Statewide Arts Conference:
Celebrating Our Past and Connecting Our Future!

Dr. Leo Twiggs 

The 2007 Scottie Award honoree, Dr. Leo Twiggs was born in St. Stephen, S.C. He received his bachelor of arts degree from Claflin University and later studied at the Arts Institute of Chicago. He earned a master’s degree at New York University, where he studied with the famed African-American painter and muralist Hale Woodruff. Dr. Twiggs was the first African American to receive a doctorate in art education from the University of Georgia. 

During his tenure as a teacher at Lincoln High School in Sumter, his students won more than 125 regional and national awards. One became the first S.C. high school student to be awarded a National Scholastic Art Award. Dr. Twiggs also was selected as a juror for the national competition in New York. 

At S.C. State University, Dr. Twiggs developed the Stanback Museum and established the university’s first art department. He was director of the museum and chair of the art department until he retired in 1998. 

Early in his career, Dr. Twiggs began experimenting with the ancient process of batik as a painting medium. After years spent in perfecting his technique, Dr. Twiggs was received international recognition and awards for his batik. Several paintings were selected to hang in American Embassies in Rome, Togoland, Decca and Sierra Leone, among other places. He has had more than 65 one-man shows. 

Dr. Twiggs was the first visual artist to receive the Elizabeth O’Neill Verner Award for outstanding contributions to the arts in S.C., and he received the National Art Education Association Southeastern Regional Award in 1981. He was inducted into the S.C Black Hall of Fame in 1998 and the National Black College Alumni Hall of Fame in 2003. 

In 2001, he was selected to design an ornament for the White House Christmas tree. The ornament was a sculptural replica of the house where Benjamin Mays, spiritual mentor of Dr. Martin Luther King, was born.

Dr. Twiggs received the Medal of Honor in the Arts from Winthrop University in 2004, and in 2007, the Governors School Foundation gave him its Leadership Award in recognition for his service as vice chair and building committee member of that institution.

The Georgia Museum of Art organized a retrospective exhibition of Dr. Twiggs’ work that toured the Southeast from January 2004 to April 2006. It was on display at the Gibbes Museum for the Spoleto Festival USA, and was exhibited at the Greenville Museum, the Delta Fine Arts Center in Winston Salem and the State Museum in Columbia.

 
Dr. Twiggs is a member of the S.C. Arts Alliance, the Arts in Basic Steering Committee and chair of the board of the S.C. Hall of Fame. Currently, he is distinguished artist in residence at Claflin University and professor emeritus at S.C. State.  

He is married to the former Rosa Johnson of Sumter, and they have three sons.