Faith Ringgold (February)

Faith Ringgold grew up in the Harlem district of New York City in the 1930's. She was always known as the best artist in her class and loved to draw and paint, Her mother taught her how to sew, and Faith often tried to create her own design with needle and thread.

Ringgold worked as a school teacher for many years while still creating art and trying to get her paintings accepted professionally at galleries and museums. She was inspired by pride in her African-Anerican heritage and by other writers and artists of the time. In the early 1970's, Ringgold began using fabric, beads, and stitched cloth in her paintings. She combined the spirit of African art with images from her childhood and black American history. Her quilted paintings are now part of many museum collections around the world.

The young artist explores creating quilted artwork by first imagining a picture that tells a story about the artist's life, and then incorporating that picture into a fabric painting in the style of Faith Ringgold.