Faith Ringgold

CORETTA SCOTT KING AWARD WINNER • CALDECOTT HONOR BOOK • A NEW YORK TIMES BEST ILLUSTRATED BOOK Acclaimed artist Faith Ringgold seamless weaves fiction, autobiography, and African American history into a magical story that resonates with the universal wish for freedom, and will be cherished for generations. Cassie Louise Lightfoot has a dream: to be free to go wherever she wants for the rest of her life. One night, up on “tar beach,” the rooftop of her family’s Harlem apartment building, her dreams come true. The stars lift her up, and she flies over the city, claiming the buildings and the city as her own. As Cassie learns, anyone can fly. “All you need is somewhere to go you can’t get to any other way. The next thing you know, you’re flying among the stars.”

The story of Faith Ringgold--activist, author, academician--is an uplifting look at a progressive artist who overcame discrimination and triumphed as a giant figure in American art, notable as an accomplished painter, a sculptor, a printmaker, and an art quilter. She has never abandoned her goal of searching for human dignity and empowerment for fellow African Americans while tirelessly fighting against discrimination. Faith Ringgold is a captivating look at the personal and professional life of one of the country's most notable female artists. Selected works from several of her famous series are presented, including The Flag Is Bleeding, Help: the Slave Rape Series #11, The Purple Dolt Series, Mother's Quilt, and We Came to America. Lisa E. Farrington is a faculty member at Parsons School of Design in New York City, where she teaches art and race and gender issues. A former Mellon Foundation fellow and recipient of numerous academic awards and honors, she is the author of Creaing Their Own Image; African-American Women Artists (Oxford University Press, 2004) and Art on Fire; The Politics of Race and Sex in the Paintings of Faith Ringgold (Millennium, 1999).

This is an important new book published to coincide with a major exhibition of Faith Tinggold's new work and Studio collection. While the book explores Faith's work in her studio and her personal artistic journey, it is also an encounter between one artist and another, between Faith and her collaborator Curlee Holton. The mix provides unique insights into the struggles and triumphs of a woman who is at once an activist and an artist and whose achievements are admired throughout the world.

Acclaimed artist and Caldecott-winning picture book creator Faith Ringgold shares an inspiring look at America's lineage in this stunning ode to our country--past, present, and future. America is a land of diversity. Whether driven by dreams and hope, or escaping poverty or persecution, our ancestors--and the faces of America today--represent people from every reach of the globe. And each person brought with them a unique gift--of art and music; of determination and grit; of ideas and strength--that forever shaped the country we all call home. Vividly evoked in Faith Ringgold's sumptuous colors and patterns, WE CAME TO AMERICA is an ode to every American who came before us, and a tribute to the children who will carry its message into our future.

See the world through Faith Ringgold's eyes and be inspired to produce your own masterpieces. Have you ever wondered exactly what your favorite artists were looking at to make them draw, sculpt, or paint the way they did? In this charming illustrated series of books to keep and collect, created in full collaboration with the Metropolitan Museum of Art, you can see what they saw, and be inspired to create your own artworks, too. In What the Artist Saw: Faith Ringgold, meet inspiring American activist Faith Ringgold. Step into her life and learn what led her to mix different media and craft powerful stories into quilts. Travel with her from Harlem, New York, to Europe, Ghana, and Nigeria. Pick a cause that you care about and try combining it with fabric or sculpture to make your own artworks! In this series, follow the artists' stories and find intriguing facts about their environments and key masterpieces. Then see what you can see and make your own art. Take a closer look at landscapes with Georgia O'Keeffe, or even yourself, with Vincent van Gogh. Try carving a woodblock print at home with Hokusai. Every book in this series is one to treasure and keep: perfect for budding young artists to explore exhibitions with, and then continue their own artistic journeys.

For use in schools and libraries only. A biography of the African American woman and civil rights worker whose refusal to give up her seat on a bus led to a boycott that lasted more than a year in Montgomery, Alabama.

The birth of a princess who will bring freedom to her parents and all the slaves on the plantation is foretold, and prayers that she'll be safe from the cruel plantation owner are said. At the moment of her birth, the Powers of Nature make the baby invisible, and the Prince of Night whisks her away to safety. Years later she returns to realize her destiny. Full-color illustrations.