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SITAR is about ANYTHING art. Your art, someone else's art, writing, photography,
the art of cooking, the art of sewing and textiles. Sharing historical
art, street art, a story about art. Do you have a question or need help
with art? Write a blog post and link it up here. We will all try to help
with it. My only rule is that if someone asks for critique it must be done with generosity and consideration.
This is a place of learning, encouragement and inspiration.
Today I want to introduce Kara Elizabeth Walker. She was born November 26, 1969.
She is regarded as among the most prominent and acclaimed Black American artists working today.
Kara was born in Stockton, California, actually not far from where I lived backed then. Her father, Larry Walker, was a painter and professor. Her mother Gwendolyn was an administrative assistant. A 2007 review in New York Times
described her early life as calm, noting that "nothing about Kara's very early life would seem to have predestined her for this task. Born
in 1969, she grew up in an integrated California suburb, part of a generation for whom the uplift and fervor of the civil rights movement and the want it now anger of Black Power were yesterday's news."
When Walker was 13, her father accepted a position at Georgia State University. They settled in the city of Stone Mountain. The move was a culture shock for the young artist. In sharp contrast with the multicultural environment of Central California, Stone Mountain still held Ku Klux Klan rallies. At her new high school, Walker recalls, "I was called a 'nigger,' told I looked like a monkey, accused (I didn't know it was an accusation) of being a 'Yankee.
Some of her paintings.
Walker received her BFA from the Atlanta College of Art in 1991 and her MFA in painting from the Rhode Island School of Design (RISD) in 1994. Walker recalls reflecting on her father's influence: "One of my earliest
memories involves sitting on my dad's lap in his studio in the garage
of our house and watching him draw. I remember thinking: 'I want to do
that, too,' and I pretty much decided then and there at age 2½ or 3 that
I was an artist just like Dad." She found herself uncomfortable and afraid, however, to address the
issues of race within her art during her early college years, worrying
it would be received as "typical" or "obvious"; however, she began
introducing them into her art while attending RISD for her master's.Walker once explained her artistic process as "two parts research and
one part paranoid hysteria", a description that captures the
entanglement of history and fantasy that pervades her work. Even despite the rational aspect, there's a sense of uneasiness and
complexity that ties and illustrates itself through her work.
Kara Walker feature in BOMB magazine
Solo Exhibition at kunstmuseum Basel
This video explains her art perfectly.
Kara has many sculptures but this one a 2014 massive sculpt is made of sugar. 75 feet long, 35 feet high, and 26 feet wide
To see the slide show click here.
The best video
You don't want to miss this.
Kara's span of 30 years of art is massive. So please take time to view more of her art on line.
Today, with the regime we have in the US, where history is being dismantled and erased we need artists like Kara to remind us of this part of US history.
Nicole
I'm joining Gillena for
