Sonya Clark facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Sonya Clark
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| Born | 1967 (age 57–58) |
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| Occupation | Artist |
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| Website | www |
| Position held | professor |
Sonya Clark is an American artist. She was born in 1967 in Washington, D.C.. Her family comes from the Caribbean.
Clark is known for using everyday materials in her art. These include human hair and combs. She uses these items to explore ideas about race, culture, and history. Her early works, like beaded headdresses and braided wigs, were very popular. They were inspired by African traditions. Her art helps people think about personal and political ideas.
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Sonya Clark's Early Life and Learning
Sonya Clark's father was a psychiatrist from Trinidad. Her mother was a nurse from Jamaica.
Clark was inspired by the skilled people in her family. Her grandmother was a tailor. Her grandfather was a furniture maker.
Sonya Clark's Education Journey
Clark finished Sidwell Friends School in 1985. She then earned a degree in psychology from Amherst College in 1989.
She later studied art at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. She received her art degree in 1993. In 1995, she earned a master's degree from Cranbrook Academy of Art.
Clark has received several special awards. She was honored by Cranbrook Academy of Art in 2011. She has also received four honorary doctorates. These include one from Amherst College in 2015. She received two more in 2021. In 2023, she received another from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago.
Clark learned a lot from her professor, Rowland Abiodun. He taught her about the link between her Caribbean culture and Yoruba culture. After college, she traveled to the Ivory Coast. There, she learned how to weave on a hand loom.
Sonya Clark's Teaching Career
Sonya Clark is a professor of art at Amherst College. Before this, she taught at Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU). She was the head of the Craft/Material Studies Department there.
She also taught at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. She was a professor of creative arts there.
Sonya Clark's Art and Ideas
Much of Clark's art uses simple, everyday items. These include combs, beads, coins, threads, and hair. She uses them to show how people give meaning to things.
Clark believes that objects hold our stories. She says, "Objects have personal and cultural meaning because they absorb our stories and reflect our humanity back to us."
Clark is well-known for honoring craftspeople. She also celebrates important African American figures. She has learned from craftspeople around the world. She studied their tools, techniques, and cultural meanings.
Her art often involves people working together. This helps connect people from different backgrounds.
Clark explains her art by saying she uses craft to explore identity. She sees simple objects as ways to connect cultures. She often starts with things from her own life, like a comb or a strand of hair. She believes these objects can tell personal and cultural stories.
The Hair Craft Project
The Hair Craft Project is a series of photos and artworks. Clark worked with Black hairstylists on this project. She sees these stylists as artists themselves.
Each hairdresser styled Clark's own hair. They used her head as a canvas. The finished hairstyle was then photographed. A matching artwork was made on canvas. On the canvas, the stylists recreated the hairstyle using silk thread.
This project shows that both salons and art museums are places of skill. Clark says, "Hairdressers are my heroes." She believes hair holds identity and power.
Clark also worked with a designer to create an alphabet. It is based on the curl pattern of her hair. It is called Twist.
The Flag Project
Clark started exploring flags in 1995. Her first flag project used elements from African and American cultures. She used Kente patterns. These patterns represent strength and achievement.
She wove traditional Kente patterns on a European loom. She combined them with images from the American flag. This created fabric that showed cultural pride from two different backgrounds.
Since 2009, Clark has created projects about the Confederate Battle Flag. In 2015, she performed "Unraveling." During this performance, audience members join Clark. They pull apart strands of a Confederate flag. Clark explains her ideas as they work together. This act helps people think about what the flag represents.
In 2017, Clark made a special cloth. It was a linen copy of the white dish towel. This towel was used by a Confederate soldier to surrender in 1865. This artwork is called "Monumental Cloth (sutured)."
Clark hopes this "truce flag" becomes as famous as the Confederate Battle Flag. She wants people to remember the flag that ended the Civil War. She questions why symbols of white supremacy are often remembered more than symbols of peace.
A larger version of this project, "Monumental Cloth: the Flag We Should Know," was also created. Her huge copy of the truce flag is now in the Smithsonian American Art Museum's Renwick Gallery.
Exhibitions and Awards
Sonya Clark's art has been shown in over 500 museums and galleries. Her work is in many museum collections. These include the Indianapolis Museum of Art and the Philadelphia Museum of Art.
Her art has been reviewed in many well-known publications. These include Art in America and The New York Times.
Clark has received many awards. These include a United States Artists Fellowship and a Rockefeller Foundation Residency. She was also inducted into the American Craft Council College of Fellows in 2020.
Her work is featured in many books about art. Her piece, Monumental, was added to the Smithsonian American Art Museum's collection. In 2023, her art was part of a group show called Spirit in the Land. This show was at the Nasher Museum of Art at Duke University. It also traveled to the Pérez Art Museum Miami.
Sonya Clark's Art Shows
- 2023: Sonya Clark: We Are Each Other at Cranbrook Art Museum
- 2021: Sonya Clark: Tatter, Bristle, and Mend, at the National Museum of Women in the Arts
- 2019: Monumental Cloth: the flag we should know, at the Fabric Workshop and Museum
- 2019: Sonya Clark: Hair|Goods, An Homage to Madam CJ Walker, at Goya Contemporary Gallery
- 2017: Oaths and Epithets: Works by Sonya Clark, at Contemporary Craft
- 2015: Loving After Lifetimes of All This, at The Center for Craft, Creativity & Design
- 2008: Sonya Clark: Loose Strands, Tight Knots, at the Walters Art Museum
Sonya Clark's Writings
Sonya Clark has also written articles and books. These include:
- "Hand-me-downs: Our Stories held in Objects, Materials and Processes." (2004)
- "In Review: Nick Sargent." (2003)
- "Beneath Pattern: Investigating Symmetry." (2000)
- "Sculptural Headdresses." (1997)
- The Hair Craft Project: Sonya Clark (2015)
