Faith Ringgold
Born in 1930, Faith Ringgold was surrounded with issues of racism and social injustices. Since then, she has been voicing her thoughts on racism and gender inequality through her artwork. Ringgold is a painter, writer, speaker, quilter, sculptor, and performance artist that has sought to break down the boundaries of racial indifferences while still supporting her personal heritage. Faith Ringgold attended the City College of New York where she received her Bachelors degree in Fine arts. After that, she continue to pursue her study of the fine arts and went on to get her Masters degree. In addition to the issue of racism, Faith Ringgold also explores the issue of gender in her art work. Growing up, Faith Ringgold was surrounded by the women in her family who were always creating quilts. With these early female influences, Ringgold began incorporating the art of quilting in her work. The traditional western views that are normally associated with women’s (antiquated) role in society generally revolved around home-making activities and tasks such as embroidery and sewing. Incorporating this method of quilting into her work brings up some of these connections and traditional associations with what can be expected in regards to women’s art.
Faith Ringgold has received over 75 awards in her years as an artist as well as numerous fellowships and grants. Starting in 1987, Ringgold taught at the University of California in San Diego until her retirement in 2002. Currently, Faith Ringgold lives in Englewood, New Jersey and continues to expand her creation of beautiful masterpieces.
Artist: Faith Ringgold
Title: The Flag is Bleeding #2 (1997)
Size: 76″ x 79″
Acrylic on canvas, pieced fabric border
Artist: Faith Ringgold
Title: The Sunflower’s Quilting Bee at Arles (1991)
Size: 74″ x 80″
Acrylic on canvas, pieced fabric border
To help understand the methods behind Faith Ringgold’s work, middle school-aged students could be asked to create a quilt of their own that depicts a personal struggle or everyday conflict. Like Ringgold, students will focus on an issue that they face daily or perhaps an issue that they would like to stand up for and portray that issue on a piece of canvas. Once the topic is chosen, students can sketch out on paper what they would like to paint before they apply to their canvas material. Students will paint their issue on a piece of canvas and let it dry. Once dry, students can select pieces of scrap fabric to use for their pieced fabric border or perhaps to use as an element in their painting. Learning how to manipulate various materials such as fabric and paint is a technique that is often new to students at the middle school level. Allowing students the opportunity to see the work of a successful artist like Faith Ringgold and then be able to apply her methods to their own works of art will allow the students to feel comfortable expressing issues that pertain to them. Freedom of expression is something that should be promoted and encouraged in the art classroom as it allows for better communication and understanding.
The Learning standards that would apply to this lesson include communication and being able to express and interpret information as well as being able to make connections between how the individual relates to their society.
Kelly Mclaughlin 