Director of Academic Advising Rene Alvarez with Oglethorpe student Harry Daniel ’21 and his commissioned piece.

“I was so impressed,” says Director of Academic Advising Rene Alvarez.

He’s describing his first reaction to seeing Harry Daniel’s work during the spring Student Art Showcase at the Oglethorpe University Museum of Art. He was so impressed he followed up with Daniel soon after to have a custom piece created.

“It was his first commission,” Alvarez adds.

The painting depicts Bayard Rustin, an integral part of the civil rights movement in the ’60s. He famously organized the March on Washington, where Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. delivered “I Have a Dream,” and was also openly gay, which at times marginalized his role in the movement. The painting’s background features the Greek letter lambda, a figure significant in both math and science, and the official international symbol for gay and lesbian rights.

Rustin’s portrait is a PhD graduation gift for Alvarez’s partner, Cristian Chandler.

When Daniel is not flexing his artistic muscle, the rising sophomore from Atlanta is majoring in Mathematics and making Dean’s List.