Mark West pens article for DailyArt Magazine
Mark West, professor in the Department of English, contributed the guest profile “Tar Beach: Faith Ringgold’s Journey from Story Quilts to Picture Books” to DailyArt Magazine.
Faith Ringgold launched her career as a picture book author and illustrator with the publication of “Tar Beach” in 1991, after exploring many artistic mediums including oil paintings and life-sized fabric sculptures.
Ringgold’s interest in fabric art led to the creation of story quilts, which combined painting, patchwork quilting and sequential images alongside hand-lettered narratives.
“In the late 1980s, Ringgold started work on Woman on a Bridge, a series of five story quilts that include images of the George Washington Bridge. For much of her life, Ringgold had lived within sight of this bridge, and she often thought of it as her bridge,” writes West. “In 1988 she finished Tar Beach — the first part of the series. Then, in 1990, she produced another version of this quilt, Tar Beach 2.”
Ringgold adapted the quilts into the picture book, “Tar Beach,” expanding the narrative elements of the story. The publication launched Ringgold’s career as a children’s author, and she received both a Coretta Scott King Award for Illustration and a Caldecott Honor Award for the book.