February 6, 2008

Renowned African American Artist Faith Ringgold To Lecture At The Lowe

RELATED EVENTS CELEBRATE “WOMEN ONLY” EXHIBIT THROUGHOUT THE MONTH

CORAL GABLES, FL (February 6, 2008) The Lowe Art Museum presents multi-talented writer, speaker, painter, performance artist, and mixed media sculptor Faith Ringgold on February 21, 2008 at 7 pm at the University of Miami’s Bill Cosford Cinema.  In her survey lecture Faith Ringgold: More than 50 Years, the artist will recount her inspiring, often humorous and always very human stories, beginning with her firsthand experiences with the civil rights movement in the early 1960s and through her life's work as an artist, activist, author, teacher and parent as represented through the evolution of an impressive body of work that contains more than 100 paintings and 14 children’s books, including the Caldecott Honor and Coretta Scott King award winning Tar Beach. 

Immediately following the lecture, there will be a reception and book signing by Ms. Ringgold from 8 – 10 pm at the Lowe Art Museum. Several of Ms. Ringgold’s works are included in the Lowe’s current exhibit Women Only! In Their Studios, which runs through March 30, 2008. Her books will be available for sale at the Lowe’s museum store.

This program is sponsored by a grant from the U.S. Department of Education and Miami-Dade County Public Schools Museums Magnet Program and by Marilyn Holifield and Marvin Holloway. Both events are free and open to the public. Seating is limited. RSVP is required – call Jodi Sypher at 305-284-3621 or email her at jsypher@miami.edu.

Faith Ringgold is professor emeritus at the University of California, San Diego where she taught art from 1987 through 2002. She is the recipient of more than 75 awards, including eighteen Honorary Doctor of Fine Arts Degrees, and she has received numerous fellowships and grants. Her art has been exhibited in museums and galleries in the throughout the United States, Europe, Asia, South America, the Middle East, and Africa, and her art is included in many private and public collections, including The Metropolitan Museum of Art and The Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum.

Also during her visit to Miami, Ms. Ringgold speak to students at two of Miami-Dade County Public School District’s Museums Magnet Schools, Shenandoah Middle School and Southside Elementary. Her presentation to students and faculty will focus on the art of storytelling and the combination of image and text featured in children’s books, beginning with her story quilts of the 1980s. This program is supported through a grant from the U.S. Department of Education and Miami-Dade County Public Schools Museum Magnet Programs. The Lowe Art Museum has partnered over the last three years with Miami-Dade County Public Schools through a grant from the U.S. Department of Education to give classroom teachers and students from Shenandoah Middle and Southside Elementary Schools opportunities to use the museum’s collection as visual aids that enhance learning across the curriculum in the classroom.

Other educational events related to the Women Only! exhibit at the Lowe include:

• “Art Stories: Story Quilts” on Saturday, March 8 from 1 – 2 pm. Families will hear a reading of Faith Ringgold’s story, Tar Beach, explore the quilts on display, and l be able to create their own story quilts inspired by Ringgold’s work. This event is appropriate for children ages 5 and up. Admission is $3 per child, accompanying adults are free.
• On Sunday, March 9 from 12 – 1 pm there will be an art film viewing: Faith Ringgold, The Last Story Quilt.
• And on Sunday, March 30 from 12 – 1 pm, there will be another art film viewing: Sculpting the Truth, Elizabeth Catlett.

The Bill Cosford Cinema is located in the Memorial Building on the University of Miami Coral Gables Campus, 1111 Memorial Drive. (For directions to the Cosford visit www.miami.edu/cosford.)

The Lowe Art Museum is located at the University of Miami at 1301 Stanford Drive, Coral Gables. Regular hours are 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesdays, Wednesdays, Fridays and Saturdays, 12 to 7 p.m. Thursdays and 12 to 5 p.m. Sundays. Admission is $7.00 for adults, $5.00 for non-UM students with I.D., $5.00 for adult groups of 10 or more, $3.00 to student groups of 10 or more, and free to members, University of Miami students, faculty and staff, and children under 12. For more information, call (305) 284-3535 or visit www.lowemuseum.org.

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Media Contact:
Annette Herrera
305.284.5500
anherrera@miami.edu