Vinny Bagwell has always been an agent for social, educational and economic growth through the arts in her community. The Yonkers-based sculptor’s most recent work has been the creation of “The Enslaved Africans Rain Garden,” an urban-heritage public art project for the City of Yonkers to mark the 400th anniversary of enslaved Africans being brought to America, and to commemorate the first enslaved Africans to be manumitted/freed by law in the United States, 64 years before the Emancipation Proclamation.
Bagwell recently hosted a private preview of her 7-foot sculpture of abolitionist Sojourner Truth at her studio in downtown Yonkers, where her guests had a rare opportunity to observe the sculpture before it is sent off for bronze casting. One of Bagwell’s special guests was Sojourner Truth’s sixth-generation grandson Cory Mcliechey.
“When I won the commission, Cory flew in from Michigan to see it at the beginning and I’m delighted he is returning to see it again before it goes to cast,” said Bagwell. “I am an advocate of experiential learning, and my outreach efforts draw the community-at-large into the creative process.”
After “Sojourner Truth” is bronzed, it is off to the New York State Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation, which commissioned the sculpture for the Walk Over the Hudson (the world’s longest pedestrian bridge) Welcome Center in Poughkeepsie. The finished artwork will be permanently installed this spring.
Another of Bagwell’s works now on display is her first public artwork, “The First Lady of Jazz Ella Fitzgerald,” which is installed at the Yonkers Metro-North/Amtrak station in Yonkers, and commissioned by the City of Yonkers in 1996. The life-sized bronze is the first sculpture of a contemporary African-American woman to be commissioned by a municipality in the United States.
Bagwell recently won “Victory Beyond Sims,” a $1 million public art commission to replace the J. Marion Sims sculpture removed from Fifth Avenue at 103rd Street in Central Park. She is also working on casting the fifth life-sized bronze sculpture for the “Enslaved Africans’ Rain Garden,” which will be installed on the shore of the Hudson River in Yonkers later this year. Two of the finished bronzes are on view at the Yonkers Riverfront Library.
Born in Yonkers and raised in the Town of Greenburgh, Bagwell is an alumna of Morgan State University. She co-authored a book titled “A Study of African-American Life in Yonkers From the Turn of the Century” with Harold Esannason in 1992.
Many followed her compelling articles about the diversity of Yonkers’ organizations, businesses and cultural events in her weekly column for the Herald Statesman/Gannett Suburban newspapers, as well as her provocative news stories in the Harlem Times newspaper.
Bagwell is an untutored artist, and began sculpting in 1993. In 2012, she created a 24-inch bronze, “Liberté,” for the inaugural exhibition at the Freedom Rides Museum in Montgomery, Ala., and the piano for August Wilson’s award-winning play “The Piano Lesson” at the Signature Theater in New York City.
In 2018, the DC Department of General Services commissioned Bagwell’s creation of a life-sized sculpture of music icon Marvin Gaye for a new recreation center in DC, and the State of Connecticut commissioned a 7-foot bronze of Hartford educator, Walter “Doc” Hurley, which is the first public artwork of a contemporary African-American in the State of Connecticut.
From “Frederick Douglass Circle” (at Hofstra University, and the 24-inch centerpiece at the Frederick Douglass Museum and Cultural Center), to “Legacies,” honoring African-Americans, Hispanic-Americans and Native Americans (Memphis), the creative genius of Bagwell’s work gives voice to their stories and meaning to their legacies.
Bagwell recently appeared at the Hudson River Museum to talk about her journey to become a creative steward for our nation’s memory. We are lucky to have Vinny Bagwell in our presence in Yonkers, and Westchester County.
