John Green

Ken Sprague: People's Artist (Art S) John Green

This lively portrait shows how everyone can be a special kind of artist - how art can transform lives, deepen social engagement and build bridges. Ken Sprague's goal as a people's artist is "to build a pathway to the Golden City, and to help people dream again". Here, for the first time, is a selection of Ken's pictures, including his Guernica cartoon as a boy, posters for Martin Luther King, the labour movement, the Anti Apartheid Campaign and war pictures from Iraq and Belgrade. Ken Sprague is a print-maker, posterman, painter, cartoonist, muralist, banner maker, psychodrama tutor and art teacher. He is a legendary storyteller, with moving and amusing stories to enliven his pictures. Twice winner of the National Council for Industrial Design's poster of the year award, he has frequently exhibited. Uniquely, he is probably the only British artist with a life long connection with the trade union movement. His BBC Omnibus film, "The Posterman", was very popular. Full of good stories, this biography offers fascinating insights into the crisis of art. It asks how art can be reclaimed for ordinary people and communities. Ken Sprague is an artist who, as a radical freethinker, does not fit easily into any category. He invites us to take creative action for a better, more beautiful world.