Faith Ringgold and my brush with greatness

Last night I got to meet Faith Ringgold at a lecture at Lesley.  It was quite humbling to stand beside someone that is so accomplished and a master at her craft.  She presented a slideshow of her work and spoke for an hour and a half and then did Q and A's.  I've always been impressed with her quilts and her picture books like Tar Beach. I thought about her American flag works and how much like Jasper Johns there was a story to be told within the image of the flag itself.

As I'm looking at my personal experiences as an artist and person of color I was reminded by her lecture about how much our stories matter. Her work is a lot more imaginative than mine and there are dreams, fantasies and experiences she creates that just make me want to relax and not enjoy artmaking without the urgency to make a point. I am  hoping to be in a place where I can illustrate something like I Dream of Martin Luther King and  do something beyond telling his story based on facts. I can feel her sense of freedom in her work. I like her works that shows images of African American historical figures. It's something essential to much of my work because as an artist I feel if they aren't represnted visually eventually they will be forgotten or ignored.

It was interesting listening to her give advice to someone who had asked her about breaking into publishing, she said " Just do it ,and there are so many ways to put your work out there that it can happen." I loved her story about the painting of Clinton and his family flying that an art rep didn't want to produce , yet she brought it to the White House for the Clintons and they loved it. I gained a lot from listening to her discuss the quilts and the meaning behind the designs and the ways they were made to express creativity because slaves were only allowed to to make functional items like sheets etc. Having met Ms. Ringgold, Dana Chandler, Paul Goodnight and of course Sue Coe  definitely has had an impact on the "Why" I'm doing my work. I'm getting much closer to answering that question. It has also given me renewed respect for those who paved the way for so many of us. Truly a brush with greatness.