I KNOW A MAN … ASHLEY BRYAN

University of Pennsylvania Library Acquires ashley bryan archive

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NOW AVAILABLE ON KANOPY FOR EDUCATIONAL & AT HOME STREAMING

I Know a Man... Ashley Bryan

Now Available on DVD and STREAMING

BOOKLIST Editors' Choice Video 2017! 

I Know a Man ... Ashley Bryan is said by some to be an antidote to the hatred, racism and division that our country is experiencing.  The film is about this 95-year-old poet/artist who skips and jumps in his heart like a child.  Born in Harlem and raised in the Bronx, Ashley’s talent was nurtured by artist Romare Bearden.  Ashley was drafted out of Cooper Union into the segregated US army at age 19. He served in an all-Black battalion during World War II and preserved his humanity by drawing, stowing supplies in his gas mask. Ashley now lives on the remote Cranberry Islands, Maine, and has been using art his entire life to celebrate joy, mediate the darkness of war and racism, explore the mysteries of faith, and create loving community.  He is a poet/illustrator of over 50 published children's books, and makes magical puppets and sea glass windows from found objects inspired by his African heritage. The film explores his world from the time his father “was given the mop and the broom”, (a reference to Gordon Parks photograph, American Gothic).  He quotes Marian Anderson admonishing “to keep another down you have to hold them down, and therefore cannot  … soar to the potential within you.”  He spreads beauty through his linocut prints exhorting “Let My People Go”. His life story and the art he makes from this wellspring of experience is an inspiration to people of all ages.