Black History: Special Delivery!!
Artist Bisa Bulter brings together artistry and creativity through her quilts. Made from bold and vibrant patterns her quilts portray people from all walks of life. Bisa Bulter was born in Orange, NJ. She was the youngest of four siblings. Her artistic talents became apparent early. At age four she won a blue ribbon in the Plainfield Sidewalk art competition. At age five, she was named the “artist of the month” at her nursery school.
Butler currently lives in West Orange, New Jersey and works in Newark Public Schools as an art teacher. She graduated Cum Laude from Howard University with a bachelors degree in fine arts. Her talents were honed under educators such as Lois Mailou Jones, Elizabeth Catlett, and Ernie Barnes. She also closely studied the works for Romare Bearden, Faith Ringgold, and Henry O. Tanner. While pursuing her Master’s degree she took a fiber arts class that further ignited her artistic expression. After completing the class she made a quilt for her grandmother who was dying. The quilt depicted an old photograph of her grandparent from a photo booth.
As a child, she grew up watching and learning from her grandmother how to sew. After the class and making her first quilt, she has been “quilting ever since”. Her quilts are breathtaking in their use of color, texture, and presence. Her work has been displayed at the Smithsonian Museum of American History and Walt Disney World’s Epcot Center. Her quilts express a sense of heritage, beauty, and essence. Butler has shared that she has always been drawn to portraiture. As a child, she would pour over family albums with her grandmother. Her use of human images as the focal points of her quilts is pure artistry! She often begins her pieces with black and white photos as inspiration which comes to life in her quilt creations!
Today we celebrate her creativity!
Sources:
https://www.blckprism.com/black-artist/bisa-butler
https://www.thisiscolossal.com/2019/02/colorful-quilts-by-bisa-butler/
https://blavity.com/gorgeous-quilts-celebrating-black-life-will-blow-mind
February 22, 2019 at 4:48 pm
I’ve never seen anything like this. What talent! What beauty. I sew and have made quilts. This would be impossible.
February 22, 2019 at 4:55 pm
Yes. Her work is AMAZING!!