Dindga McCannon (born: July 31, 1947) is an African-American artist, fiber artist, muralist, teacher author and illustrator. She co-founded the collective Where We At, Black Women Artists in 1971.

Early life and education

McCannon was born and raised in Harlem and was inspired to become an artist at the age of 10. She is self-taught and works intuitively. Calling herself a mixed-media, a multimedia artist she works at "fusing my fine art 'training' with the traditional women's needlework taught to me by my mother, Lottie K. Porter, and grandmother Hattie Kilgo — sewing, beading, embroidery, and quilting into what is now known as ArtQuilts."

Career

Dindga McCannon has been an artist for 55 years. In addition to her work as a quilter author, and illustrator, Dindga considers herself a costume designer and muralist and a print maker. Her work involves women's lives, portraits, and history. In response to sexism and racism in the art world, artists in the 1960s and 1970s created collectives as a way to fight oppression. In the 1960s McCannon was a member of Weusi Artist Collective. This is how McCannon became interested in the

Black Arts Movement The Black Arts Movement (BAM) was an African American-led art movement that was active during the 1960s and 1970s. Through activism and art, BAM created new cultural institutions and conveyed a message of black pride. The movement expanded from ...

. The Weusi Collective was interested in creating art that evoked African themes and symbols, as well as highlighting contemporary black pride. In 1971, concerned to represent her experience as a Black woman artist and single mother, she hosted the first meeting of the Where We At group of black women artists, a group started with Kay Brown and

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 ...

, in her apartment. It grew into a group pf women who supported each other, taught workshops and exhibited in one of the first group shows of professional black women artists in New York City. McCannon's interest in black arts and women's work met in her creation of

dashiki The dashiki is a colorful garment that covers the top half of the body, worn mostly in West Africa. It is also known as a Kitenge in East Africa and is a common item of clothing in Tanzania and Kenya. It has formal and informal versions and var ...

s, which then led her to create wearables and quilts. In 2015 she was a presenter at the ''Art of Justice: Articulating an Ethos and Aesthetic of the Movement'' conference at New York University presented by the

Caribbean Cultural Center African Diaspora Institute The Caribbean Cultural Center African Diaspora Institute (CCCADI) is a nonprofit organization based in East Harlem in New York City that serves as an Afro-Caribbean center of culture and community for members of the African diaspora. History ...

in Collaboration with the Department of Art and Public Policy, New York University; Institute of African American Affairs, New York University; and Institute for Research in African American Studies, Columbia University. Her image is included in the iconic 1972 poster '' Some Living American Women Artists'' by

Mary Beth Edelson Mary Beth Edelson (born Mary Elizabeth Johnson) (6 February 1933 - 20 April 2021) was an American artist and pioneer of the feminist art movement, deemed one of the notable "first-generation feminist artists." Edelson was a printmaker, book art ...

Artworks

McCannon has a quilt (titled "Yekk's Song") in the permanent collection of the

Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture The Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture is a research library of the New York Public Library (NYPL) and an archive repository for information on people of African descent worldwide. Located at 515 Malcolm X Boulevard (Lenox Avenue) b ...

. In January 2020, McCannon's oil painting "The Last Farewell" was auctioned for $161,000 as part of

Johnson Publishing Company Johnson Publishing Company, Inc. (JPC) was an American publishing company founded in November 1942 by African-American businessman John H. Johnson. It was headquartered in Chicago, Illinois. JPC was privately held and run by Johnson until his d ...

's bankruptcy proceedings. This work was part of their private collection, which also included works by

Henry Ossawa Tanner Henry Ossawa Tanner (June 21, 1859 – May 25, 1937) was an American artist and the first African-American painter to gain international acclaim. Tanner moved to Paris, France, in 1891 to study at the Académie Julian and gained acclaim in Fren ...

and

Carrie Mae Weems Carrie Mae Weems (born April 20, 1953) is an American artist working in text, fabric, audio, digital images and installation video, and is best known for her photography. She achieved prominence through her early 1990s photographic project ''Th ...

. ''Revolutionary Sister'', a mixed-media work created in 1971, was created in response to a lack of revolutionary women warriors. The work depicts a powerful and colorful sister, created in part with items from the hardware store. McCannon speaks about this piece as a Statue of Liberty figure. It is in the permanent collection of the

Brooklyn Museum The Brooklyn Museum is an art museum located in the New York City borough of Brooklyn. At , the museum is New York City's second largest and contains an art collection with around 1.5 million objects. Located near the Prospect Heights, Crown H ...

Exhibitions

One-woman shows

In 2009, McCannon had a one-woman exhibition titled ''(This) Woman's Work is Never Done — Celebrating 44 years of Art Making''. It was featured at the Hamilton Landmark Galleries, 467 West 144th Street in Harlem. In 2021, she had a solo show at the Fridman Gallery entitled ''In Plain Sight''. McCannon's work has appeared in many group shows since 1971.

Selected group shows

*2001: ''Spirits of the Cloth'', Contemporary Quilts by African American Artists,

American Craft Museum The Museum of Arts and Design (MAD), based in Manhattan, New York City, collects, displays, and interprets objects that document contemporary and historic innovation in craft, art, and design. In its exhibitions and educational programs, the mus ...

, NY *2002: ''Spirits of the Cloth'',

Renwick Gallery The Renwick Gallery is a branch of the Smithsonian American Art Museum located in Washington, D.C. that displays American craft and decorative arts from the 19th to 21st century. The gallery is housed in a National Historic Landmark building that ...

at the Smithsonian Institution, Washington DC. *2003: ''America from the Heart'',

Hudson River Museum The Hudson River Museum, located in Trevor Park in Yonkers, New York, is the largest museum in Westchester County. The Yonkers Museum, founded in 1919 at City Hall, became the Hudson River Museum in 1948. While often considered an art museum by th ...

, NY *2004: ''America from the Heart: Quilters Remember 9/11'', Page–Walker Art and History Center, Cary, NC *2008: Weusi Collective: A Retrospective of 50 Years, African American Museum of Nassau County, NY *2009: ''Textural Rhythms: Quilting the Jazz Tradition'',

American Folk Art Museum The American Folk Art Museum is an art museum in the Upper West Side of Manhattan, at 2, Lincoln Square, Columbus Avenue at 66th Street. It is the premier institution devoted to the aesthetic appreciation of folk art and creative expressions of ...

, NYC *2010: ''Weusi Revisited 2010'', Dwyer Cultural Center, NY *2017:-2018: ''We Wanted A Revolution: Black Radical Women 1965-1985'' **Brooklyn Museum, NY **CAAM, Los Angeles, CA **Albright Knox Gallery, Buffalo, NY **ICA Boston, MA *2020: ''Forget What You Know'', Kourosh Mahboubian Fine Art, NYC

Commissions

McCannon has also been commissioned to create various pieces of art. *1985: ''United Community'', 50 ft by 6 stories, 25 Furman Ave, Brooklyn, NY, Dept of Cultural Affairs *2000: ''Amazing Life of Althea Gibson'', 60 inches by 120 inches art story quilt, Disney Inc for ESPN Zone, 42nd Street and Brady, NYC *2001: ''Winning the Vote'', Art Quilt on the Pioneers of Women's voting history America, ''Scholastic Magazine'' *2008: ''

Zora Neale Hurston Zora Neale Hurston (January 7, 1891 – January 28, 1960) was an American author, anthropologist, and filmmaker. She portrayed racial struggles in the early-1900s American South and published research on Hoodoo (spirituality), hoodoo. The most ...

'', B.O.S.S. (Barnard Organization of Soul Sisters),

Columbia University Columbia University (also known as Columbia, and officially as Columbia University in the City of New York) is a private research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Church in Manhatt ...

, NY

Notable works in public collections

*''Mercedes'' (1971),

Studio Museum in Harlem The Studio Museum in Harlem is an American art museum devoted to the work of artists of African descent. The museum's galleries are currently closed in preparation for a building project that will replace the current building, located at 144 W ...

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...

*''Revolutionary Sister'' (1971),

, New York *''Empress Akweke'' (1975), Brooklyn Museum, New York *''West Indian Day Parade'' (1976), Brooklyn Museum, New York *''Woman #1'' (1975-1977),

National Gallery of Art The National Gallery of Art, and its attached Sculpture Garden, is a national art museum in Washington, D.C., United States, located on the National Mall, between 3rd and 9th Streets, at Constitution Avenue NW. Open to the public and free of char ...

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, ...

*''Badass Women Who Inspire Me to Soar'' (2006), National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C. *''Charlie Parker and Some of the Amazing Musicians He Influenced'' (1983/2010),

The Phillips Collection The Phillips Collection is an art museum founded by Duncan Phillips and Marjorie Acker Phillips in 1921 as the Phillips Memorial Gallery located in the Dupont Circle neighborhood of Washington, D.C. Phillips was the grandson of James H. Laughlin, ...

, Washington, D.C. *''A Week in the Life of a Black Woman Artist'' (2013), Brooklyn Museum, New York

Awards

*2023 - Anonymous Was A Woman (AWAW) - Individual Artist Grant *2005 – N. Y. F. A. Fellowship – Crafts *2007 – Urban Artists Initiative, Harlem Arts Alliance *2008 – Northern Manhattan Arts Alliance – Individual Artists Grant 2009 – Northern Manhattan Arts Alliance – Individual Artist Grant

Books

McCannon has written and illustrated two books. ''Peaches'', published by Lothrop, Lee & Shepard in 1974 and by Dell in 1977, tells the story of a young black girl growing up in Harlem, her life with her family and her ambition to be an artist. ''Wilhemina Jones, Future Star'', published by Delacorte in 1980, has a similar theme, with a young black girl growing up in Harlem in the mid-1960s who dreams of pursuing an art career and leaving the oppressive atmosphere of her home. McCannon has also illustrated books for others: ''Omar at X-mas'' by Edgar White (published by Lothrop, Lee & Shepard), and ''Speak to the Winds, African Proverbs'', written by K. O. Opuku (Lothrop, Lee & Shepard, 1972). In 2018, McCannon published an illustrated cookbook called ''Celebrations''. The opening reception was held at Art For the Soul Gallery in

Springfield, Massachusetts Springfield is a city in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, United States, and the seat of Hampden County. Springfield sits on the eastern bank of the Connecticut River near its confluence with three rivers: the western Westfield River, the ...

Memberships

McCannon was a member of two artists' collectives, Weusi and Where We At (a black woman's collective from the 1970s).

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:McCannon, Dindga 1947 births Living people 20th-century African-American artists 20th-century African-American women 20th-century American artists 20th-century American women artists 20th-century textile artists 20th-century women textile artists 21st-century African-American artists 21st-century African-American women 21st-century American artists 21st-century American women artists 21st-century textile artists 21st-century women textile artists African-American women artists Artists from Harlem American quilters Textile artists from New York (state)