Local Art Seen: Jean--The Inspiration Behind The Birkenstein Movement

Small wonder that Robin Washington ended up on the board of the Duluth Art Institute. His mother was an artist. And this fall, through December 3, Jean Birkenstein Washington's work is on display in the Morrison Gallery here at the Duluth Art Institute.

To fully appreciate this show, and by extension Robin Washington, a former editor of the Duluth News Tribune, it's helpful to understand the context of Jean's work.

Jean Birkenstein (1926-2003) was a Jewish artist who in the 1950s and 60s was active in the Civil Rights movement. Married to a black poet and the only non-white household on their block no doubt made for some interesting dynamics. Add to this that her house was a safe place where members of Chicago's leading gangs--the Vice Lords and the Cobras--would meet must have been unettling for the neighbors.

Jean was not only an officer for CORE and the NAACP, she led numerous protests and sit-ins for open housing and against de facto segregation in Chicago's public schools.

Of Jean Birkenstein, Jet Magazine described her as "an artist with a profound respect for human dignity.

"While a teacher at Marshall High School on the city's west side," Washington writes of his mother, "she became an 'ambassador' to the schools for two street gangs, the Cobras and the Vice Lords - the latter signing her on as card-carrying member. She turned her home into a community center for the gangs, an activity noted in a 1961 Jet magazine feature article about her that was illustrated with her paintings of African American and Native American slaves."

She also had a passion for animals, and when she passed was buried in a pet cemetery.

Part of the exhibit includes clippings of Jean's activities outside the studio.

Robin Washington as a youth. (I wasn't the first artist
to paint my children.)

In some ways the DAI show is more of a love tribute to a mom who was more than a mom, a remarkable woman to sought to make a difference in the broken world she saw around her. Washington remembers being five and six years old going to sit-ins with his mother.

Jean's paintings reflect her passions, Robin himself being one of them.

Much more can be said, but I will let some of the paintings do some talking. There is a LOT of work on display and the current show, in conjunction with the Minnesota Black Artists show on the landing, is worth your time to go see. And it's free.

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Related Links
My Mother’s Fight for Education Rights: The Story of Jean Birkenstein Washington
A brief bio As Remembered by Robin Washington
Renowned storyteller now leads Duluth Arts Institute