario, Daria, Lilly, and Mo, to film their poems.

The BCAT team was mentored by Instruction Coordinator and lead instructor for this project, Kelvin Chazles Klein. The process was not only an artistic collaboration, it was a learning process for all involved.

Kline patiently and capably led the videographers in staging the two-camera filming, conferring with the students on choosing the proper camera settings and ensuring the best sound levels. He also encouraged the JBLC poets through their various stages of nervousness, and uncertainty in performing their powerful words for Burchfield Penney audiences to experience.

Perhaps most significantly, and as intended with this art exhibition, each student artist was inspired to believe that their passion for art can be more than just a dream. That they too can "Live in Color"

Diary Entry #33 Video Friday: Two Minutes with Me! / December 29, 2022 by LeRoi Johnson

It's Video Friday and this week's video is a game titled, “Two Minutes with LeRoi."

The rules are that I have been given five questions about my upcoming LEROI: Living in Color Exhibition that I have to answer in two minutes.

At least that was the concept!

Diary Entry #32 American Alliance of Museums "Look" at LEROI: Living in Color / December 29, 2022 by LeRoi Johnson

In putting together an art exhibition, one of the core elements that might not be apparent is the need to inform people---let the public know the who, what, when, where, and why of the artist(s), their art, and the overall exhibition details.

With a world full of people, places and things competing for public attention, this is not always an easy task.

That’s why the September/October publication of the American Alliance of Museums’ Magazine and their “First Look” Feature on LeRoi: Living in Color has generated excitement among all of us who are part of this exhibition.

The American Alliance of Museums (AAM) operates with membership of 35,000 museums and museum professionals from around the world.

Their stated mission is to: “Champion equitable and impactful museums by connecting people, fostering learning and community, and nurturing museum excellence.

Their stated vision is to help create, “A just and sustainable world informed and enriched by thriving museums that contribute to the resiliency and equity of their communities.”

It is the only organization representing the entire museum field, from art and history museums to science centers and zoos since 1906.

This organization and all that they do matters.

To see my art, along with an article promoting not only my work but the work of the student artists collaborating with me on this exhibition is beyond thrilling, and truly a great honor.

Thank you to the Burchfield Penney Art Center Administrators and Staff for believing in this project and doing what it takes to make an article like this happen. And thank you to AAM for understanding the significance of this exhibition and sharing that information with museum professionals from around the world.

Diary Entry #31 LEROI: Living in Color Exhibition Periods: Geometric / December 29, 2022 by LeRoi Johnson

When an exhibition contains over 70 pieces of artwork, along with multiple interdisciplinary pieces from four artist groups, one of the strongest challenges is how to order and arrange everything so that it flows, and is engaging to all who experience it.

In the case of LeRoi: Living in Color, Burchfield Penney exhibition curator, Tiffany Gaines, has spent hours studying all the artwork and developing a layout to best serve the various mediums that will be on display. She began by defining my artwork according to the periods in which I created them.

My first is a Geometric Period which spanned the 1980’s-90’s, but had its foundation in my teenage years.

The only real art education I ever received was during a limited time in the 1960’s. That’s when I was enrolled in the Commercial Art and Industrial Design Program at Hutchinson Central Technical High School---Hutch Tech.

The purpose of the course was to focus the students on structure and form. The thing was, I hated structure. I want to be free to create my artwork, not follow a predetermined pattern. That’s why despite a straight “A” average, after one year at Hutch Tech I left the Commercial Art and Design Program and transferred to East High School.

That change challenged me to begin creating large scale unstructured art in the apartment where I was living at the time. I painted random shapes and forms on the walls of my living room, allowing the artwork to envelop the space.

In the bathroom, I splattered paint across the walls and ceiling and had my friends hold me sideways and upside down so I could stamp imprints of my feet up, above, and over. I have no idea how we ever got that done!

As I grew as a person and an artist, I continued to create in ways that I believed were leaving behind all forms of structured art. Looking back,, I now realize that what I was really doing was incorporating the principles of structure I had shunned as a teen into all of my early work.

I needed that foundation of structure, shapes and grids as a guiding force to advance and evolve my artwork, as I envisioned it at that time.

No matter how I tried NOT to focus on structured styles, my first artist’s period became all about geometric shapes and forms. This image of my artwork from that period is titled, GeometricNot.

Diary Entry #30 Music Between Brothers / December 29, 2022 by LeRoi Johnson

This week I wrote about my place in the music world---as a writer, musician, and performer. One of the songs I mentioned was the first that I wrote: “My Love.”

There’s an interesting history to that song.

I actually created it with my brother Rick James. I wrote the music. He put together the lyrics. It was released on Rick’s Throwin’ Down Album and was the only song the two of us collaborated on in his career.

The musicians who played on the album were top-of-the-line and included Grammy winner, Michael Narada Walden, American funk/soul/jazz composer, and music producer, Roy Ayers, American sax/flute player Danny Lamelle, and Rick. It was produced by American arranger, Jeff Tyzik, who produced “Forever Yours,” by Val Young.

“My Love” was popular when the album was released in 1982, but today, 40 years later, the song is hitting the airwaves again on the online international radio show called Hilltop Radio Show (https://www.blogtalkradio.com/thehilltopradioshow.) Since its re-debut two months ago, it has reached 14,000 listeners a week, a number that is steadily growing.

As I stated earlier this week, I no longer focus on writing music, and I rarely perform publicly anymore. But I am still a member of American Society of Composers, Authors, and Publishers (ASCAP,) and once LEROI: Living in Color opens on Nov. 11th---who knows!

Diary Entry #29 Music and Art / December 29, 2022 by LeRoi Johnson

Since I started sharing LEROI: Living in Color posts, I have used one piece of music as background in all the “Video Friday” clips. It’s also the song that can be heard on my website homepage.

The title is, “Impatient,” The creator is yours truly.

(To listen: http://leroiart.com/)

I began writing music around 1976 when I first started playing the guitar. Initially, I was self-taught, taking inspiration from my brother Rick, who left a guitar behind after visiting me where I was living at the time, in Washington D.C.

I was also inspired by Sophocles Papas an internationally noted guitarist and writer, who encouraged me to formally study the guitar after hearing me play at a guitar shop in D.C.

I began studying with Sophocles and later with Allen Massey in Washington, Mir Ali in Buffalo, Fredrico Rios in Brazil, Miguel De La Baptiste- a Flamenco guitarist- in Toronto, and Kenny Hawkins, a lead guitarist with Rick James.

I wrote my first song, "My Love,” as a practice piece, which Rick recorded in 1984 on his Throwin’ Down LP. Recently the song was re-released and has reached the top 10 on some international play lists. writing music for guitar.

These days, I no longer focus on writing music for guitar. Instead, I enjoy re-learning beautiful pieces from my past, saving my brain energy for painting and law.

Also, I rarely perform publicly anymore and, despite suggestions, won’t be playing at my exhibition opening on November 11, 2022.

At least that’s the plan--- for now!

Diary Entry #28 On Becoming a Super Lawyer Update / December 29, 2022 by LeRoi Johnson

A few weeks ago, I posted a blog where I wrote about the honor of being featured in Super Lawyers Magazine. Again, I want to thank the staff of the magazine for sharing my story, considering the many worthy attorneys they could have chosen. I am elated to be featured.

The article is a two-page review on the story of my young life, my time working with my brother, Rick James, the dual evolution of my law career and my artwork, as well as my upcoming LEROI: Living in Color Collaborative Exhibition at the Burchfield Penney Art Center (Nov. 11-March 26, 2023.)

There was also information on my Living in Color Exhibition in a separate, “Save the Date” section of the magazine.

When I posted the blog, the only way to read the article was online---the way the world processes information these days. Yet last week, when I received a hard copy in the mail, there was something very special about holding the magazine in my hands and reading my story in print.

This hard copy will also allow me to frame the article and hang it on my office wall to remind me of all I have worked for and achieved---something not possible with an online article on a laptop or phone.

As I noted, I was honored by this Super Lawyers article when it published online, but I am deeply grateful to have received this recognition of my life and professional achievements in a form that I can preserve and will endure.

Diary Entry #27 BCAT Student Artists Pt.3 / December 29, 2022 by LeRoi Johnson

This week I've been sharing the experiences I enjoyed in collaborating with the Buffalo Center for Arts and Technology (BCAT) student artists and their lead instructor, Kevin Klein.

Today---in the spirit of a picture is worth a thousand words--- I give you a video from a day BCAT students and I spent together, and where you can witness their creative spirts and energy they gave to the LEROI: Living in Color Project.

Enjoy!