Although her finished works are made entirely of textiles, she approaches the medium from a painterly perspective. In her quilts, Butler introduces elements of painting and photography. Through her subject matter and technique, Butler’s work expands the parameters of art history. Realized in a medium that both evokes the intimate sense of home and captures the collective dimension of a shared tradition, Butler’s quilts can be situated in the lineage of celebrated textile artists like Faith Ringgold, Romare Bearden, Harriet Powers and the quilters of Gee’s Bend, who elevated the ubiquitous artifact and centuries-old craft to an art form able to shine a light on the experience of African Americans. Through her dynamic, celebratory portraits of Black Americans, Butler captures vividly the life and history of a people who are part of the American mosaic. In the 1800s, Sojourner Truth said: “I will not allow my life’s light to be determined by the darkness around me.” If she, a woman born into bondage and then escaped with a small child, could shine a light on the evils of slavery and inspire people to action, then we have no choice but to do the same. The statement “The World Is Yours” encourages people to stay the course and never stop trying to create the life they envision.Īfrican Americans have overcome tremendous odds to build their communities and customs despite pervasive obstacles, and I want the new generation to keep up that fight. In fact, this world belongs to all of us, and it always has. I am saying to all people who may have been mistreated through acts of prejudice and racism that this world also belongs to them. On Saturday, February 13, please join Richard Beavers, owner and head curator of the Richard Beavers Gallery (formerly known as the House of Art Gallery) for the opening reception of "The People Could Fly: Royalty Without the Riches," an exhibition of the Quilts of Bisa Butler.Bisa Butler’s exhibition, The World Is Yours, is at once a benediction and a mantra inspired by the lyrics of a song by the rapper Nas. She has shown her work from the Studio Museum in Harlem, to the California African American Museum in Los Angeles-just to name a few places. As thrilled as she was by the invitation from the Smithsonian, she still gets butterflies with each new exhibition. Her most prestigious exhibition was at the Smithsonian Institute in our nation's capital of Washington, D.C. Her enthusiasm and stimulation from old photos has erupted into nationwide recognition for her gift, as exemplified through esteemed art exhibitions. Bisa says she's most inspired just from looking at old black and white photo albums, "I think they are very interesting". The motivation behind these extraordinaire pieces of art comes from African American society. Bisa is known for adding different types of fabrics to her art pieces-something she was moved to do from the collages of artist Romare Bearden. Bisa says her grandmother had given so much to her family, "this was one thing I could give her that was special." After that, she was bitten by the quilting bug and became inspired to do more. Her first quilt was based on a small photo booth picture of her grandparents, Francis and Violette Hammond. Quilting became her genre when she constructed a quilt for her ailing grandmother. She went on to earn a master's degree in Art Education from Montclair State University in 2004.
She graduated from Howard University with a bachelor's degree in Fine Arts, concentrating in painting. Say the people who could fly kept their power, although they shed their wingsĪs told on The Sophisticate Life: Using different fibers, textured fabrics and swatches of cloth, African-American artist Bisa Butler captures an expression, or tells a story with just one piece of quilted art.īisa was raised in South Orange, NJ, the youngest of three children born to a French teacher and a college president. Say that long ago in Africa, some of the people knew magic.Īnd they could walk up on the air like climbin' on a gate.Īnd they fly like blackbirds over the fields.īlack, shiny wings flappin' against the blue up there.
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