Otto Neals was born in 1931 in South Carolina and moved to Brooklyn at a young age. Aside from his time studying printmaking at the Robert Blackburn printmaking shop, and his brief attendance at the Brooklyn Museum Art School, Neals is a self-taught artist.
Neals has been a member of the Weusi Art Collective since the 1960s. He has been commissioned to execute several major public works over his career. Following his masterful designs, Neals has been the recipient of the New York City Art Commission’s Award for Excellence in Design. Neals is a founding artist of the Fulton Art Fair, the oldest Black visual arts event in Bedford-Stuyvesant, Brooklyn.
In this excerpt, Neals reflects on being introduced to Blackburn through the Weusi Artist Collective and the many artists he encountered at The Printmaking Workshop.
