Piecing together art, storytelling

The Center for Women’s Studies is sponsoring two free lectures by Faith Ringgold, one of the country’s most interesting and important contemporary artists.

Ringgold’s visit coincides with the center’s recognition of Black History Month and Women’s History Month.

Ringgold’s first multimedia presentation, “More Than 30 Years Making Art,” will be held at 7:30 p.m. Feb. 26, in the Campus Activities Center Theater. At 2 p.m. Feb. 27, Ringgold will present “Story Quilts and Children’s Books” in the Hughes Metropolitan Complex auditorium. Each lecture will be followed by book sales and signings.

“Faith Ringgold is an enormously creative artist, a renowned author, a notable social activist and a wonderful public speaker. We are thrilled to share her talents with the Wichita community,” said Gayle Davis, associate professor of women’s studies and associate vice president of academic affairs.

Ringgold is best known for her painted story quilts — art that combines painting, quilted fabric and storytelling. Born in Harlem, Ringgold developed her own style of art, which combines European training with African inspiration, after teaching art education in New York public  schools for 18 years. In the 1980s, Ringgold started making story quilts which include finely crafted scenes that are surreal, whimsical, serious and political, incorporating issues of gender, race, and class with narrative images and words.

The multi-talented Ringgold, a professor of art at the University of California in San Diego, is also a painter, mixed-media sculptor, performance artist and writer.

Her quilts have made a natural transition into children’s books. Ringgold’s first book, “Tar Beach,” has won more than 30 awards, including the prestigious Caldecott Honor and the Coretta Scott King award for best illustrated children’s book. To date, she has authored and illustrated five children’s books, many of which are used in the Wichita public schools.

WSU’s Edwin A. Ulrich Museum of Art will display two of Ringgold’s story quilts in its exhibition “Bearing Witness: Contemporary Works by African American Women Artists.”

Additional support for Ringgold’s visit to Wichita has been provided by Forum Board, the Women’s Studies Community Council Advisory Board, the department of history, College of Education, Hugo Wall School of Urban and Political Affairs, the Ulrich Museum, Community Voice, Arts Partners, Prairie Quilt Guild, INTRUST Bank, Watermark Books and Cafe, Hyatt Regency-Wichita and SUSAN’S Inc., and by a grant from the Kansas Humanities Council.