Exhibit Celebrating A Significant Modern

African American Artist Now On View

FAIRFIELD — The brilliantly colored story quilts, oils, prints, tankas, works on paper and soft sculptures of the seminal artist Faith Ringgold will be on exhibit through Saturday, March 3, at the Thomas J. Walsh Art Gallery at Fairfield University.

This traveling exhibit from ACA Galleries in New York City shows visitors how Ms Ringgold, one of the most significant African American artists of the modern era, has deftly expressed the cultural, political, racial and gender statements that defined her time using such a variety of media.

During the late 1960s and 1970s Ms Ringgold was instrumental in protests and other actions against museums that she felt neglected the work of women and people of color. More recently Ms Ringgold has taken another tact, seeking social change through her optimistic presentations of black female heroines. Her most successful and well-known vehicle is the painted story quilt, which utilizes a bold creative medium strongly associated with women’s communal work.

The exhibit also includes 11 original illustrations from Ms Ringgold’s children’s book, Tar Beach, which was a Caldecott Honor Book and won the Coretta Scott King Award for illustration. She has written several other books for children and adults.

Ms Ringgold began her career nearly 40 years ago and has exhibited in major museums in the United States, Europe, South America, Asia, Africa and the Middle East. Her works are in the permanent collections of several museums, including The Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Studio Museum in Harlem, the Museum of Modern Art, and the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum.

The exhibit will be on display Tuesdays through Saturdays from 11 am to 5 pm, and Sundays from noon to 4 pm. Admission is free. For information call 203-254-4010, extension 2969.