Emma Amos

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Emma Amos (1937–2020) was an artist born in Atlanta, GA who spent most of her life in NYC. Amos explored themes of feminism, race, and culture through her art practice while experimenting with painting, textiles, weaving, design, prints, collage, photography and other mediums. She saw her art as activism. Amos was known for her figurative paintings. In her early work from the 1960s & 1970s she was inspired by the Civil Rights Movement depicting scenes of black middle-class domestic life with bright Pop colors. Early in her career in NYC she was invited to be the sole female member of Spiral, a historic collective of African-American artists in the 1960s who explored the role of blackness in art. Later she would participate with the feminist Heresies magazine collective and other artist activist groups like the Guerrilla Girls.

Artist Statement: https://emmaamos.com/about/statement

 

Workshop

Let’s create colorful & figurative paintings inspired by Emma Amos of our families, friends, neighbors and loved ones at home. Sharing and celebrating our unique cultures with one another!

1. Choose the room in your house that is most visited by family, friends & guests Ex: Living Room, Den, Kitchen, etc.
2. Invite a friend(s) or family members for a portrait in your chosen space
3. It can be a traditional portrait of them sitting or capture them in action: cooking, dancing, reading or playing
4. Get creative & abstract using bright colors with loose brushstrokes
5. Capture special details like clothes or objects in the room that are unique
6. Once your portrait is done share your work of art and celebrate your family & friends!

Materials

• Paint
• Paper
• Brushes

Follow Up

What space or room to you choose to paint?
Who did you invite to paint? Why?
What were some of the details you focused on while painting? Are there any special moments in your painting?
What is unique about your friend(s)? Your family? Your painting? Describe your finished painting?
Did you share your painting? What did others think of it?
What did you think of other paintings?

Emma Amos Baby, 1966 Oil on Canvas 46 1/2 × 51 in

Emma Amos Baby, 1966 Oil on Canvas 46 1/2 × 51 in

 

“ I like that people can read their own meanings into my paintings and that those readings may be quite different from mine.”

- Emma Amos

 
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Faith Ringgold