Clark Kerr Campus Organ Screen – Berkeley CA

Description

This organ screen was originally built for the California School for the Blind. It is a wood carving with gold leaf and polychrome. It remains in the same location, but the building has since become part of the UC Berkeley Clark Kerr Campus in the 1980s.

“In 1936 [Sargent Johnson] was hired by the WPA as a senior sculptor, advancing almost immediately to the position of unit supervisor. Working from his shop at Fifteenth and Shotwell, Johnson began producing large scale public art. His first public art project was a twenty-two foot long organ screen for the California School for the Blind in Berkeley. This screen was carved in redwood with a center panel that featured African-American singers whose faces resembled some of his earlier masks.”
(https://foundsf.org/index.php?title=Sargent_Johnson_and_His_Milieu)

“Johnson’s first large piece was a carved organ screen for the California School for the Blind in Berkeley. Blind children running their hands over the redwood carving can feel the shapes and textures of the animals and people carved in it.” (Harlem Renaissance Artists)