Born on this day in 1930 in New York City, Ringgold created an impactful vision. For over 50 years, her art and activism have been at the vanguard of anti-racism and feminism.
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The work of Suzie Zuzek (1920-2011) received some well-deserved attention this past year. A beautiful monograph, “Suzie Zuzek for Lilly Pulitzer: The Artist Behind an Iconic American Fashion Brand, 1962-1985”, a solo show at the Cooper Hewitt, and a stellar presentation by Susan Brown, Associate Curator of Textiles at the Cooper Hewitt and co-author of the book, all shed light on Suzie’s beautiful but little-known work.
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The beauty of handcrafted objects of the highest quality has always been appreciated by interior designers—and is more appealing than ever to end consumers eager for a break from mass-production and tech. While the appreciation for the handcrafted has waxed and waned in the US, Mexico never strayed from the commitment to hand craft. Building on deep roots, Mexican designers like Caralarga are forging a new tradition of sublimely modern and socially responsible design.
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Happy birthday to the “Mother” of interior design and one of America’s first woman interior and textile designers, Candace Wheeler. Born on March 24, 1827 (but often mis-dated March 27th), she grew up on a farm in Delhi, New York with her seven siblings. Wheeler’s life went through dramatic transformation: her early years were “a hundred years behind the time” in a strict Presbyterian household, but her latter years were spent in jazz-age New York City after decades of being “working woman”, paving the way for women in design.
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On February 19th, 2020, a massive retrospective of nearly seventy works by Rosie Lee Tompkins (1936-2006), an accomplished African-American quilt artist, opened at the Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive (BAMPFA). A new awareness of her creations as true pieces of art, encompassing masterful color choices, sharp social commentary, and brilliant composition, is emerging.
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