Faith Ringgold
Faith Ringgold is an internationally celebrated artist, mixed media sculptor, writer, lecturer, and activist. Her work challenges preconceptions of Black identity, exposing social inequalities and racial tensions in America with bold colors and vivid imagery. She is widely recognized for her painted story quilts combining personal narratives, history and politics. Her artistic career, however, began in the mid-to-late 1960s with oil paintings and posters that carried strong political messages in support of the civil-rights movement. Her work regularly embraced politics and feminism as she led protests against the exclusion of black and female artists by major New York institutions, designed political posters, and even got arrested for an exhibition she co-organized called the People’s Flag Show. In the early 1970s, Ringgold’s work shifted from oil paintings to unstretched works bordered with pieced fabric, inspired by Tibetan tanka paintings, which led to the publishing of her first “quilt stories” in the 1980s. These quilt works weave image and text with a tradition of quilting that was passed down through the women of her family, beginning with her great-great grandmother who was born into slavery. Ringgold’s use of craft techniques blur the traditional distinctions between fine art and craft, while demonstrating the importance of family, roots, and artistic collaboration. As cultural assumptions and prejudices persist, Ringgold’s work retains its contemporary resonance.
Our founder, Curlee Raven Holton, met Faith Ringgold in 1994 and has since served as a long-time collaborator and principal printmaker of her work. Ringgold is hailed as one of America's most accomplished and successful artists and is continuously noted for her unique and passionate artwork. Her paintings, installations, quilts, and storybooks tell powerful and honest stories of our collective histories.
"She brings a unique energy and creativity to the printmaking process" stated Curlee when reflecting on his past projects with Ringgold. "Her unwavering devotion to her practice is an inspiring model for any artist.”
Ringgold earned a bachelor’s degree from City College of the City University of New York in 1955. She then taught art in New York City public schools and worked on a master’s degree at City College, which she completed in 1959. Ringgold’s first solo gallery shows were held in 1967 and 1970 at the cooperative Spectrum Gallery, New York. Retrospectives of her work have been organized by Rutgers University, New Brunswick (1973), the Studio Museum in Harlem, New York (1984), and the Fine Arts Museum of Long Island, Hempstead (1990).
Her work has been included in numerous exhibitions devoted to political art, women’s art, contemporary quilts, and African-American art, as well as in the Whitney Biennial (1985). Her achievements as an artist, teacher, and activist have been recognized with numerous honors, including National Endowment for the Arts awards in sculpture (1978) and painting (1989), a John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation Fellowship (1987), and sixteen honorary doctorates. Faith Ringgold has been represented worldwide exclusively by ACA Galleries since 1995.