Through her combination of subjects and materials, Butler represents and meditates upon the diasporic nature of Black history in each portrait. ![]() The fabrics chosen for her textile portraits also speak to a shared African diasporic history many of the African-printed fabrics she employs are popular in West African countries, including Ghana, where Butler’s father is from. ![]() She looks to photographs to inform her compositions and figural choices, she layers fabrics as a painter might layer glazes, and she uses thread to draw, adding fine detail and texture with her stitching. Bisa Butler (bisabutler) is known in the art world for two thingsa strong focus on Black identity and her signature quilted murals. The complementary layers of narrative and materials create an immersive, dazzling, and compelling aesthetic experience,” says Erica Warren, Associate Curator of Textiles at the Art Institute of Chicago.īutler’s methods remain interdisciplinary even though her finished works are exclusively fabric. This surprise paired with the arresting faces of her subjects fuels even closer looking. Butler's artwork has recently been acquired by many private and public collections including The Art Institute of Chicago, The Museum of Fine Arts Boston, The Nelson-Adkins Museum, The Kemper Museum of Art, The Orlando Museum of Art, The Newark Museum, The Toledo Museum of Art and the Minneapolis Institute of Art.“The vibrancy and scale of Butler’s work really captivates viewers, and once they are pulled in, they experience an often startling realization regarding materiality that is, they discover what they are looking at is fabric rather than paint. The Toledo Museum of Art is also currently exhibiting Butler's work in a group show. After that class, I made a portrait quilt for my grandmother on her deathbed, and I have been making art quilts ever since."īutler's work is currently the focus of a solo exhibition Bisa Butler: Portraits at the Art Institute of Chicago, the second stop of a traveling exhibit which began at the Katonah Museum of Art. "As a child, I was always watching my mother and grandmother sew, and they taught me. American artist Bisa Butler seamlessly blends fabrics, textures and precise stitching to create colorful quilts depicting 'people of African descent.' 'Mobile Madonna' (2022), is based on an. While in the process of obtaining her Masters degree Butler took a Fiber Arts class where she had an artistic epiphany and she finally realized how to express her art. Bisa Butler was a high school art teacher for 10 years in the Newark Public Schools and 3 years at Columbia High School in Maplewood, New Jersey. Butler then went on to earn a Masters in Art from Montclair State University in 2005. It was during her education at Howard that Butler was able to refine her natural talents under the tutelage of lecturers such as Lois Mailou Jones, Elizabeth Catlett, Jeff Donaldson and Ernie Barnes. ![]() This early work by Bisa Butler is the first quilt of this exciting contemporary fabric artist to come to auction.įormally trained, Bisa Butler graduated Cum Laude from Howard University with a BFA degree. ![]() She strategically uses textilesa traditionally marginalized mediumto interrogate the historical marginalization of her subjects while using scale and subtle detail to convey her subjects’ complex individuality. Provenance: acquired directly from the artist private collection, New Jersey (2007). Closed Bisa Butler’s portrait quilts vividly capture personal and historical narratives of Black life. Quilted and appliquéd dyed cotton fabrics, 2007. Bisa Butler’s Enigmatic Quilted Portraits Draw on Iconic Images of Black History Artsy Artists Artworks Auctions Viewing Rooms Galleries Fairs Shows Museums Advertisement Art Bisa Butler’s Enigmatic Quilted Portraits Draw on Iconic Images of Black History Ayanna Dozier 2:22PM Portrait of Bisa Butler, 2022.
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