In Search of Solid Ground
Toni Lane
Washington, DC, USA
Artist Statement
“Face It” is my motto. Face the fear of homelessness. Face the heartbreak of senseless violence and the reality of social injustice. Face love, truths, childhood memories. I paint the fond memories of growing up in the projects. No, I am not ashamed. I paint the murdered body of the teenage boy wrapped in his mother’s weak arms. Not my child, but the pain is the same. Face it. It could be me.
When I was nine years old, I spilled my mother’s red dye #2 fingernail polish on my brand new pink dress. My mother appeared in the doorway shaking her head. She used a curse word under her breath. Then she said, loud and clear: ”And you call yourself an artist!”
I never got punished for that spill. As a matter of fact, it marked one of the greatest days of my life. My mother had let me know that she knew I was an artist.
Hands Heads and a Young Woman
Melancholy
Naked Truth
Help Needed in a Yellow Room
Mal-Treat (Know the Sign)
Lighting Buds
The Black National Anthem
Grandma's Hands
Grounded
Overnight Company
Essay
Toni Lane was born in 1954 and raised in Southeast Washington, DC, where she attended public school, graduating with a diploma from Frank W. Ballou Sr. High School in 1973. Toni’s school life at Ballou was interrupted by an unexpected pregnancy in her senior year, but she continued her classes at Webster Girls School in Northwest DC, a school for unwed mothers.
A few years after graduating high school, she enrolled in Washington Technical Institute (now known as the University of the District of Columbia) where she studied photography. In 1979, Toni, with her daughter in tow, went on a vacation in Paris, France. It was there she found her calling to be an artist. In fact, it was from France that she applied to the San Francisco Art Institute, choosing photography as her major. She graduated with honors in 1983, receiving her Bachelor of Fine Arts degree.
After graduation, Toni and her daughter remained in San Francisco. She took on many jobs, but one of her favorites was as a cab driver, where she worked the night shift. She continued to create and exhibit her art throughout the Bay Area and beyond. In 1991 she launched her art gallery Ethnic Trip Cultural Art Collection, exhibiting work by local, national, and international artists. Along with raising her daughter, working her night job, and managing her gallery, she also accepted the offer of an Artist in Residency at McClymonds High School where she taught photography.
The nineties were a violent time for young people living in low-income neighborhoods in many cities, including San Francisco. Toni volunteered her services to the community in San Francisco’s Hayes Valley which had seen the death of many young people due to crack cocaine. With the help of supporters and parents, Toni opened the Hayes Valley Art Learning Center where she taught videography, TV broadcasting, photography, and art. She was honored with the For Those Who Care Award by KRON Channel 4 in 1992 for her work with young people.
In 1998, Toni was approached by a group of women artists from Casa Factoria, an organization based in Marseille, France. They invited her to participate in an upcoming open-air exhibit titled “The Space Between”. The work of artists from Marseille and the United States would be exhibited across the entire city of Marseilles. Toni not only accepted the invitation, but she decided to move to Marseille.
She continued to exhibit her artwork and perform her one-woman show “Ghetto Girls Rule”. It was while relaxing in her precious downtime along the magnificent harbor of the Vieux Port (Old Port) --the entrance and exit of Marseille near where Toni lived—that Toni was inspired to write what would be her first novel, Ghetto Girls Rule in Marseille. It was published in 2018 by Friesen Press, Canada.
In 2005, Toni Lane made a visit to America with the intention of returning to Marseille, but health and financial problems intervened, and her dreams were crushed. In 2006, Toni suffered a brain aneurysm.
Back in Washington, DC, in 2013, Toni was introduced to Art Enables, an arts-entrepreneurial program for artists with disabilities. She was initially accepted as a participating artist, but in 2016 Art Enables’ Executive Director Tony Brunswick hired her as Studio Assistant. Toni and her work have been featured several times in the Washington Post, the New York Times, and the Washington City Paper. In 2020, the Library of Congress acquired six of Toni Lane’s Covid 19 drawings.
https://art-enables.org
Where is your home?
Check out Nostalgia and Longing for Home, a FREE mini-course by James Hollis, Ph.D., a renowned Jungian analyst.