Clarissa Sligh facts for kids

Clarissa T. Sligh, born in 1939, is a talented African-American artist. She creates amazing books and takes photographs. Clarissa lives in Asheville, North Carolina. When she was just 15, she played a big part in a court case in Virginia. This case helped to end segregation in schools. Later, in 1988, she helped start a group called Coast-to-Coast. This group helped show off art made by women of color.

Clarissa Sligh's Early Life and Education

Clarissa Sligh was born in Washington, D.C. She grew up in a big family that worked hard. She went to schools that were separated by race in Virginia. In 1955, when she was 15, Clarissa was the main person in a court case. This case was about ending segregation in schools in Virginia. It was called Thompson v County School Board of Arlington County.

Clarissa went to Hampton Institute in Virginia. This school was mainly for African-American students. She earned a degree in math there in 1961. In 1972, she got another degree in Visual Arts from Howard University in Washington D.C. The next year, 1973, she earned a business degree from the Wharton School. This school is part of the University of Pennsylvania. In 1999, she earned a Master of Fine Arts degree from Howard University.

Clarissa Sligh's Career as an Artist

Before becoming a full-time artist, Clarissa Sligh worked at NASA. She helped with the program that sent people into space. In 1987, Sligh was able to leave her job. She then focused completely on her art.

Her artwork has been shown in many important places. These include the Jewish Museum in New York City. Her art was also shown at the National African American Museum Project. This project was at the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, DC. It was the start of what is now the National Museum of African American History and Culture.

Clarissa Sligh's art is also part of many famous collections. You can find her work at:

• The Museum of Modern Art
• The National Gallery of Art
• The National Museum of Women in the Arts (NMWA)
• The Walker Art Center in Minneapolis, Minnesota

Clarissa Sligh's Artistic Style and Focus

Clarissa Sligh sees herself as a storyteller first. Her photographs and artist books tell stories. These stories are often about politics, family life, and who we are as people. She also explores history, fairness in society, and how things change.

In her art, Sligh mixes photos and other pictures with words. As she added more words, she started making books instead of just prints.

Clarissa's work often makes us think about what we consider normal. It also makes us think about our roles in different groups. These groups can be our family, society, or our gender and ethnic backgrounds. Sligh found ideas for her art in the school books she read as a child. She used these ideas to explore her own life experiences.

Sligh has made books about her experience in the 1955 school desegregation case. This case was called Thompson v County School Board of Arlington County. She wrote an essay called The Plaintiff Speaks in 2004. She also created an artist book titled It Wasn’t Little Rock in 2004 and 2005.

She has also created artist books about her own experiences as a Black child reading. One book is Reading Dick & Jane with Me (1989). It tells a story about learning to read. Another book is My Mother, Walt Whitman and Me (2019). This book focuses on a copy of Leaves of Grass that her mother found and brought home.

Coast-to-Coast: Supporting Women Artists

In 1988, Clarissa Sligh helped start a group called the Coast-to-Coast National Women Artists of Color Project. She started it with Faith Ringgold and Margaret Gallegos. From 1988 to 1996, this group showed art by African American women. Their art was displayed all across the United States.

Sligh also worked with other groups that showed art by African American women. These groups included:

• The National Women's Caucus for Art (1985-1994)
• The Artist Federal Credit Union, New York (1986-1987)
• Printed Matter (1992-1996)
• The artists advisory board of the Womens Studio Workshop (2004-2007)

In 1990, Sligh helped organize an art show called "Coast to Coast: A Women of Color National Artists' Book Project." It was held from January 14 to February 2, 1990. The show was at the Flossie Martin Gallery, and later at the Eubie Blake Center and the Artemesia Gallery. Faith Ringgold wrote the introduction for the show's catalog. More than 100 women artists of color were part of this exhibit. The catalog included short statements from the artists and photos of their books. Some of the artists included were:

• Emma Amos (painter)
• Beverly Buchanan
• Elizabeth Catlett
• Dolores Cruz
• Dorothy Holden
• Martha Jackson Jarvis
• Young-Im Kim
• Viola Burley Leak
• Howardena Pindell
• Faith Ringgold
• Adrian Piper
• Joyce J. Scott
• Freida High Tesfagiorgis
• Denise Ward-Brown
• Bisa Washington
• Deborah Willis

Clarissa Sligh's Awards and Recognition

Clarissa Sligh has received several awards for her artistic work:

• 1988: Women's Studio Workshop, Artist in Residence, Book Arts
• 1998: National Endowment for the Arts, Visual Arts grant
• 2004: Women's Studio Workshop, Artist in Residence, Book Arts
• 2006: Leeway Foundation's Art and Change Grant

Clarissa Sligh's Published Works

Clarissa Sligh has created many unique artist books. Here are some of her published works:

• What's Happening With Momma?, Women's Studio Workshop Press, 1988
• Reading Dick and Jane with Me, Visual Studies Workshop 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