About the Project Director of the CAB100 Touring Exhibit

Lotus Do Brooks:

Lotus Do Brooks is a curator and an artist/educator. She was curator of the God Bless the Child a Tribute to Billy Holiday exhibit for the Eubie Blake National Museum . She developed international exhibits of American Artists in China and Samoa . Do-Brooks participated in Arts Exchanges in Hawaii , Sante Fe New Mexico . Her drawings and paintings are in the Guangzhou Museum in China , the Bronx Museum of Art, The American Samoan Museum, and the Eubie Blake Museum . She has exhibited widely and her work is in many private collections. She received the Boston Mayoral Award for International Friendship through Art and New York State Council of the Arts New Works Award. She was a member of the Boston Collective under the Direction of Dr. Alan Crite, A founding member of Coast-to-Coast women of Color Artists under Faith Ringgold. Do-Brooks serves on the program committee of Star Island Conference on the Arts. She has also served on the Boards of the Asian American Art Center, the Massachusetts Council of the Arts, and the Cab Calloway Harlem Renaissance Institute. She received a BFA from The Cooper Union, and attended Massachusetts College of Art for an MSAE in Museum Studies. Do-Brooks directed the Thompson Gallery of Art, Boston , and took education certification at Harvard and Boston University . She has taught at U Mass., The Boston Museum Of Contemporary Art, Lotus Do Brooks is currently a longtime member of the faculty at the National Academy School of Fine Arts and also serves on the Art Department of the Dalton School New York City. She recently returned from a tour of Himalayan Art in India from which Do-Brooks produced a six unit Curriculum for the Education Department of the Rubin Museum Of Art. Jim Henson Productions featured Lotus Do Brooks as part of a series focusing on her “Telling Stories through Pictures”. She produced 80 original illustrations for the Kids Book Publication of Anne of Green Gables . Her portrait work was spotlighted in the 2003 Exploring Painting book published in the Davis Studio Series.

Lotus Do Brooks has been producing artworks influenced by Jazz for over 20 years. Since 1998. She knew Cab Calloway personally during the last 10 years of his life. Brooks has been documenting the Cab Calloway Orchestra through photographs. At that time she coined the phrase “Keep the Hi-De-Ho in your Soul” for the Cab Calloway Orchestra flyers. Her large watercolor “I remember Cab” has been widely exhibited in shows through out the United States .

Artist Statement

“It is my hope that these exhibits of extraordinary images will foster the understanding of Cab Calloway's musical and cultural contributions. These images are mean to inspire individual creative literacy as we celebrate the joy of Swing, Jump and Jive. Let's celebrate CAB100! The Centennial of Calloway's Musical Genius!”

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