Clarissa Sligh
| Clarissa Sligh | |
|---|---|
| Born |
1939 Washington, DC |
| Nationality | United States |
| Occupation | Artist, Photographer, Book Artist |
| Website |
clarissasligh |
Clarissa Sligh (1939, Washington DC) is an African American book artist and photographer based in Asheville, North Carolina. Her work has been exhibited at The Museum of Modern Art in New York City, the Jewish Museum in New York City, and at the Walker Art Center in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Her work has also been displayed at the National African American Museum Project, at the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, DC. Sligh's photographs and artists' books center on politics, family life, questions of identity and personal experience.[1]
Biography
Clarissa Sligh has fought against racism all her life. In 1955, at the age of 15, she was the lead plaintiff in a school desegregation case in Virginia.[2][3]
Education
Clarissa Sligh attended the traditionally African-American Hampton Institute, in Hampton, Virginia, where she earned a bachelor's degree in mathematics in 1961. She continued her education in an artistic vein, earning a bachelor's degree in Visual Arts in 1972 from Howard University in Washington DC, and an MBA in 1973 from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania. Finally, she earned her master's of fine arts degree in Visual Arts from Howard University in 1999.
Field of Work
According to Carla Williams, Sligh's work reflects about our perceptions of normality and our roles in different frameworks such as family, society, gender and ethnic groups. As C. Williams says "In school readers from her childhood, Sligh discovered the model from which to confront the realities of her own life. "[4]
Awards
- Leeway Foundation’s Art and Change Grant (2006)[5]
- National Endowment for the Arts, Visual Arts grant (1988)[6]
- Women's Studio Workshop, Artist in Residence, Book Arts for 1988, 2004[7]
Coast to Coast National Women Artists of Color Projects
In 1988, Sligh co-founded the Coast-to-Coast National Women Artists of Color Projects with Faith Ringgold.[8] From 1988 to 1996, this organization exhibited the works of African American women across the United States.[9] In 1990, Sligh was one of three organizers of the exhibit "Coast to Coast: A Women of Color National Artists' Book Project" held January 14 - February 2, 1990 at the Flossie Martin Gallery, and later at the Eubie Blake Center and the Artemesia Gallery. Faith Ringgold wrote the catalog introduction titled "History of Coast to Coast." Over 100 Women of Color artists were included. The catalog included brief artist statements and photos of the artist' books, including works by: Emma Amos, Beverly Buchanan, Elizabeth Catlett, Dolores Cruz, Dorothy Holden, Martha Jackson-Jarvis, Young-Im Kim, Viola Leak, Howardena Pindell, Faith Ringgold, Adrian Piper, Joyce Scott, Freida High Tesfagiorgis, Denise Ward-Brown, Bisa Washington, and Deborah Willis (artist).[10]
Books
- What’s Happening With Momma?, Women’s Studio Workshop Press, 1988[11]
- Reading Dick and Jane with Me, Visual Studies Workshop Press, 1989[3]
- Voyage(r): A Tourist Map to Japan, Nexus Press, 2000
- Wrongly Bodied Two, Women’s Studio Workshop Press, 2004
- It Wasn’t Little Rock, Visual Studies Workshop Press, 2005[3]
- Wrongly Bodied: Documenting Transition from Female to Male, self-published with the Leeway Foundation, 2009
- Transforming Hate: An Artist's Book, 2016
References
- ↑ Neumaier, edited by Diane (1995). Reframings : new American feminist photographies. Philadelphia: Temple University Press. p. 89-90. ISBN 1566393329.
- ↑ Art Talk with Clarissa Sligh National Endowment for the Arts, March 6, 2012
- 1 2 3 A Thousand Reasons Why Verve Magazine, December 2, 2013
- ↑ Williams, Carla (1995). "Reading Deeper: The Legacy of Dick and Jane in the Work of Clarissa Sligh" (PDF). Image. 38 (3/4): 3.
- ↑ "Artists' Books | Leeway Foundation". Leeway Foundation: 17. 2006. Retrieved 24 November 2016.
- ↑ National Endowment for the Arts Annual Report (PDF): 189. 1988 https://www.arts.gov/sites/default/files/NEA-Annual-Report-1988.pdf. Retrieved 24 November 2016. Missing or empty
|title=(help) - ↑ "Clarissa Sligh - Women's Studio Workshop". Women's Studio Workshop. Retrieved 24 November 2016.
- ↑ "Donor Spotlight: Clarissa Sligh". wsworkshop.org. 26 March 2009. Retrieved 25 March 2015.
- ↑ Works by Women to go on Display in Wooster Toledo Blade, August 21, 1991
- ↑ Coast to coast: a Women of Color National Artists' Book Project. Flossie Martin Gallery. 1990. Retrieved November 24, 2016.
- ↑ ART REVIEW; Pictures in Children's Books, From Cherubs to Divided Faces New York Times, August 18, 1995