Faith Ringgold just inspires me.

Dancing at the Louvre by Faith Ringgold

1991, Acrylic on Canvas & Tie-Dyed, Pieced Fabric Border, 73.5 x 80"

In my opinion, Faith Ringgold definitely doesn't get the attention she deserves. She is amazing! Okay, she is this vivacious African American artist who is most famous for her "story quilts" but has also done a ton of other stuff like write children's books, sue BET television network, and teach at UCSD... to name a few. Just an all around lady who creates these amazing works of art. Her mother was a fashion designer, so that's where she got most of her inspiration for her quilts as she grew up around fabric.

Dancing at the Louvre is one of my favorite Ringgold pieces because it just illustrates her genius. See, she took a form that wasn't traditionally thought to be art- fabric, and combined it with things that are undeniably art- the Mona Lisa and Madonna on the Rocks, therefore created a unique piece of art. This particular piece is part of her "French Collection" series and all of the pieces have some type of unique combination of high art on fabric. Dancing at the Louvre is also the title of the book which contains all the pieces of the French Collection and is a story of a fictional character, Willia Marie Simone, who moves from Harlem (Ringgold's hometown) to Paris in the 1920's to pursure art. I need to get the book because I have read a lot about it, but never actually read it. It's so moving just reading the summaries. The art weaves the book together to create a political and personal commentary on so many levels. It's brilliant.

The more I read about Faith, the more I can imagine what type of person she is. I envision her as this strong, confident, culturally rich, artistic woman. She is someone I constantly dream about meeting one day. I can just imagine us sitting on her porch, drinking lemonade, and talking about how she has changed the world with her art.

Faith Ringgold just inspires me.


[P.S. She has a blog, and I recommend you go look at it because she just put up a quilt she made to tribute the great Michael Jackson......... http://faithringgold.blogspot.com/]