A Note on Currating

Curating a gallery has been an extremely rewarding experience. Curating my exhibit required me to about an artist in entirety. The artist I chose, Faith Ringgold, had a story that I never expected to learn. The process of learning about her work and her life in contrast to her art, was very interesting. What I expected to learn was about an artist. What I received was a history lesson on the civil rights movement, from the perspective of an artist. Ringgold gained notoriety for her collection of quilts which pay homage to the quilts made during slavery.  Slaves used to construct quilts that have hidden messages, held information on hidden routes, or held family lineage. Ringgold’s quilt a reflection of this narrative with stories from black people in modern America. I found Ringgold’s rendition of these quilts to be fascinating. Continuing with her theme of race and civil rights, Ringgold also created a collection of American flags. These flags include renditions of the American flag, with imagery that depicts African American experiences in the United States.  I loved of how Ringgold stayed true to topics that she found most interesting. This constant theme made it much easier to produce a gallery of works that strung together seamlessly.  As I worked, how over her two-decade career the theme of work was congruent throughout. Witnessing the development of another artist and seeing how she produced different works as her career went on, was extremely educating. As an artist, this allowed me to envision how my own work will develop through time. I also really enjoyed selecting the art for my exhibit. I had to go through the vast collection of Ringgold’s work and select ten works that fit my theme. This process of selecting works, forced me to look at a lot of great art. I always believe that looking is beneficial and integral in becoming a better artist. Due to Ringgold’s history and involvement in civil rights and the current state of our country, I chose “Examining American” as my them and aesthetic. As I finished placing my works into my gallery, I was able to enjoy the work coming together. Seeing the works that I had selected put together on one image made all the time I spent on my project worth it. I hope one day somebody is curating a galley of my works in the near future. Especially, if my collection tells a story as well as Ringgold’s work told a story. In the future, I will keep up with the work and story of Ringgold and she what else she has in store.