The intricate images Betye Saar and Faith Ringgold create are a form of storytelling at its finest.
Saar, 97, is known for her sculptures, particularly those with found materials, a technique called “assemblage.” She would visit thrift stores or find things on the street, then take those items back to her studio and assemble them to create a new sculpture.
“I am intrigued with combining the remnants of memories, fragments of relics and ordinary objects, with the components of technology. It’s a way of delving into the past and reaching into the future simultaneously,” said Saar, according to an excerpt featured in The Art Story.
Ringgold, 93, has captured periods of American history, especially the Black Power movement. Ringgold is also famous for her quilt works.
Relaying the complexities of the African American experience is an important aspect of Ringgold’s work.
“Art is a form of experience of the person, the place, the history of the people, and as black people, we are different. We hail from Africa to America, so the culture is mixed, from the African to the American,” Ringgold told Ebony in 2013. “We can’t drop that. It’s reflected in the music, the dance, the poetry, and the art.”
In 2022, art by Ringgold and Saar were exhibited in “Meeting on the Matrix” at the David Driskell Center on the campus of University of Maryland College Park. Though they have individually been included in numerous exhibitions throughout their careers, the Driskell Center showcase was the first time Ringgold and Saar’s works were featured exclusively in an exhibition.
The exhibition was curated by Ph.D. students at the university.
Curlee R. Holton, former professor, director, and artist-in-residence at the Driskell Center, said “most of these works were already in the David C. Driskell collection,” said. “Young scholars being involved with this access is just phenomenal.”
Though the Driskell Center exhibition has closed, there are other places in the D.C. area to view works by Ringgold and Saar.
The National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C., features “The Trickster,” a 1994 mixed media assemblage by Saar.
Ringgold’s work will be included in an exhibition called “Subversive, Skilled, Sublime: Fiber Art by Women” at the Smithsonian Renwick Gallery from May 31 through January 5, 2025.