Lane was commissioned by Troy State University to create a 12ft high three panel installation which depicts the life journey of Ms. Parks. The installation is located in the lobby of the Rosa Parks Museum on the campus of Troy State University in Montgomery, Alabama

Lane was commissioned to designed the Congressional Gold Medal of Honor for Rosa Parks. The medal was presented to Ms. Parks by President Bill Clinton,1999.

“The Beginning”

“The Beginning” depicts a young Rosa Parks seated on the bus on that fateful day.  The original painting hangs in the Rosa Parks Museum in Montgomery,  Al.


This painting has also been reproduced in a limited edition lithograph of 750, with the original signature of Rosa Parks.


This lithograph can be found in the collections of institutions such as the California African American Museum and the Simon Wiesenthal Center for Human Rights, Los Angeles.

Other Leaders

As the Official Artist of Rosa Parks Ms. Lane has

Captured her Image in Several Mediums

“The Journey I” depicts images of her life over the icon of lady liberty.

Sojourner Truth finished clay

Mary McLeod Bethune

A tireless educator and the founder of Bethune-Cookman University, Daytona Beach, FL. Member of Franklin D. Roosevelt’s Black Cabinet.

Lane was commissioned to create a life size oil portrait and two bronze busts, one for the city and the other for the Mayor’s personal selection

Lewis Latimer considered one of the most important Black inventors of all time, not only for the sheer number of inventions created and patents secured but also for the magnitude of importance for his most famous discovery.


He is a pioneer in the development of the filament for the electric light bulb which significantly extended the life of the bulb. It provided a much longer life to the bulb and hence made the bulbs less expensive and more efficient. This enabled electric lighting to be installed within homes and throughout streets.


In 1876, Latimer was the draftsman of the patent application for for Alexander Graham Bell for the telephone.

Dr. Fredric Patterson

This was printed in a Limited Edition Lithograph of 750 each has the original signature of Rosa Parks and Ms. Lane. A limited number are still available.

Maya Angelou poet laureate, educator, historian, author, actress, playwright, and civil-rights activist is presented with “The Beginning” by Samella Lewis artist, author, historian and educator, at Berkeley Hall.

Lane with C. Dolores Tucker next to President Bill Clinton at the reception for the unveiling of the design for the Rosa Parks Congressional Gold Medal of Honor.

Lane and Rosa Parks at the unveiling of the bust of Ms. Parks at  Smithsonian Portrait Museum.

Coretta Scott King speaking at the unveiling of the bust of Ms. Parks at  Smithsonian Portrait Museum.

(323) 938-0538  ArtisLane@att.net 

Several images of Ms. Parks have been captured in bronze form. These busts can be found in the collections of the Smithsonian Portrait Museum, The Rosa Parks Museum located at Troy State .

“The Journey II”

A pastel and oil of a young Rosa Parks

The original sketch used for “The Journey” pieces

Mary McLeod Bethune

bronze, 16 x 17 x 12”, 1992

Sojourner Truth Bust 37” high


Sojourner Truth

An Abolitionist and women’s rights activist. In the spring of 2009 First Lady Michelle Obama unveiled the bust in Emancipation Hall.

The portrait hangs in the halls of Detroit’s Cobo Conference Exhibition Center

Lane working on painting

Lane photographing Young for research was featured in the Detroit Free Press

Lane with bronze

Dr. Dorothy Height

Dr. Dorothy I. Height

An African American administrator, educator, social activist, and a recipient of the Congressional Gold Medal. She served as president of National Council of Negro Women from 1957 - l998 when she became Chair & President Emerita.

Dr. Frederick Patterson

In 1943, Dr.  Patterson president of Tuskegee University, urged his fellow Black college presidents to raise money collectively through an "appeal to the national conscience." In 1944, Dr. Patterson, Ms. Bethune and others incorporated the United Negro College Fund. Supporters included President Roosevelt, John Rockefeller, Jr., and Sen. John F. Kennedy. In 1959, Kennedy donated the proceeds from his Pulitzer Prize-winning book, Profiles in Courage, to UNCF. 

Both sculptures of Bethune and Height were commissioned by the National Council of Negro Women and are currently on display in the lobby of their offices in Washington, DC

Lewis Latimer

Waxes of of Height,

Patterson and Latimer

Sojourner Truth working clay with sketches

Lane working on clay with sketches

Lane and Dr. Dorothy Height at the luncheon hosted by the NCNW post the Sojourner Truth unveiling in Washington, DC. 2009

Luncheon sponsored by Edison

Lane and the completed clay of Sojourner Truth

Parks’ bust installed in Smithsonian Portrait Gallery. Article by Christian Science Monitor

Artis Lane and, her late husband, Vince Cannon were among the founding members and have been long time supporters of  ANSA since their beginning days of Artists Against Apartheid. Post apartheid, the organization changed its name to Artists for a New South Africa and focuses their efforts to combat HIV/AIDS in the US and South Africa.

ANSA more...

ANSA board members including Sam Jackson, Santana, Lane, LaTonya Jackson, CCH Pounder, Afre Woodard, Sharon Gelman with Mandela

Cannon, Mandela and Lane

ANSA supporters Jimmy Smits, LaTonya Jackson, Blair Underwood, Lane, Desmond Tutu, Sharon Gelman, Hugh Masekela

South African President Nelson Mandela

oil and pastel on paper

ANSA board members at the benefit screening of Hotel Rwanda

Mayor Coleman A. Young

Mayor of Detroit 1974-1993

First sketch for the Congressional Gold Medal of Honor