Daniel Minter

Daniel Minter is an American artist known for his work in the mediums of painting and assemblage. His overall body of work often deals with themes of displacement and diaspora, ordinary/extraordinary Blackness, spirituality in the Afro- Atlantic world, and the (re-)creation of meanings of home. Minter works in varied media—canvas, wood, metal, paper, twine, rocks, nails, paint. This cross-fertilization strongly informs his artistic sensibility. His carvings become assem- blages. His paintings are often sculptural.

Minter’s work has been featured in numerous institutions and galleries, including the Portland Museum of Art, the Seattle ArtMuseum,andmanyothers.Hereceiveda1994travel grant from the National Endowment for the Arts that enabled him to live and work in Salvador de Bahia, Brazil, where he established relationships that have continued to nurture his life and work in important ways. Minter has illustrated over a dozen children’s books, including Going Down Home with Daddy, which won a 2020 Caldecott Honor.

As founding director of Maine Freedom Trails, he has helped highlight the history of the Underground Railroad and the abolitionist movement in New England. Minter is a graduate of the Art Institute of Atlanta and holds an Honorary Doctorate of Arts from The Maine College of Art.