Amy Sherald

The Great Women Artists

Katy Hessel

Arts

4.8 • 944 Ratings

🗓️ 11 October 2022

⏱️ 40 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

THIS WEEK on the GWA Podcast, we interview one of the most acclaimed painters working in the world right now, AMY SHERALD! With their striking elegance and commanding yet inviting gazes, Amy Sherald’s subjects exude grace, dignity, power, and joy. Unrooted in time, place, or space – and on the threshold between surreality and reality – they feel at once familiar yet utterly otherworldly as they glow in hues of gold, pinks, blues and oranges, often meeting our gaze with their dazzling aura. Sherald, through figurative painting, documents the contemporary African American experience in the United States. By engaging with the traditions of photography and portraiture, she opens up discussions about who has been immortalised, historicised, and who has been able to write, paint and dictate these narratives. As a result, her paintings open up vital debates about race and representation. But they’re also just as much about capturing and creating a record of the joy and everydayness of life. With a process that includes working from photographs that she stages and takes of individuals that capture her interest, the artist has said: “The works reflect a desire to record life as I see it and as I feel it. My eyes search for people who are and who have the kind of light that provides the present and the future with hope”. And it is this that we see in her paintings. Born in Columbus, Georgia, Sherald received her MFA in painting from Maryland Institute College of Art and BA in painting from Clark-Atlanta University. Sherald was, in 2016, the first woman and first African-American artist to receive the prestigious Portrait Competition from the National Portrait Gallery in Washington D.C., and in 2018, was selected by First Lady Michelle Obama to paint her portrait. Depicted as both triumphant and approachable (with the pattern on her billowing dress referencing the Gee’s Bend Quiltmakers), Obama’s gaze is full of wisdom and optimism. Now in some of the most prestigious museum collections in the world, we meet Sherald today in London, at Hauser & Wirth, where she has just opened her first ever European solo exhibition, The World We Make. -- LINKS:::::: They Call Me Redbone but I’d Rather Be Strawberry Shortcake (2009) https://nmwa.org/art/collection/they-call-me-redbone-id-rather-be-strawberry-shortcake/ Miss Everything (Unsuppressed Deliverance) (2013) https://portraitcompetition.si.edu/exhibition/2016-outwin-boochever-portrait-competition/miss-everything-unsuppressed-deliverance After winning this award, Sherald was put forward as a contender for First Lady Michelle Obama’s official portrait. Michelle Obama Official Portrait (2018) https://npg.si.edu/Michelle_Obama EXHIBITION: ‘The World We Make’ at Hauser &Wirth (until 23 Dec) https://www.hauserwirth.com/hauser-wirth-exhibitions/38424-amy-sherald-the-world-we-make/ MORE – Simone Leigh, Amy Sherald and Lorna Simpson for NYT Mag: https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2019/10/08/magazine/black-women-artists-conversation.html https://www.nytimes.com/2019/09/12/arts/design/amy-sherald-michelle-obama-hauser-wirth.html NYT interview on Michelle Obama portrait: https://www.nytimes.com/2017/10/23/arts/design/amy-sherald-michelle-obama-official-portrait.html New York Times Magazine, Amy Sherald and others on being Black cultural leaders and being seen: https://www.nytimes.com/2020/06/23/t-magazine/black-artists-white-gaze.html Peter Schjeldahl on the Amy Sherald Effect for the New Yorker 2019: https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2019/09/23/the-amy-sherald-effect -- ENJOY!!! Follow us: Katy Hessel: @thegreatwomenartists / @katy.hessel Research assistant: Viva Ruggi Sound editing by Nada Smiljanic Artwork by @thisisaliceskinner Music by Ben Wetherfield https://www.thegreatwomenartists.com/ -- THIS EPISODE IS GENEROUSLY SUPPORTED BY CHRISTIES: www.christies.com

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	Hello and welcome back to the Great Woman Artist podcast with me, Katie Hessel.
0:05.9	Last week we interviewed the trailblazing artist Tracy Eman, so don't miss out if you haven't listened already.
0:12.3	And today I couldn't be more excited to be sharing a conversation with the brilliant painter Amy Sherald.
0:19.6	But just before we get to the interview, I am delighted to say that this episode is generously supported by Christy's auction house in anticipation of their exciting upcoming auctions this October.
0:33.0	The modern British and Irish art evening and day sales will be available to view in person at their London gallery space on King Street from the 15th the 19th of October. With free entry, Christie invites you to discover masterpieces by pioneering women artists, including Barbara Hepworth, Marlowe Moss, Elizabeth Frank, Bridget Riley and more.
0:56.0	In Paris on the 20th of October, the avant-garde, including Thinking Italian auction,
1:02.1	offers wonderful highlights including a painting by Joan Mitchell, a sculpture by Nicky de Sanfell
1:08.0	and Aligiero Boetti's Pink Mpper. Woveen by women in Afghanistan,
1:13.4	the piece is the first of Boetti's mappers not to feature a blue sea after the weavers run out
1:19.3	of this colour. Now to Amy Sherald and I hope you enjoy this episode.
1:34.3	Hello everyone and welcome to the Great Women Artist podcast with me, Katie Hessel. Some of you might know me from The Great Women Artists, an Instagram account I set up in October
1:39.3	2015 which celebrates female artists on a daily basis, ranging from young graduates to old
1:45.4	masters.
1:46.4	Well, in a similar fashion to the Instagram, this podcast is all about celebrating female
1:51.9	artists from a variety of backgrounds and histories.
1:55.4	And I am so excited to be interviewing artists on their career or artists, writers, curators, or
2:00.8	general art lovers
2:01.7	on the women artist who means most of them.
2:04.7	What I want this podcast to do is celebrate female artists in all different capacities
2:09.2	so you, the listener, can gain a look into the greatest female artists working now or from art
2:15.0	history.
2:18.3	I'm so excited to say that my guest on the Great Woman Artist podcast is one of the most acclaimed painters working in the world right now, Amy Sherald.
	...

Please login to see the full transcript.

Previous episode | Next episode

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from Katy Hessel, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of Katy Hessel and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.