Painter and sculptor John Thomas Riddle Jr. dies at 68

LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA - John Thomas Riddle Jr., a painter, sculptor, and printmaker whose work addressed the struggles of black Americans, has died. He was 68. <br> <br> Riddle died on March 3 of complications of a heart attack in Atlanta, Ga., the Los Angeles Times reported Saturday. <br> <br> Riddle, who lived in Los Angeles, was a curator at the California African American Museum in Exposition Park. He began his career as a figurative artist but the 1965 Watts riots altered his focus. <br> <br> He concentrated on themes that explored the harsh conditions black residents faced in South-Central Los Angeles, creating pieces from welded steel and debris left by the riots. <br> <br> One work, titled ``The Ghetto Merchant,&#39;&#39; was made out of a cash register from a fire-gutted store. <br> <br> ``He saw art as a way of educating African-Americans about their history and how they got here,&#39;&#39; Drew Talley, collection manager at the California African American Museum, told the Times. ``He especially wanted to educate the youths so that they wouldn&#39;t forget.&#39;&#39; <br> <br> Riddle&#39;s public commissions include a bronze statue on the grounds of the Georgia Capitol called ``Expelled Because of Color.&#39;&#39; Other works are in the collections of the Oakland Museum, the High Museum of Art in Atlanta and the Harriet Tubman Museum in Macon, Ga. <br> <br> Riddle taught art at Los Angeles High School and Beverly Hills High School in the late 1960s and 1970s. In 1974 he moved to Atlanta, where he taught at Spelman College, directed the city&#39;s Neighborhood Art Center and worked for the Bureau of Cultural Affairs. <br> <br> He is survived by his wife, Carmen Willa Garrott Riddle, two sisters, a brother, six children and 12 grandchildren.

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