Lou Stovall

Born in Athens, GA, in 1937 and raised in Springfield, MA, Lou Stovall matriculated at the Rhode Island School of Design before attending Howard University, where he studied under important artists such as James A. Porter, James Lesesne Wells and David Driskell. Stovall graduated from Howard in 1965 and in 1968 opened a printmaking studio, the Workshop, Inc., adjacent to his residence in the Cleveland Park neighborhood of Washington, D.C. His designs and work in community poster printmaking were transformative in the visual culture of both art and politics in the 1960s and 1970s, attracting artists and collaborators for later printmaking projects. Over the decades, Stovall has successfully worked with notable American artists such as Sam Gilliam, Josef Albers, Jacob Lawrence, Alexander Calder and Robert Mangold.

Stovall has garnered various awards over the decades, including the Printmaker of Distinction Award at the Southern Graphics Conference, Washington, DC (2005); commissions from the White House, American Red Cross, Amnesty International and National Endowment for the Arts (NEA); and several grants from the NEA. His work can be found in collections including the Smithsonian American Museum, National Gallery of Art, and the Phillips Collection (Washington, DC); the Ringling Museum of Art (Sarasota, FL) and the Columbus Museum. He lives in Washington, DC, with his wife, artist Di Bagley Stovall, a Columbus, GA, native.