Faith

I woke up last Sunday to the news that Faith Ringgold had died. A huge wave of sadness washed over me. I love her artwork, have followed her career for decades and have shared her art and stories with hundreds of children. People need heroes, and she is one of mine.

Faith Ringgold was born in Harlem on October 8, 1930. Eighteen months prior, her mother, Willi Posey Jones, had lost a little boy to pneumonia and was hoping for a boy. She had no name picked out for a girl. A nurse who was attending her suggested, “Call her Faith”, and Faith Willi Jones began her 93-year life journey.

As a child, Faith had asthma and was home bound for many days. Her mother, a fashion designer and dressmaker, gave her daughter scraps of cloth, thread, needles and art supplies to occupy her quiet hours. Faith’s love of art was a continuous path from those childhood moments.

In 1948, Faith enrolled at the City College of New York to pursue a degree in fine art, but she was forced to major in art education instead. At that time, City College limited women to only certain majors. Fine art was for men, teaching was for women. Faith taught in the New York Public Schools from the 1950s to the 1970s.

Even while teaching, Faith was constantly creating her own art. Her work is political; she boldly took on white racism, misogyny and other social justice issues. She stated, “I’m always thinking about what can be better. And if you don’t get out there, the situation will never change.”

Although she worked in many styles, Faith Ringgold will be most remembered for her unique story quilts. These mural-sized unstretched canvases honor the African traditions of storytelling and quilting. She collaborated with her mother on the construction of the story quilts many of which feature women characters.

One quilt, “Tar Beach”, is based on her happy childhood memories of summer nights on her tenement’s tar roof. Families would escape the sweltering heat in their apartments by picnicking and sleeping under the stars on the roof. In the quilt story, a little girl can magically fly up into the stars above the city. The Tar Beach quilt became the basis for Faith Ringgold’s first published children’s book. “Tar Beach” was a Caldecott Honor Book in 1992.

Last February, I learned that the Museum of Contemporary Art in Chicago was hosting a retrospective of Faith Ringgold’s work. I said to my husband, “I absolutely have to drive to Chicago to see this exhibit.” I did not know it at the time, but that trip would be a farewell to this powerful, talented woman who never lost a sense of joy despite the hardships she endured.

Tributes to her are pouring in. The words that struck me the most are from Holland Cotter, the New York Times art critic:

“Certain artists manage to leap over walls. Picasso was one. And some tunnel under those walls, hit resistance, tunnel some more and, once inside, open a door to let others in. That’s what Faith Ringgold, artist-activist to the end, did.”

Click below for a video of highlights from the MCA Chicago exhibit. The pictures are in chronological order.

4