“lift”
COMMISSIONED BY THE JACKSONVILLE CHILDREN’S CHORUS FROM LOCAL ARTIST KEITH DOLES
During their time with the Jacksonville Children’s Chorus, singers learn the song “Lift Every Voice and Sing” by Jacksonville natives, James Weldon Johnson and John Rosamond Johnson.
Feeling that it was important to have a visual representation of this iconic song at the JCC's new Headquarters in Downtown Jacksonville, the piece was commissioned by The Jacksonville Children's Chorus and created by local artist, Keith Doles, in 2024. President and Artistic Director, Darren Dailey, envisioned a painting that portrayed the brothers at the age they would have written "Lift Every Voice and Sing". Dailey challenged Doles to choose one word from the song to be included in the painting. For the past 16 years, this song has opened each Martin Luther King Jr., "Lift Ev'ry Voice and Sing” concert.
We encourage you to visit our home at the corner of Main Street and Forsyth to absorb this magnificent artwork in a place where hundreds of children gather to sing each week.
The Artist’s Perspective
Why did you choose "lift" as the word to highlight in the piece?
The painting was an idea proposed by Darren Dailey, President and Artistic Director of the Jacksonville Children's Chorus in 2024 after he saw a Harlem Renaissance exhibit at the Metropolitan Museum in New York City. We discussed making an image that acknowledged the history of James Weldon Johnson and J. Rosamond Johnson and their composition of "Lift Ev'ry Voice and Sing." The word "lift" is the first word in the Black National Anthem. The first stanza alludes to America's history of slavery, and racism, and the second stanza proposes the hope of a multicultural future and aspiration is handwritten in the crumpled paper background in the painting. Mr. Dailey and I agreed that the brothers' faces should be looking forward and inspire others who see it.
Are there any details in the painting that are especially meaningful to you?
I enjoyed sorting through pictures of how the Johnson brothers' looked in their young lives. The process was similar to an earlier work I painted titled "Legacy" that included the iconic Ritz Theatre sign above the museum and their permanent collection with a number of their artifacts. The painting is displayed in the Lofts at Monroe in the LaVilla neighborhood in Downtown Jacksonville. Probably handwriting the words of Lift Ev'ry Voice and Sing in cursive around the portraits while a friend of mine recited them, was a moving moment. The concept was to produce what a rough first draft could have looked like. The words were written on paper, then written on my wall. Then finally, they were written on the canvas after the portraits were finished. I listened to several different artists' recordings of the song while I worked including gospel, children's choruses, and instrumental. The color palette was intentionally inspired from the American flag's colors toned with gray values to interpret our past and issues our country continually faces.
1st stanza:
Lift ev’ry voice and sing
Till earth and heaven ring
Ring with the harmonies of Liberty.
Let our rejoicing rise,
High as the list’ning skies, let it resound loud as the rolling sea.
Sing a song full of faith that the dark past has taught us.
Sing a song full of the hope that the present has brought us.
Facing the rising sun of our new day begun
Let us march on till victory is won.
2nd stanza:
Stony the road we trod,
Bitter the chast’ning rod
Felt in the day that hope unborn had died.
Yet with a steady beat,
Have not our weary feet
Come to the place on which our fathers sighed?
We have come over a way that with tears has been watered.
We have come, treading our path through the blood of the slaughtered.
Out from the gloomy past, till now we stand at last Where the white gleam of our star is cast.
God of our weary years,
God of our silent tears,
Thou who has brought us thus far on the way
Thou who has by thy might,
Led us into the light….
Meet Keith Doles
Photo by Liz Pierce (@lizpiercephotography)
My range of work includes painting, graphic design and wood sculpture. I'm a Jacksonville native who graduated from the University of North Florida with a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in Graphic Design in 2001. During that time, my paintings were displayed at the Ritz Theatre and LaVilla Museum in Jacksonville and later at The Morean Arts Center in St. Petersburg, Florida. For two years, I've worked as an illustrator for an aspiring children's book author and had a pen and ink drawing published in Impact Press magazine in 2002.
In 2005, I earned a Masters degree from Webster University where I learned how to finance my painting commissions and graphic design projects. It didn't help me land a job in the corporate world, but it was useful when I began painting portraits for professional athletes, friends, and family members.
My left wrist injury and surgery later that year led to a revival of my childhood painting style which consisted of wild, vivid colors, and vigorous brushstrokes. My influences include Cubism and Abstract Expressionism. Commissioned studio work comes every now and then, but I found time to paint 'en plein air'. I've also taken an economical and environmental approach to creating art by using discarded wood and metal to produce abstract sculptures of the human form. My statues are generally held together by either screws, glue or thin aluminum rods which act as a skeleton to hold the joints in place.
From 2006 to 2012, I produced commercial art for web designers and small businesses from Florida to Wisconsin. Projects included prototype drawings, logos and illustrations for children's books and magazines. In recent years, I taught a series of graphic design courses, fine art workshops, painting demonstrations, and artist talks for various schools and art organizations. In 2015, I was a part-time fine arts instructor at the University of North Florida where I taught several painting and drawing courses in the Continuing Education Department for five years. In 2016, I became a resident artist at the CoRK Arts District in Jacksonville.
My work is represented by Grand Image in Seattle, Washington. I have been featured in several regional art exhibits and participated in youth art outreach activities in Jacksonville and St. Augustine. Some of my paintings were published in three consecutive ArtWanted.com international art calendars (2008, 2009 and 2010). In 2013, I was given the honor of Featured Artist at the semi-annual A Brush With Nature, a premier outdoor painting event fundraiser for the Jacksonville Arboretum and Gardens. I am building my mural portfolio with projects for public places, interior designers, and collaborating with other artists. My work can be found in private collections and public institutions.