Faith Ringgold is an artist, author, and activist. She was born and raised in Harlem, New York in the 1930s. Her artistic career began in the turbulent times of the late 1960s and early 70s. Today, she is best known for her painted story quilts, art that combines...
I work in steel using a variety of welding techniques, mainly oxytocin acetylene for cutting silhouetted shapes of cars, crows, ravens, songbirds, ants, and city skylines, along with images of vines and weeds that infiltrate the city structure. My work involves the...
William Henry Johnson was an African American expressionist painter. He was born on March 18, 1901 in Florence, South Carolina to mother Alice Smoot Johnson (known as “Mom Alice” or “Aunt Alice”) and father Henry Johnson. William H....
Artists develop sketching and drawing skills often using universal objects from nature, Leonardo da Vinci infamously exhumed corpses for examination and study. A variety of sketching, drawing, and shading techniques can be honed using the quintessential human subject...
Andy Warhol was born to a working class family in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania in the summer of 1928. His father was a construction worker and a coal miner. At the early age of 6 he was stricken with a neurological disorder which often left him confined to his bed. During...
Hollywood movies offer a glimpse into the fashions and styles of the times. In the early days of Hollywood, movies were silent and featured actresses and actors who would mime and gesture their parts in order to create dialogue in the story, also,...
Romare Bearden was born in Charlotte, NC in 1912 and moved to Harlem, NY when he was 3 years old. His family moved up to the North East from South Carolina in what is known as, The American Migration Experience of African Americans or The Great Migration. He studied...
Lois was encouraged to draw by her family and teachers who admired the drawings and storybooks she created at a very early age. She was born in Boston in 1905 and attended a special Art High School where she received some important awards. While in high...
Born in 1917 in Atlantic City, New Jersey, Lawrence moved with his family to Harlem in 1930, where he came into contact with some of the greatest artistic and intellectual minds of his generation. In the previous decade, Harlem had experienced the remarkably creative...
Few stories in art history are more heart wrenching than Frida Kahlo’s, as a child she was disabled with polio for some time, later in 1925 when Frida was only eighteen years old she was seriously injured in a bus crash which left her in severe pain for most of...
The game of chess has been around for over 1500 years. The game originated in India where it spread to Persia, and later through Southern Europe. The European chess game evolved to what we know today. The image pictured below shows the Knights Templar playing chess in...
By shading with different values of gray artists can create the illusion of space and form in their drawings. Properly positioning the highlight, mid-tone, and shadow areas artists can make a basic shape can look like it has real three-dimensional form. Study the...
Stuart Davis was born in Philadelphia in 1892. At the age of 16 his family moved to New Jersey and Stuart studied art in NYC. He became inspired by the excitement of the city; the tall skyscrapers, bright colors, and electric signs, began to motivate him to paint...
Henri Matisse was a French painter and sculptor who lived from 1869 – 1954. He is most known for his brightly colored paintings from the early 1900 pioneering what’s known as the fauvist style. Fauvism emphasized strong color and unique brush strokes instead of...
Coco Chanel, was born Gabrielle Bonheur in France in 1883. She was the premier fashion designer at the turn of the 19th century. She helped liberate woman from the constraints of corsets and cages that were part of the popular style in the 1800’s. Beginning her career...
