Faith Ringgold

Painter, soft sculptor, performance artist, and social activist, born in New York City, New York, USA. She studied at City College of New York (1948 BA; 1959 MA), and began to paint seriously after a trip to Europe in 1961. She soon put aside European influences, however, and began to represent her African-American heritage. A strong feminist, she stated that her art had ‘taken its direction’ from her awareness of herself as a woman artist. From the 1970s she increasingly concerned herself with representations of black women, often creating cloth and bead female figures with traditional African craft techniques. She also produced wall hangings and quilts, appeared on stage in her own performance pieces, and wrote and illustrated two books. Her work hangs in many private collections and American museums, including New York's Museum of Modern Art.

Faith Ringgold (born October 8, 1930) is an [African] American artist and author.

Ringgold was raised in Harlem and educated at the City College of New York, where she studied with Robert Gwathmey and Yasuo Kuniyoshi. She is especially well-known for her painted story quilts which blur the line between "high art" and "craft" by combining painting, quilted fabric, and storytelling.

In addition, Ringgold has written and illustrated eleven children's books including Tar Beach and has exhibited in major museums all over the world.