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Poetter Hall was purchased by the SCAD founders in March 1979. Classes began in September of that year.  
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The Arts

SCAD has Faith

“Subway Graffiti 2” (1987) by Faith Ringgold

“Subway Graffiti 2” (1987) is acrylic on canvas with a pieced, dyed and painted fabric border and is an example of Faith Ringgold’s earlier work.

By Hannah Pittard
Published: Friday, February 28, 2003

Best known for her painted story quilts, Faith Ringgold began her artistic career more than 35 years ago as a painter, but enjoys a reputation as a teacher and children’s novelist as well.

“I thought [writing story quilts] would be a good way to get people to read my stories and maybe that way I could get one of them published as a book,” said Ringgold. “It worked with ‘Tar Beach.’”

“Tar Beach,” her first book and also the name of one of her most famous quilts, was a Caldecott Honor Book and winner of the Coretta Scott King Award for Illustration in 1992. Since then, Ringgold has written and illustrated close to a dozen children’s books.

The amount of time Ringgold spends on a quilt varies. “‘Tar Beach’ took me only a month to make,” she said. “I think about the characters and the story I want to tell and then I begin to write the chapters in segments. … Then, just like the materials of a quilt, I piece the words together until they make a story.”

Combining quilted fabric, painting and storytelling, Ringgold’s quilts often chronicle the struggles and triumphs of African Americans. “Like all artists and writers, I am both enriched and limited by what I know and have experienced,” said Ringgold. “In other words, my books and my art are based on my life’s experience. I am, as you know, a black woman in America.”

According to Ringgold, the motivation for her quilts and stories come from reflecting on both on her own life and the lives of people she has known and who have inspired her: “I had a wonderful childhood growing up in Harlem with so many wonderful role models as neighbors — among them were Thurgood Marshall, Dinah Washington, Mary McLeod Bethune, Aaron Douglas and Duke Ellington.”

“Faith Ringgold: A Retrospective, Works from 1964-1998,” which visits Savannah as part of SCAD’s Contemporary Masters series, features story quilts, paintings, illustrations, sculpture, masks and dolls. Dorian Bergen at the ACA Galleries in New York curated the exhibition that has been traveling for several years.

“Faith Ringgold: A Retrospective, Works from 1964-1998,” will be on display through April 29 at Pei Ling Chan Gallery, 322 Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd. As part of the Trustees Lecture Series, Ringgold will give a lecture March 25, 7 p.m., in the Trustees Theater, 216 E. Broughton St.