Faith Ringgold Credit Lines

Faith Ringgold (American) b. 1930,

The Sunflower Quilting Bee at Arles,

1991 Acrylic on canvas, tie dyed,

pieced fabric border, 74 x 80 inches, Private Collection

http://www.msanzalonecreativearts.blogspot.com/

We know that much of Faith Ringgold's childhood and early adulthood was probably wrecked by war and poverty. During her first years of life the U.S. fell into the Great Depression. A record amount of people were unemployed and many families were struggling to aquire basic needs. Next, while being raised in Harlem, World War II began. Also, because the fact that Faith wsas African-American, her family was probably discriminated against for many years. In fact, some of Mrs. Ringgold's works were affected by the civil rights movement in the 60's. We know that as an adult Faith was an author and artist and created many popular stories such as Tar Beach. Futhermore, we know that Faith and her daughter were founders of the National Black Feminist Organization.

But, Faith is most well-known for her quilt works that were passed down to her from her great-great grandmother. Her work is known to be rich and inspiring and is painted with vibrant colors. in this paticular painting, we see a group of African-American women prouldly displaying their sunflower quilt. This probably has to do with the fact that Faith was very active in promoting women and African-American rights. The African-American women shown in that picture are eight freedom fighters such as Coretta Scott King and Harriet Tubman.

In this quilt we not only see a group of women, but also an artist named Vincent Van Goah. Most likely the fact that Van Goah uses sunflowers in many of his works is the reason behind why he is featured in the quilt. Also the sunflowers inside the quilt inside the picture are surrounded by diamond shaped objects that are similar to Van Goah's Starry Night.

Because Faith is an author too, along with being an artist, it might have some effect on her pictures or vice versa. For example, maybe she sees the world in words instead of pictures and therefore uses something like character dialouge in her quilts. All in all, Faith Ringgold proves to be a very optimistic and strong-willed artist in The Sunflower Quilting Bee at Arles.