Betye Saar presentation for smoca
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Transcript of Betye Saar presentation for smoca
Leaves, butterflies, old photographs and
handkerchiefs are ordinary objects…but
can tell an extraordinary story. Through
her many collages and assemblages that
incorporate common objects together in
artful ways, artist Betye Saar weaves
narratives about mysticism and
spirituality, celebrity, personal
memories, and race and politics.
The Loss, 1977Mixed media on handkerchief8 3/4" x 9 1/2"
Betye Saar: Still Tickin’
On view January 30 – May 1, 2016 at the
Scottsdale Museum of Contemporary Art
Betye Saar was born in 1926
in Los Angeles, California.
She is known for her work in
assemblage, a sculptural
technique of combining
diverse materials, often
discarded or found objects,
into a unified whole.
Through her art, she
explores African-American
identity, spirituality and
the interrelationship of
cultures.
Betye Saar
Los Angeles, December 2015
Photo: Ashley Walker; courtesy of Roberts &
Tilton, Culver City, California
As a child, Betye Saar watched artist Simon Rodia
as he built the Watts Towers from bits of ceramic,
glass, found objects and cement. She called these
towers “a fairy tale place”, and credits them with
inspiring her to create her own art with found
objects and mixed media.
The artist brought her own children to the Watts Towers: here pictured with daughters Alison and Lezley, circa 1960
Mysticism, Ritual and Magic
Betye Saar began her artist career as a printmaker. In the mid-to-late
1960’s, her work began to shift from printmaking to assemblage, bringing a
variety of objects together within a box or window frame. Much of her
imagery and symbolism of this time is taken from Africa and a variety of
religions and belief systems from different cultures.
Mystic Window for Leo, 1966, Mixed media in window, 14 1/4 x 17 ¾ in. Courtesy the artist and Roberts & Tilton, Culver City, California. © Betye Saar
Wizard, 1972Mixed media13 1/4" x 11" x 1" (33.66 x 27.94 x 2.54 cm)
Many of Saar’s assemblages take the form of
shrines, recalling an ancient African past.
.
Spirit Catcher, 1976-77, mixed media assemblage,
45 x 18 x 18”(not in show)
Notice the influence
of the Watts Towers
reflected in the form
of Sprit Catcher
Nine Mojo Secrets, 1971Mixed media assemblage49 3/4" x 23 1/2" x 1 3/4"
She creates free-standing, altar-like structures, incorporating elements
from different places that represent visual traditions of spirituality
among ancient cultures.
This assemblage
includes objects
from India,
Mexico and
Africa. The art
of assemblage is
to unify diverse
elements such as
these into a
cohesive
sculpture.
The base of this
assemblage uses a
fabric printing
block from India.
The artist
fashioned a
fetish cat figure
to stand in front
of a circuit
board diagram.
What are some
reasons you can
think of why Saar
uses technology
with objects of
ritual?
Mti, 1973, mixed-media assemblageGuardian of Desires, 1988Mixed media assemblage10 3/4" x 7 1/4" x 2 3/4"
CelebrityIn these collages, the artist pays
homage to two African American women
who made noteworthy contributions:
Rosa Parks and singer Bessie Smith.
The Victory of
Gentleness: For
Rosa Parks, 1975,
mixed-media
assemblage
(Not in show)
Bittersweet
(Bessie’s Song),
1973, assemblage
box
(Not in show)Saar created a
feminine
representation
of “how being a
gentle person
can have the
same power as
being an
aggressive,
assertive
revolutionary”.
Singer
Bessie
Smith died
in an
automobile
accident
(1937)
because
racism
prevented
her from
receiving
medical
treatment
in time.
Bridge of Memory
Saar’s work is often autobiographical, bringing out the importance of ancestry and
personal history.
Record for Hattie, 1975, mixed-media assemblage Mama’s Flowers, 1973, mixed-media collage
(not in show)
The artist
created
Record for
Hattie as a
memorial
for her
aunt, and
Mama’s
Flowers* as
a gift for
her mother.
What
objects
would you
use to
create an
assemblage
about a
close
family
member?
Smiles We Left Behind, 1976Mixed media assemblage13.375" x 10" (34.0 x 25.4 cm)
The artist used other objects
from her Aunt Hattie’s estate to
create Smiles We Left Behind.
Notice the glove on the lower
left. Saar uses gloves in
several pieces to suggest hands
reaching from the past to the
present and into the future.
Justice, 2011mixed media assemblage
Race and Politics
At the age of almost 90 years, Betye
Saar has lived through the rise of
the civil rights movement, the
assassination of Dr. Martin Luther
King, Jr. and the Watts Riots. These
events and others influenced her to
create art that is socially and
politically engaged, often
addressing racial issues.
In this assemblage, Betye Saar
empowers this “Aunt Jemima” figure
with the Tarot card Justice,
transforming the figure from a
subordinate figure of a housemaid
into a representation of a strong
woman with power over her destiny.
This christening gown evokes a sense of sweetness
and purity. It hangs over a framed photograph of
an African American child that rests on a small
child’s chair.
How do you interpret this artwork?
Looking closer, you will see words sewn into the
gown. These words are racial slurs, or extremely
offensive names that have been used and should
never be used to bully and demean children of
color.
A baptism, or christening ceremony, marks a
person’s beginning of a new life aligned with
religious beliefs.
Does the addition of the slurs, or bad names to
the christening gown change the message in this
work, from purity and sweetness to something else?
What might this baptism be about?
A Loss of Innocence,
1998
Mixed media tableau
What does it mean to feel the weight of the world on your shoulders?
Saar uses scales in these assemblages to symbolize a weight, or heavy burden, that
many Americans feel about the issue of racism.
The Weight of Waiting, 2014. Mixed media assemblage, 20 × 6 ¾ × 5 inches. Courtesy the artist and Roberts & Tilton, Culver City, California. © Betye Saar
The Weight of Whiteness, 2014. Mixed media assemblage, 14 × 9 × 7 inches. Courtesy the artist and Roberts & Tilton, Culver City, California. © Betye Saar
In The Weight of Waiting, a figure of an African American gentleman stands upon a scale. We see a crow resting on his head and a ship attached to the scale. We know by the scale that the man feels burdened. The crow represents Jim Crow laws that enforced segregation (separation) of African Americans from whites in public places in the Southern United States until 1965. The ship reminds us of how people weretransported from Africa to the United States to be exploited as slaves.
The Weight of Whiteness speaks about the burden of guilt and shame. Look closely; notice the cotton and notice the chains. If this artwork could talk, what would it say?
We look forward to seeing you at SMoCA
Please visit www.smoca.org or
call 480-425-5348 or 480-874-
4642 to book a tour.
Registration must be made two
weeks in advance.