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"My purpose in creating these works is to remind us about the struggle of African Americans and to reclaim the
humiliating images of how these workers were once portrayed. I feel that, however painful, there is honor in re-presenting the past. Racism should neither be ignored nor satirized, as it is a form of bondage for everyone, regardless of color. Racism cannot be conquered until it is confronted." - Betye Saar
The Crocker Art Museum has Ms. Saar's collection on view in a special art exhibition, from January 27 - April 29, 2007: Betye Saar, "Extending the Frozen Moment". Ms. Saar at 82 is still vibrant and very much involved in creating art for us all to learn from. She is known for her assemblages that lampoon racist attitudes about Blacks and for installation art pieces, featuring mystical themes. Ms. Saar studied Design at the UCLA where she received her B.A. in 1949 and Education and Printmaking at CSU Long Beach. Saar taught at UCLA and Parsons-Otis Institute. Her art career started in the 1960's when she started creating politically motivated works, that addressed the African-American experience. In the late 1970's Saar expanded the size and scope of her work, with room-sized installations which sometimes included shrines. She invited the viewer to interact by encourgaging them to contribute objects to the work, a common practice in African cultures. Throughout her long career, her art has addressed contemporary issues, especially the legacy of race in America, in an effort to challenge and as well as engage viewers. Saar's work embraces a diverse range of political, creative and spiritual influences, from the Civil Rights and feminists movements, to craft, design and a belief in personal destiny. Through her use of photography, Saar explores her preoccupation with the 'frozen moment', the timeless vacuum of personal history. Saar uses objects from her own family archives and secondhand stores, transforming photos and controversial artifacts like "black collectibles" and nostalgic bric-a-brac into art that stirs the emotion as well as intellect. Her works invite and encourage discussion by posing questions viewers are welcome to read meaning into based on their own personal experience. Saar's daughters, Alison and Lezley, also artists, occasionally share exhibitions with her. |
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"When I was a child, I loved looking through my great-aunt Hattie's album filled with photographs of family and friends from Kansas City, Missouri. As Hattie and my mother recalled events and people, they exchanged stories and memories of their shared past. This experience made me realize that every picture tells a story....When the camera clicks, that moment is unrecoverable. It is gone yet remains, frozen in time and space on a piece of paper. The photograph can reveal many things - the setting, the people, what they are doing, what they are wearing - and yet it still has secrets. There is a mystery with clues to a lost reality...When a photo triggers something in me - my imagination perhaps - I feel that I am offered a chance to reinterpret the visual image, or I am inspired to create an alternative reality by integrating the photo with other media, materials and objects. The process becomes a sort of unraveling of the mystery and a piecing together of forgotten lives, a process that somehow extends the frozen moment." - Betye Saar
The New York Times recently said Saar's, "Art evokes a sense of memory, ancestry and journeys common across cultures and gender, and tries to speak of the unspeakable in ways words cannot."
An example of her works on display are: "Black Bird", "Colored", "Midnight Madonnas", "Record Hattie", "Saar Sambo" and "Band Libya." I have my personal favorites: "I'll Bend but I will Not Break", an ironing board, imprinted with a diagram of the insides of a slave ship, along with a photograph at the end of this diagram of a Black woman ironing, set in front of a white sheet which is monogramed ominously with KKK. Another one is "Black Crows in the White Section Only" which is composed of 12 window panes, containing vintage American advertisements that painfully illustrate the racial stereotyping (Uncle Tom, pickaninnies, Sambo, etc.) common during the early to mid-20th century, side by side with Saar's own designs, inside a salvaged frame. Lastly, is "A Loss of Innocence", a snowy white infant christening gown symbolizing purity and innocence, hovers over the photo of a small African American child. Shattering the viewer's mood of sweetness in seeing a christening gown and baby are the labels sewn onto the gown: 'Tar Baby', "Coon Baby', Niggerbaby', etc. This baby is baptised into the reality of the racist world that waits for her or him, their childlike innocence forever lost to the harsh reality of their life to be, all because their skin is black. The feelings and emotions this art provokes is not to be missed.
Do not miss this thought-provoking art work as it stops here on its cross country trip. Parents do not forget to take your children. Do not miss the opportunity to meet the creator of these deep expressions of our culture and shared experience.
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An Evening with Betye Saar,
Thurs. March 29, 2007, $25 Members, $30 Nonmembers, Crocker Art Musuem
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Film: Betye Saar and Alison Saar: Conjure Women of the Arts, Sat. April 21, 2007, 3 p.m.(Call Museum for
location
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Family Heritage
Festival, Sunday, April 29, 2007, 11 a.m. - 3 p.m., FREE, Tour Betye Saar's exhibit and enjoy music, dance, storytellers and hands-on art. Bring photos and keepsakes to incorporate in a uniquely expressive, assemblage sculpture, inspired by Saar's works.
Crocker Art Museum, 216 O Street, Sacramento, CA 95814, (916) 264-5423, crockerartmuseum.org, Open Tues. - Sun. 10 a.m. - 5 p.m., Thurs. until 9 p.m.
We rate this exhibit: 4 painter's palettes - DO NOT SLEEP ON THIS ONE!
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