Have you picked up on the connection between this month’s guests? It can be easy to look at the advocacy work and projects around diversity in design and think it’s a new movement, but the reality is that the work is built on the shoulders and legacy of Black designers like Vernon Lockhart. As an artist, creative therapist, and the executive director of Project Osmosis, Vernon has worked hard to empower the next generation of designers through education for at least the past 20 years.
We spoke about Vernon’s creative therapy practice, Art on the Loose, and he shared how his time growing up in Chicago, attending SAIC, and becoming involved with the Organization of Black Designers helped build the foundation for Project Osmosis. We also talked about respectability politics, the trap of “diversity”, and his plans for bringing more design education to the south side of Chicago. Vernon Lockhart and his work are a testament to the fact that we all have the human right to be creative!
