Clarissa T. Sligh (born August 30, 1939) is an African-American book artist and photographer based in

Asheville Asheville ( ) is a city in, and the county seat of, Buncombe County, North Carolina. Located at the confluence of the French Broad and Swannanoa rivers, it is the largest city in Western North Carolina, and the state's 11th-most populous cit ...

North Carolina North Carolina () is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States. The state is the 28th largest and 9th-most populous of the United States. It is bordered by Virginia to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the east, Georgia and So ...

. At age 15, she was the lead plaintiff in a school desegregation case in Virginia. In 1988, she became a co-founder of Coast-to-Coast: A Women of Color National Artists' Project, which focused on promoting works completed by women of color.

Early life and education

Sligh was born in

Washington, D.C. ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...

She grew up in a large working-class family and "went to segregated schools in a predominantly white Virginia county." In 1955, at the age of 15, she was the lead

plaintiff A plaintiff ( Π in legal shorthand) is the party who initiates a lawsuit (also known as an ''action'') before a court. By doing so, the plaintiff seeks a legal remedy. If this search is successful, the court will issue judgment in favor of the p ...

in a school desegregation case in Virginia (''Thompson v County School Board of Arlington County'').A Thousand Reasons Why
, ''Verve Magazine'', December 2, 2013. Sligh attended the traditionally African-American

Hampton Institute Hampton University is a private, historically black, research university in Hampton, Virginia. Founded in 1868 as Hampton Agricultural and Industrial School, it was established by Black and White leaders of the American Missionary Association af ...

in Hampton, Virginia, where she earned a bachelor's degree in mathematics in 1961. In 1972, she received a bachelor's degree in Visual Arts from

Howard University Howard University (Howard) is a private, federally chartered historically black research university in Washington, D.C. It is classified among "R2: Doctoral Universities – High research activity" and accredited by the Middle States Commissi ...

in Washington DC, and in 1973, an MBA from the

Wharton School The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania ( ; also known as Wharton Business School, the Wharton School, Penn Wharton, and Wharton) is the business school of the University of Pennsylvania, a private Ivy League research university in P ...

at the

University of Pennsylvania The University of Pennsylvania (also known as Penn or UPenn) is a private research university in Philadelphia. It is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and is ranked among the highest-regarded universitie ...

. In 1999, she received a Master of Fine Arts degree in Visual Arts from

Career

Before working as an artist, Sligh had a job at

NASA The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA ) is an independent agency of the US federal government responsible for the civil space program, aeronautics research, and space research. NASA was established in 1958, succeeding t ...

where she worked in the manned space flight program. In 1987, Sligh was able to leave her day job to focus on working as an artist. Her work has been exhibited at

The Museum of Modern Art The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) is an art museum located in Midtown Manhattan, New York City, on 53rd Street between Fifth and Sixth Avenues. It plays a major role in developing and collecting modern art, and is often identified as one of the ...

in New York City, the

Jewish Museum A Jewish museum is a museum which focuses upon Jews and may refer seek to explore and share the Jewish experience in a given area. List of Jewish museums Notable Jewish museums include: *Albania ** Solomon Museum, Berat *Australia ** Jewish Muse ...

in New York City, and at the

Walker Art Center The Walker Art Center is a multidisciplinary contemporary art center in the Lowry Hill neighborhood of Minneapolis, Minnesota, United States. The Walker is one of the most-visited modern and contemporary art museums in the United States and, t ...

Minneapolis Minneapolis () is the largest city in Minnesota, United States, and the county seat of Hennepin County. The city is abundant in water, with thirteen lakes, wetlands, the Mississippi River, creeks and waterfalls. Minneapolis has its origins ...

, Minnesota. Her work has also been displayed at the National African American Museum Project, at the

Smithsonian Institution The Smithsonian Institution ( ), or simply the Smithsonian, is a group of museums and education and research centers, the largest such complex in the world, created by the U.S. government "for the increase and diffusion of knowledge". Founded ...

in Washington, DC, the forerunner to the

National Museum of African American History and Culture The National Museum of African American History and Culture (NMAAHC) is a Smithsonian Institution museum located on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., in the United States. It was established in December 2003 and opened its permanent home in ...

Field of work

Sligh considers herself foremost a storyteller. Her photographs and artist books center on politics, family life, questions of identity, and personal experience. Her work also engages more broadly in creative explorations of history, social justice, and transformation. In her work, Sligh combines photographs and other images with text; as she added more text, she moved from creating prints to book works. According to Carla Williams, Sligh's work reflects on our perceptions of normality and our roles in different frameworks such as family, society, gender and ethnic groups. As Williams says, "In school readers from her childhood, Sligh discovered the model from which to confront the realities of her own life." Sligh has created books reflecting directly on her experience as the lead plaintiff in a 1955 Virginia school desegregation case (''Thompson v County School Board of Arlington County)'': an essay, ''The Plaintiff Speaks'' (2004), and an artist book, ''It Wasn’t Little Rock'' (2004 and 2005). Sligh has also created artist books that engage with her own experiences as a Black child reading books, including ''Reading Dick & Jane with Me'' (1989), a narrative about learning to read as a Black child, and ''My Mother, Walt Whitman and Me'' (2019), focusing on a copy of ''

Leaves of Grass ''Leaves of Grass'' is a poetry collection by American poet Walt Whitman. Though it was first published in 1855, Whitman spent most of his professional life writing and rewriting ''Leaves of Grass'', revising it multiple times until his death. Th ...

'' that her mother found in the trash and brought home.

Coast-to-Coast National Women Artists of Color Projects

In 1988, Sligh co-founded the Coast-to-Coast National Women Artists of Color Project with

Faith Ringgold Faith Ringgold (born October 8, 1930 in Harlem, New York City) is an American painter, writer, mixed media sculptor, and performance artist, best known for her narrative quilts. Early life Faith Ringgold was born the youngest of three children ...

and Margaret Gallegos. From 1988 to 1996, this organization exhibited the works of African American women across the United States. According to this source, Sligh also worked with other organizations that display art made by African American females. The organizations included the National Women's Caucus for Art (1985-1994), The Artist Federal Credit Union, New York (1986-1987),

Printed Matter Printed matter is a term, mostly used by mailing systems, normally used to describe mechanically printed materials for which reduced fees are paid which are lower than first-class mail. Each postal administration has it own rules for what may be p ...

(1992-1996), and the artists advisory board of the Womens Studio Workshop (2004-2007). In 1990, Sligh was one of three organizers of the exhibit "Coast to Coast: A Women of Color National Artists' Book Project" held January 14 – February 2, 1990, at the Flossie Martin Gallery, and later at the Eubie Blake Center and the Artemesia Gallery.

wrote the catalog introduction titled "History of Coast to Coast." More than 100 Women of Color artists were included. The catalog included brief artist statements and photos of the artists' books, including works by:

Emma Amos (painter) Emma Amos (16 March 1937 – 20 May 2020) was a Postmodernist art, postmodern African Americans, African-American Painting, painter and printmaker. Early life Amos was born in Atlanta, Georgia in 1937 to India DeLaine Amos and Miles Green Amos. ...

Beverly Buchanan Beverly Buchanan (October 8, 1940 – July 4, 2015) was an African-American artist whose works include painting, sculpture, video, and land art. Buchanan is noted for her exploration of Southern vernacular architecture through her art. Earl ...

Elizabeth Catlett Elizabeth Catlett, born as Alice Elizabeth Catlett, also known as Elizabeth Catlett Mora (April 15, 1915 – April 2, 2012) was an African American sculptor and graphic artist best known for her depictions of the Black-American experience in th ...

, Dolores Cruz, Dorothy Holden,

Martha Jackson Jarvis Martha Jackson Jarvis (born 1952) is an American artist known for her mixed-media installations that explore aspects of African, African American, and Native American spirituality, ecological concerns, and the role of women in preserving indige ...

, Young-Im Kim, Viola Leak,

Howardena Pindell Howardena Pindell (born April 14, 1943) is an American artist, curator, and educator. She is known as a painter and mixed media artist, her work explores texture, color, structures, and the process of making art; it is often political, addressing ...

Adrian Piper Adrian Margaret Smith Piper (born September 20, 1948) is an American conceptual artist and Kantian philosopher. Her work addresses how and why those involved in more than one discipline may experience professional ostracism, otherness, racial ...

Joyce J. Scott Joyce J. Scott (born 1948) is an African-American artist, sculptor, quilter, performance artist, installation artist, print-maker, lecturer and educator. Named a MacArthur Fellow in 2016, and a Smithsonian Visionary Artist in 2019, Scott is best ...

Freida High Tesfagiorgis Freida High Wasikhongo Tesfagiorgis (born October 21, 1946) is a painter, art historian, and visual culturalist who focuses on African American, modern and contemporary African art, African Diaspora, and modern European Art and Primitivism. She ...

, Denise Ward-Brown, Bisa Washington, and Deborah Willis.

Awards

* 1988:

Women's Studio Workshop Women's Studio Workshop (WSW) is a nonprofit visual arts studio and private press offering residencies and educational workshops, located in Rosendale, New York. The workshop was founded in 1974 by Ann Kalmbach, Tatana Kellner, Anita Wetzel, ...

, Artist in Residence, Book Arts * 1998:

National Endowment for the Arts The National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) is an independent agency of the United States federal government that offers support and funding for projects exhibiting artistic excellence. It was created in 1965 as an independent agency of the federal ...

, Visual Arts grant * 2004:

, Artist in Residence, Book Arts * 2006: Leeway Foundation's Art and Change Grant

Advisory boards

* ''

Aperture In optics, an aperture is a hole or an opening through which light travels. More specifically, the aperture and focal length of an optical system determine the cone angle of a bundle of rays that come to a focus in the image plane. An opt ...

'' *

Penland School of Crafts The Penland School of Craft ("Penland" and formerly "Penland School of Crafts") is an Arts and Crafts educational center located in the Blue Ridge Mountains in Spruce Pine, North Carolina, about 50 miles from Asheville. History The school was ...

Printed Matter, Inc Printed Matter, Inc. is an independent 501(c)(3) non-profit grant-supported bookstore, artist organization, and arts space which publishes and distributes artists' books. It is currently located at 231 11th Avenue in the Chelsea neighborhood of N ...

* National Women's Caucus for Art *

Virginia Center for the Creative Arts The Virginia Center for the Creative Arts (VCCA) is a residential artist community in Amherst, Virginia, USA. Since 1971, VCCA has offered residencies of varying lengths with flexible scheduling for international artists, writers, and composers at ...

Visual Studies Workshop Visual Studies Workshop (VSW) is a non-profit group dedicated to art education based in Rochester, New York, in the Neighborhood of the Arts. VSW supports makers and interpreters of images through education, publications, exhibitions, and collect ...

Works and publications

*''What's Happening With Momma?,'' Women's Studio Workshop Press, 1988"ART REVIEW; Pictures in Children's Books, From Cherubs to Divided Faces"
New York Times, August 18, 1995 *''Reading Dick and Jane with Me,''

Press, 1989 *''Voyage(r): A Tourist Map to Japan,'' Nexus Press, 2000 *''Wrongly Bodied Two,'' Women's Studio Workshop Press, 2004 *''It Wasn't Little Rock,'' Visual Studies Workshop Press, 2005 *''Wrongly Bodied: Documenting Transition from Female to Male'', self-published with the Leeway Foundation, 2009 *''Transforming Hate: An Artist's Book, 2016

References

External links

*
Guide to the Clarissa Sligh PapersClarissa Sligh
on the African American Visual Artists Database {{DEFAULTSORT:Sligh, Clarissa Living people 1939 births African-American photographers American photographers African-American writers American writers American women writers Hampton University alumni Howard University alumni Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania alumni Book artists Women book artists 21st-century African-American people 21st-century African-American women 20th-century African-American people 20th-century African-American women African-American women writers