My local museum has an exhibit with this artist’s work on right now and I wanted to read the catalog before I attended. I figure when I get there I caMy local museum has an exhibit with this artist’s work on right now and I wanted to read the catalog before I attended. I figure when I get there I can view the art and not have to read as much of the accompanying text, at least not as carefully as I would have if I hadn’t read the book.
My favorite pieces by here are the ones that include many people and elaborate settings. I love the way she uses colors and shapes.
This is a text heavy book and is as much as social-culture book and biography as it is an art book, though a large number of her pieces are included in this book. There are many full page and even double page spreads. The design and layout of this book is great and I appreciate that so many of the pictures take up lots of space on the pages.
I enjoyed seeing the photos of the artist and her family.
I thought it was smart to include some artworks by other artists and how books/writers, social justice activists, past and then present were part of the narrative of this book.
Some of this artist’s work is rightly disturbing but much of it is joyful. I was familiar with less of it than I thought I would be. I loved some of the pieces new to me including newer pieces and I’m looking forward to seeing the art exhibit at the museum.
Contents:
Director’s Foreword Hot from Her Soul: Faith Ringgold’s Art Activism Early Works Murals on 57th Street American People Faith Black Light The People’s Flag Show Posters, For the Women’s House For a Children’s Revolution Feminist Series, Slave Rape, Windows of the Wedding, Dah, First Story Quilts Inside and Outside the Museum Soft Sculptures Summoning Ancestors, Inspiring Descendent: Faith Ringgold and Literature The Bitter Nest In Conversation: A Retelling of Tar Beach The Fantastical Alive The Soft Library of Faith Tar Beach and the New York Quilts Dancing at the Louvre The French Collection Opening Doors: A Conversation with Faith Ringgold The American Collection, Coming to Jonas Road Part 2 Works in Exhibition Artist Biography Contributor Biographies Board of Trustees Image Credits
Note: other contributors in addition to Massimiliano Gioni and Gary Carrion-Murayari are: Amiri Baraka, Diedrick Brackens, LeRonn P. Brooks, Julia Bryan-Wilson, Jordan Casteel, Bridget R. Cooks, Mark Godfrey, Lucy R. Lippard, Tschabalala Seif, Michele Wallace (Faith Ringgold’s daughter) and Zoé Whitley.
Even though the book was interesting I found myself speed reading at certain points but I did take some time to look up further information on the internet....more
I have made one trip to my local museum to see the portraits and it was fun to be able to do so with no barriers. I appreciated that. Due to covid conI have made one trip to my local museum to see the portraits and it was fun to be able to do so with no barriers. I appreciated that. Due to covid concerns and the lack of mandatory masking I skipped reading the writing on the walls and the longer film. I wanted to read this book before I went back to see the portraits again and to read everything written on the walls of that room and to see the full video. I’m glad that I did. I’ll appreciate the exhibit more when I return. The book is fascinating and entertaining and informative. There is so much to it. I felt as though I got to participate at the Unveiling and felt like a witness to history. The book has wonderful essays and great photos, and not just of the Obamas and the portrait artists. This is a fine book. It’s a beautiful book and its entire design is lovely and befitting the subject. I was surprised by how touched I was as I read it and I feel privileged to see the portraits in person. Someday I’d love to go to D.C. I could spend many days seeing all the museums I’d like to see and that includes the National Portrait Gallery.
Contents:
Foreword by Kim Sajet
Unveiling the Unconventional: Kehinde Wiley’s Portrait of Barack Obama by Taina Caragol
“Radical Empathy”: Amy Sherald’s Portrait of Michelle Obama By Dorothy Moss
The Obama Portraits, In Art History and Beyond By Richard J. Powell
The Obama Portraits and the National Portrait Gallery as a Site of Secular Pilgrimage By Kim Sajet
The Presentation of the Obama Portraits: A Transcript of the Unveiling Ceremony
I’ve always loved cancer stories but when I started this I wasn’t sure I was going to read it. This author was really religious. I realize that many pI’ve always loved cancer stories but when I started this I wasn’t sure I was going to read it. This author was really religious. I realize that many people are and I have enjoyed quite a few books by people who are religious and who include that in their books but here the author frequently mentions God and cites biblical passages. Too often for me. She had been a seminary student and God/religion was integral to her life. Also, what bothered me more, is the opposite of vegan attitude. Her mentions of how animals “give” their bodies, their eggs, etc. bothered me. She shares many examples of her cooking and of the food project(s) she worked on using animals for food. I know that 99% of people do have her attitudes about farmed animals but reading it was disturbing. Those two beliefs she had kept me from identifying with her. My feelings about death will never mirror hers because our opinions differ about what death is.
She’s a good writer though (because of her brain cancer and its affects, especially how it impaired her vision, she did have help with most of the writing) and she’s an excellent storyteller. These are beautifully written essays. When I could dissociate enough to try to ignore the religion/farmed animals passages I appreciated her narrative. I was particularly interested in what she noticed about the physical effects she experienced from her brain cancer.
This book is the best kind of gift she could have left to her children and to others who loved her and cared about her. If we could have had conversations sans religion and animal based foods I would have enjoyed her company but I doubt she would have had interest in that. She was a mensch. She was a good person and tried to do a lot of good in her life. I like that though she was Christian she was interested in various denominations and other religions. She was a feminist and non-judgmental and her life’s work was in various areas of social and food justice. She was psychologically minded and I particularly admired how she made sure her children got support and therapy throughout her illness and how she made plans in advance to do what she could to ease their grief after her death even as she was aware she wouldn’t know what would work. Her honesty about everything was wonderful.
There were some laugh out moments for me when reading this. I appreciated the included humor.
Despite not being sure I could get through this and not enjoying the constant religious references this was a page-turner for me. She writes about her illness and impending death. She also writes about the covid-19 pandemic which happened at the same time. She writes about all sorts of things including her growing up years, her various travels and careers. She writes about other people including her husband, her children, her parents, her brothers, her friends, people she’s known through work and others. I found it riveting and a very fast read. Just as she (naturally) wanted more time I wish there were even more essays in this book. I couldn’t get enough.
She includes some passages by other writers. Most of them are poems.
There were titled artworks in the book that seemed to me might be of her brain/illness and as I was reading I wondered if they were her art. (She was an artist and one of her majors was in papermaking and book design.) At the end there is a note I am glad was included. She reveals that the artworks were done by her and her kids together and she chose them because of all the art they made these eight “best captured how visually and cognitively confusing my experience is right now.” She died after a year and a half of illness with glioblastoma.
Highly recommended for anyone wanting to contemplate their mortality or someone else’s mortality, those who enjoy short autobiographical essays and people interested in social justice issues. It will likely increase their enjoyment if God/religion is a part of readers’ lives. I can recommend this to most readers though. I figure that if I could enjoy this almost anyone can and many will appreciate it even more than I did. The religion/Good and animal based food mentions are probably the only reasons I didn’t give this book 5 stars. It’s a superb book.
“Our relationship with time is so curious to me now—how we assume we will have it, how we squander it, how we unknowingly numb ourselves to the gift of it."...more
I missed seeing this exhibit at my local museum and I’m afraid I might also miss the Obama portraits too. I haven’t renewed my museum membership. I’m I missed seeing this exhibit at my local museum and I’m afraid I might also miss the Obama portraits too. I haven’t renewed my museum membership. I’m kind of depressed. I saw the exhibit Monet: The Early Years at the sister museum and loved it. I own that exhibit catalog book. This book is a borrowed library book. I would have enjoyed seeing this one too. Pandemic living is starting to really get to me but I’m not going to be a covidiot. I know so many people getting the virus right now, most of them boosted, some of them even previously infected. It’s something I want to avoid, at least until we’ve made a bit more progress: with treatment drugs, better longer tasting vaccines, more knowledge. It’s amazing we’ve got as much as we have against a novel virus less than two and a half years old but however frustrating we’re not where we need to be and I’m still being cautious. If they bring back the mask mandate I’ll be back at the museums. Thank goodness for exhibit catalogs. No, it’s not the same but being able to see the art is still enjoyable, even if on a page vs. on a wall in person.
I don’t think I enjoyed this book as much as the Early Years one. I haven’t looked at that one recently though. This one was interesting. It’s as much a biography as it is an art book. I loved seeing the art of other artists and was delighted when I turned a page to see some lovely Tiffany glass art.
It is a lovely book and I spent a lot of time reading it and perusing the art on the pages, but I’m fine with returning it to the library.
Beautifully written. Creative. Interesting. I loved the short stories, some very short, and the poems, and especially the structureI loved this book.
Beautifully written. Creative. Interesting. I loved the short stories, some very short, and the poems, and especially the structure!
I admire the author’s mind and heart.
I had to look up the meaning of some words. I found that fun. It’s unusual for me when I read to have to do that. It slowed me down a bit but what slowed me down more was that I kept looking up places on the Camino and other places, sites, objects, people, other books, artworks. Etc. Etc. Etc.
I love stretching my mind and this book did that. One of my weaknesses is that even though I’m a good analytical thinker I’m also way too literal a thinker, and yes both can coexist. I love being knocked out of my rigidity.
There were some laugh out loud moments. I greatly appreciated those!
It is really interesting to me because I haven’t done the kind of international travel that the author has done so I got to do a bit of armchair traveling.
I love the “Postamble” chapter name.
I liked that a list was included titled “Cancer untruths I have encountered.” I nodded yes all the way through it. I could add many more items to it.
There are so many great quotes but I didn’t take the time to make a list, but here are a very few that I liked:
“…unlike a fictional character I do have an interior life…”
“Arguably I would benefit from a nonlinguistic week, but I need language in order to grieve.”
“I am no longer everywhere I’ve been.”
It’s interesting that this is the second book I’ve read recently and both are nonfiction books about people have gone on silent retreats and in the same corner of the world though I’m nearly certain different places. Jacqueline Winspear talks about a similar retreat in the book What Would Maisie Do?: Inspiration from the Pages of Maisie Dobbs. I’m intrigued and tempted.
I’ve always been interested in taking a very long walk but this one doesn’t appeal to me. I liked taking it vicariously via this woman’s experience and learning about it in general though. I used to think maybe I’d want to thru-hike the full Appalachian trail but however much I want to love nature I don’t love bees/wasps nor do I like being too far off from civilization’s amenities. Also, I would be afraid of some other people (especially since I saw the movie Wild and saw how a group of men behaved when encountering a single woman.) so I’m not sure, but I know I would not be interested in a route with such a heavy emphasis on religion, Christianity, any kind of spirituality really. Since the author identifies as an atheist and a Jew and maybe a Buddhist(?) I do wonder the appeal of a heavily Christian pilgrimage route or any religious/spiritual trek. Yes, I think she explained. It’s probably that the choice is just so far from any I would make that I struggle to understand.
I’m an online friend of the author’s for many years, on Goodreads and on Facebook. I have kept up with parts of her life stories via email and social media and I was interested in reading this book. I did end up buying a copy. My request for the library to purchase a copy/copies for circulation is still under consideration so I’m glad that I bought a copy to read.
Even though the author does make clear what appeals to her about this particular route, since she is not a believer and not a Christian, I am curious and want to ask her if she has any interest in long walks/meditation walks/pilgrimages that don’t have a spiritual or a religious component. There must be other ways to make a “pilgrimage” and have opportunities to connect with oneself and others in this same way?? The author says on her profile page that she welcomes questions about her memoir and that’s a question I have that comes to mind.
4-1/2 stars A half star off, and almost a whole star off, because while I’m interested in others and others’ beliefs, I’m least interested in anything religious or even spiritual and there was a lot of that in this book. Most readers will not have the same issues I had with that content....more
I adore Anna Quindlen but I wasn’t that enthusiastic about reading this book, until I was reading the first page. I had the Kindle edition (and the haI adore Anna Quindlen but I wasn’t that enthusiastic about reading this book, until I was reading the first page. I had the Kindle edition (and the hardcover edition) and the Overdrive audio edition. Quindlen reads the book. If she hadn’t I wouldn’t have been interested in the audio edition. Given that it was read by the author I loved it. It was almost as good as the few times I got to see her speak in person. It still wouldn’t have worked for me if I hadn’t been also simultaneously reading the words on the page/screen. I think she must have taped this at home during the pandemic. It’s not quite professionally done. There are weird scratchy sounds in-between sections. I actually didn’t love the narration in that she emoted too much as though the reader wouldn’t be able to imagine so for themselves but when I pictured her talking and imagined myself at a talk, then I did enjoy it. I needed the words on the screen/page though!
This is brilliant. I love the mish mash of all that was included about writing. I found all the people’s stories and examples used interesting. I enjoyed the chatty writing style.
When I read about drafts though whatever interest in writing the book inspired went away again. I just don’t enjoy the writing process, especially if I can’t “get it right” without having to edit, redo, etc. I was interested to read that the author feels the same way I do about rewrites and edits: not enthusiastic.
The hardcover edition has blank pages as the end for readers to start writing. I would love to own a hardcover edition of this book. I can see rereading it and I can see giving it as a gift.
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