Featured Artists
Photo courtesy of Faith Ringgold
Faith Ringgold
Born Faith Willi Jones on October 8, 1930, in Harlem, Faith Ringgold was a pioneering painter, mixed media sculptor, performance artist, author, teacher and activist whose powerful works address issues of race, gender, and social justice. Ringgold's innovative use of quilting and storytelling techniques revolutionized the art world by bridging the gap between fine art and craft traditions.
During the early 1960's Ringgold traveled to Europe. She created her first political paintings, the American People series from 1963 to 1967 and had her first and second one-person exhibitions at the Spectrum Gallery in New York in 1967 and 1970. Following a second trip to Europe in the early 1970's Ringgold began making tankas (Tibetan paintings framed in richly brocaded fabrics), soft sculptures, and masks.
Ringgold made her first quilt, Echoes of Harlem, in 1980, in collaboration with her mother, Madame Willi Posey who was a prominent Harlem fashion designer. Her first story quilt, Who's Afraid of Aunt Jemima?, was written in 1983 as a way of publishing her unedited words.
Her first children's book, the award-winning Tar Beach, was published in 1991 by Crown, winning more than 20 awards, including the Caldecott Honor and the Coretta Scott King Award.
Ringgold was the recipient of over 100 awards and honors; author of 20 children's books; and subject of the recent critically acclaimed touring exhibition "Faith Ringgold: American People" (2022–2024).
Photo courtesy of Mary Enoch Elizabeth Baxter
Mary Enoch Elizabeth Baxter
Mary Enoch Elizabeth Baxter is an award-winning multidisciplinary artist, writer, pedagogue, and cultural worker based in Philadelphia, PA. As a visionary thought leader creating socially conscious music, film, performance, and visual art, her practice embodies resilience, care, and community-centeredness while working at the intersections of reproductive justice, black feminist thought and transformative change.
Her work has been exhibited both nationally and internationally at venues including MoMA PS1, the African American Museum of Philadelphia, Frieze LA, Eastern State Penitentiary, and the Brooklyn Museum, among many others.
Baxter has received numerous prestigious awards, including being an inaugural Right of Return fellow, Mural Arts Philadelphia Reimagining Reentry fellow, Leeway Foundation Transformation awardee, and a Soros Justice fellow.
On February 2, 2024, Baxter received a Governors' Pardon from Josh Shapiro and the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, honoring her transformative work in the arts and culture sector and her 17-year commitment to communal healing, advocacy, and repair.