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Bisa Butler The Warmth of Other Sons Art Print African American Quilting Artist

Bisa Butler The Warmth of Other Sons Art Print African American Quilting Artist
Bisa Butler The Warmth of Other Sons Art Print African American Quilting Artist
Bisa Butler The Warmth of Other Sons Art Print African American Quilting Artist
Bisa Butler The Warmth of Other Sons Art Print African American Quilting Artist
Bisa Butler The Warmth of Other Sons Art Print African American Quilting Artist

Bisa Butler The Warmth of Other Sons Art Print African American Quilting Artist
"The Warmth of Other Sons". Image size: 16.5" x 20 1/8". About Bisa Butler: Also known as Mailissa Yamba Butler Date of birth 1973 Bisa Butler creates arresting portraits-composed entirely of vibrantly colored and patterned fabrics-that reimagine and celebrate narratives of Black life. Butler often works with photographs as source images, reimagining the figures captured as attentive portraits with layers of color and stitched details.

She strategically selects fabrics, using the history or imagery of the prints to reinforce the stories she wants to communicate in each quilt. Layering materials and meanings, Butler brings to life personal and historical narratives of Black life and invites viewers to look closely and think deeply about the potential and purposes of portraiture. Butler's work has been shaped by a variety of influences and experiences, key among them family photo albums, the philosophies of AfriCOBRA (the African Commune of Bad Relevant Artists, established in Chicago in the late 1960s), Romare Bearden's collages, Faith Ringgold's mixed-media quilts, and Gordon Parks's photographs. Butler earned her BFA at Howard University, Washington, DC, and her MA in arts education at Montclair State University, New Jersey.

Trained as a painter, she shifted to quiltmaking during her graduate studies, when she made a quilt in honor of her grandmother. She has exhibited in group and solo shows across the United States as well as in China, England, Japan, and South Africa.

In 2019, the Art Institute of Chicago acquired The Safety Patrol and in 2020 will host the first solo museum exhibition of Butler's work Bisa Butler: Portraits. Artist Bisa Butler tells stories-the African-American side of American life-through her stunning life-sized quilts. The vibrancy, dignity and immediacy of her subjects are especially remarkable when you consider no paint is used, but captured through the multi-layered medium of the quilt. Standing at 9 feet high x 12 feet wide, The Warmth of Other Sons is loosely based on historic photographs of Black families that migrated from the South to the North looking for economic prosperity.

The title is a reference to the critically acclaimed book by Isabel Wilkerson, The Warmth of Other Suns, chronicling the Great Migration. Bisa Butler's quilts are exuberant, colorful, and almost photo-like-arresting and complex objects made entirely of fabric that has been carefully cut, layered, and stitched together. Through her works, often striking portraits, Butler depicts African American life in a way that invites viewers to deeply consider and invest in the lives of her subjects while also reframing historical narratives surrounding quilt making. Colors of actual artwork may vary slightly from colors on your screen due to digital screen calibration varying between digital devices.


Bisa Butler The Warmth of Other Sons Art Print African American Quilting Artist