Betye Saar is a prominent American artist known for her work in assemblage art, a medium in which she creates 3D pieces by collecting and arranging found objects, often with cultural and historical significance. She was born on July 30, 1926, in Los Angeles, California, and has had a long and influential career as an artist.
I first learned about Betye Saar when I saw the cover of her book in the R.O.M. museum in Toronto. I had to buy it because it was a 'no-brainer' for me, with its global focus and intriguing title. Although not everything in the book relates to my work, I'm inspired by how Saar uses her travel experiences in her art. Her methods of arranging and composing are influencing my work alongside the Dadaists.
My secret heart is a wanderer. It sails the sea of imagination. It soars beyond the clouds, seeking mysterious. It moves through time (dream time) and space (mind space)
- Betye Saar, excerpt from poem My Secret Heart, 1993
BETYE SAAR: HEART OF A WANDERER
FEBRUARY 16 - MAY 21, 2023 HOSTETTER GALLERY
"Celebrated contemporary artist and leading figure of the Black Arts Movement in the 1970s, Betye Saar (b. 1926, United States) is a traveller, collector, and storyteller. Betye Saar: Heart of a Wanderer explores Saar's trips to Africa, Asia, Europe, and the Americas, highlighting works influenced by her many trips and her engagement with global histories of travel. Through these profound works, the artist reflects on themes of race, colonialism, forced migration, and spiritual systems that blend religious traditions from around the world. Showcasing the sketchbooks she used to capture ideas during her trips and later for her finished works, the exhibition celebrates Saar's creative process and her ability to conjure the transporting experience of a voyage to a faraway place.
Both Saar and the Museum's founder, Isabella Stewart Gardner, share a passion for travel, visiting–a century apart–many of the same destinations and keeping personal visual records of their experiences. This exhibition and its companion show, Fellow Wanderer: Isabella's Travel Albums, reveal the commonalities and differences between their travel experiences. They invite us to think critically about the complexities of travel and its impact on the traveller."
Inside the book are many photographs of Saar's sketchbooks, and they remind me of my sketchbooks. I realise that Saar has more profound messages in her work, for example, racism and collective history. However, I want to delve deeper into the memories, patterns and cultures we both see in the world and develop those images into my language and my way of representing them.
References.
Betye Saar: Heart of a Wanderer (no date). Available at: https://www.gardnermuseum.org/calendar/betye-saar-heart-wanderer (Accessed: 28 October 2023).
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