Public Art Hotspot: Faith Ringgold’s “Groovin’ High” on the High Line

Faith Ringgold describes herself as a painter, writer, speaker, mixed media sculptor and performance artist.  But she is probably best known for her story quilts and illustrated children’s books.  Raised in Harlem, her artistic focus and inspiration was on the fabric of her community, racial conflicts, the female view of the civil rights movement, inequality for women, and in particular, focusing on African-American women in their efforts to have their work recognized and admitted into galleries and museums.

For this commissioned exhibit on the High Line, she has reconfigured a 1986 story quilt titled Groovin’ High, which will be on view until June 2nd at 18th St. and 10th Avenue.

Now in her 80s, Ms. Ringgold’s work is part of the permanent collection in the Guggenheim, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Museum of Modern Art, the National Museum of Art in Washington, D.C., the Philadelphia Museum of Art, the Museum of Fine Art in Boston, the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture and many more.  Her work is also part of the MTA’s Art in Public Spaces located at the Lenox Avenue and 125th Stop.

The High Line is coming alive with the colors of spring in an ever changing canvas of its own. Other current exhibits include  Ed Ruscha’s humorous commentary on life in today’s metropolis (below).

Ed Ruscha on the High Line

You can follow Faith Ringgold on her website or on her wonderfully colorful Pinterest page.  Ms. Ringgold also has an exhibit currently at the New York Public Library, aptly titled “The ABC of it:  Why Children’s Books Matter.”

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