Artist: George Gadson

Location: E. Pat Larkins Community Center, 520 NW 3rd St, Pompano Beach, FL 33060

In 2003, the community in the northwest area of Pompano Beach had a sculpture custom created and installed by artist George Gadson at the E. Pat Larkins Community Center. This public artwork pays tribute to the community by depicting preservation of family heritage and identity.

Gadson states he creates art with a purpose. Gadson said. “This sculpture was created to empower the community with knowledge of their culture and heritage. A community without knowledge of their history is like a tree without roots.”

E. Pat Larkins Community Center is dedicated to Elijah Pat Larkins, the City’s first African American Mayor who served 19 consecutive years as City Commissioner and 7 terms as Mayor of Pompano Beach.

Self-taught artist George Gadson’s artworks express different spiritual aspects and values of life. His unabated passion for creating translates into exuberant and joyous figurative sculptures, abstracts, photography and more, inspired by his surroundings, people and their environment, and mundane objects of everyday life that often go unnoticed.

Drawing on many sources and ideas for his work, including his personal life story and experiences makes the creative process to be as equally important as the final work. The process allows him to feel, explores, and discovers, the insight, enchantments, and spiritual empowerment that the experience of creating brings.

Gadson seeks to bring to life the forgotten history found in many communities and capture civic memories through creative design works for public spaces. Such efforts aid in rebuilding the tangible and intangible characters of a community, bringing disparate groups together, creating safer neighborhoods, promoting a greater sense of place and belonging, and breathing new life into the “soul” of a community and its residents. For mote information on the artist, please visit https://georgegadsonstudios.com