Tar Beach

32. Catherine Murphy

She is a photo realistic painter.  Yes, those are paintings!  She is now apart of the faculty at Yale.  She studied at the Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture and then continued her education at  Pratt Institute in 1967, earning her BFA.  Her amazing artwork is featured in many different galleries such as the MOMA.  She started her teaching job at Yale in 1989.

Here is a great article on her.

 I can not imagine painting one of these things.  They are so realistic that I thought they were photoshop edits or really precise digital painting at first.  Nope, these are oil paintings.  Brightly colored amazing ones.  I like how she does her highlights and that her shadows are so non-existing.

33.  Faith Ringgold

I remember being read her story "Tar Beach" as a child in elementary school.  So researching this artist is a little nostalgic.

She is a professor at the University of California.  She was born in 1931 and raised in Harlem.  She earned a BA from the City College of New York.  Her story quilts were influenced by her mother, who was a fashion designer.  Most of her artwork is featured in museums around New York, like the MOMA (sounds like I need to plan a trip to New York, right?!).

She has written seventeen children's books with her book, Tar Beach, receiving the Coretta Scott King Award for illustration.  

What I like about her work is her ability to tell stories in her painted quilts.  I love how quilts are almost a symbol of comfort and family, they really do tell stories themselves (like if you've ever had a handmade quilt passed down from grandma).