Contemporary Perspectives Lecture Series: Alison Saar

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Folk artist Alison Saar attributes much of her inspiration to her parents. Her mother, African American artist Betye Saar, exposed her daughter to art from African, Mexican, Indian, and Asian cultures, while her father, art conservationist Richard [...]Saar, instructed her in traditional Western works. One piece in particular, Saars says, is the marriage of those two influences. Dying Slave, an African American version of Michelangelo’s sculpture of the same name, is an upright, heavily chiseled wooden form that pointedly recalls the Renaissance master’s famous marble carving.

Although she employs a variety of media and styles, Saar is best known for her larger-than-life figurative sculptures, often carved of wood and incorporating found materials, from tin to old shoe soles. A recipient of a fellowship from the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation, Saar exhibits her work internationally. Her visit to BU was part of the School of Visual Arts’ annual Contemporary Perspectives Lecture Series.

Hosted by College of Fine Arts School of Visual Arts on September 22, 2010.
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