Don Bacon: “In honor of Black History Month, I rise to recognize Littleton Alston for his lifetime contributions in the fine art of…”

“In honor of Black History Month, I rise to recognize Littleton Alston for his lifetime contributions in the fine art of sculpting, both as a renowned artist and as a professor. Littleton was born in Petersburg, Virginia, and grew up in northeast Washington, D.C., where he had his first encounter with great art and public sculpture. He still vividly remembers looking from his home down East Capitol Street and seeing the Capitol dome. His mother, who was divorced and raising five children on her own, acknowledged and recognized a unique gift that Littleton seemed to possess: drawing. Her devotion and his talent helped him land an opportunity to attend the Duke Ellington School of the Arts in Washington, D.C., where he graduated from high school. Awarded a scholarship to Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond, he received his bachelor of fine arts degree in sculpture and went on to earn his master of fine arts from the Maryland Institute College of Art's Rinehart Graduate School of Sculpture in Baltimore. There, he was the recipient of the school's top honor, the Rinehart Award. In 1989, he was accepted to the artist residency program at the Bemis Center of Contemporary Arts in Omaha. A year later, he joined the faculty of Omaha's Creighton University, where he has attained the rank of full professor of sculpture. For the past 30 years, he has consistently given back to the community.…”