Betye Saar

Know the Artist: Betye Saar African-American Assemblage Artist, born in 1926 (Due to copyright concerns, biography and images have been removed. Sorry the page is not as appealing. If you would like to have these links updated for your students, email Judy Decker Give one day lead time)
Brief biography: Curiosity about the unknown has no boundaries. Symbols, images, place and cultures merge. Time slips away. The stars, the cards, the mystic vigil may hold the answers. By shifting the point of view an inner spirit is released. Free to create. ~ Betye Saar 1998 Betye Saar (1926 - ) was born and raised in Los Angeles. During visits to her grandmother, she saw Simon Rodia's Watts Towers being built, which had a profound impact on her use of discarded items in her art work. Saar received her B.A. from UCLA, and did graduate work at the University of Southern California and the California State Universities at Long Beach and Northridge. Saar completed public art installations at the Newark train station in Newark, New Jersey, and at a Metrorail station in Miami, Florida.	Photograph of Betye Saar "Tangled Roots" Exhibit Penn State University
Her work has been exhibited extensively in New York and Los Angeles, including solo shows at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Los Angeles and at the Whitney Museum in New York City. In addition to creating individual pieces, Saar has collaborated in recent years with her daughter Alison. Biography taken from "Biddy Madison: A Passage in Time" no longer online)
Featured works were: Liberation of House of Ancient Aunt Jemima Memory
Links on the Web: Betye Saar - a couple a images Betye Saar Interview- art work and statement Betye Saar - brief biography and 8 images - at Michael Rosenfeld Art Gallery. Life Is a Collage for Artist Betye Saar - NPR story. Includes photographs of Saar and some images of work. Betye Saar: Extending the Frozen Moment - Museum article Betye Saar Online on Artcyclopedia Betye Saar- Ask Art - biography and one image. Wikipedia biography House of Ancient Memories http://www.artsconnected.org/artsnetmn/inner/saar.html http://www.artsconnected.org/artsnetmn/inner/saar2.html Images of works relating to slavery http://artscenecal.com/ArticlesFile/Archive/Articles1998/Articles1298/BSaarA.html "Liberation of Aunt Jemima" (no longer on ArtsEdNet) Stereotypes in the media (Aunt Jemima) http://www.swarthmore.edu/Humanities/pschmid1/array/Gnomon2/plantation.html Information about Betye Saar "The complex assemblages of Betye Saar make exquisite connections between the personal and the universal" http://metroactive.com/papers/metro/02.08.96/saar-9606.html Video: Betye and Alison Saar: Conjure Women of the Arts Excellent video
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