This week’s staff favorite artist is storyteller, visual artist and educator, Faith Ringgold. The award-winning Tar Beach author has written and illustrated numerous children’s books. Before becoming an acclaimed author and illustrator, she grew up surrounded by varied artists during the Harlem Renaissance. She first dabbled in art with quilt making, taught to her by her mother and grandmother. She would later tap into her father’s knack for storytelling.
By the time Ringgold was ready to study visual arts in college, she was met with opposition due to the sexist stigma around women artist. This further propelled her to earn a bachelors and masters degree from City College of New York. Though she appreciated her formal education, Ringgole did notice the dearth of African and African American art in both programs’ curricula. Thus she took it upon herself to learn about the art of her ancestors.
By the 1960s, Ringgold’s American People Series marked her first exhibition at New York’s Spectrum Galley. She soon followed it with the Black Light Series. A decade later, her works expanded to include mediums of sculptures, tankas and masked performances. She also made more strides to push for feminism and an end to racism, helping to establish organizations like Women Students and Artists for Black Art Liberation, the National Black Feminist Organization, and “Where We At” Black Women Artists. She had also returned to quilt making by the 1970s. Ringgold also branched out to children’s books and illustrations such as Aunt Harriet’s Underground Railroad in the Sky and My Dream of Martin Luther King. She also published an adult memoir, We Flew Over the Bridge: The Memoirs of Faith Ringgold. She currently holds at least 23 honoray doctorates
Authored by:
Candice Lawrence
