Thomas BLACKSHEAR, 1955 ✿

Thomas Richman Blackshear II is an African-American artist illustrator, many of whose paintings adorn Evangelical churches. He is also a sculptor and a designer of ornaments, often of African American themes.

Blackshear was born in Waco, Texas in 1955. He grew up in Atlanta, Georgia. Blackshear attended the Art Institute of Chicago and then American Academy of Art in Chicago. Blackshear worked for Hallmark Cards for one year after his 1977 graduation from the American Academy of Art.

While there, he met the famous illustrator Mark English and became his apprentice for several months. By 1980, he was working as head illustrator for Godbold/Richter Studio. He became a freelance illustrator in 1982 and has been self-employed ever since.

Blackshear has received many awards for his artwork, including the Society of Illustrators coveted Gold Medal. He was profiled on The Living Canvas, an art magazine of the airwaves that was shown on public television, and he has been featured on the Ebony/Jet Showcase and The 700 Club, and in The Saturday Evening Post. An exhibit of his original works for the Black Heritage stamp series premiered in 1992 at the Smithsonian s National Museum of American History and subsequently toured the United States.