kids encyclopedia robot

vanessa german facts for kids

Kids Encyclopedia Facts
vanessa german
Vanessa German (crop).jpg
vanessa german on stage
Born 1976 (age 48–49)
Milwaukee, Wisconsin, U.S.
Known for Sculpture

vanessa german (born 1976) is an American artist known for her amazing sculptures, paintings, and poetry. She is also an activist who works to make her community a better place. She lives in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

Her sculptures often feature female figures made from many different objects. She uses things like fabric, keys, and even toy weapons. vanessa german is also an activist who speaks out about important issues like gun violence.

Her art is displayed in many famous museums, including the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art and the Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art. Her work has been talked about in The New York Times and on NPR. She has also won important awards, like the Don Tyson Prize in 2018.

Early Life and Art Beginnings

vanessa german was born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. She grew up in Los Angeles and Ohio. Her mother, Sandra Keat German, was an artist who worked with fabric and made costumes. She taught vanessa and her siblings to be creative, even encouraging them to make their own clothes.

In 2000, vanessa german moved to Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. This is where she started showing her art and performing her poetry locally. She says her childhood in Los Angeles greatly influenced her art.

How vanessa german Creates Art

vanessa german is a self-taught artist, meaning she learned art on her own. Much of her art involves making collages and sculptures from many different pieces. She calls her female figures "power figures" or "tar babies."

She starts by decorating and painting large dolls or figures. Then, she adds all sorts of materials to them. These can include cowrie shells, plastic guns, feathers, bottle caps, seashells, toys, and old items. She often finds or receives these materials from her Homewood neighborhood. She later learned that her way of creating art was similar to an old African tradition called Nkisi nkondi, which involves guardian statues decorated with various objects.

The lists of materials she uses for her art are sometimes like poems themselves! They can include physical items like cloth and paint, but also non-physical things like "the names of all the dead boys that I know" or "tears." Some common themes in her art are food, birds, violence, injustice, poverty, and images of the Black Madonna.

She uses colors in her art to mean different things. For example, she said that red beads can represent both anger and love at the same time. White beads can represent ancestors, forgiveness, and peace.

Of Thee We Sing, 2023, vanessa german on Mall
Of Thee We Sing (2023) at the Lincoln Memorial in 2023

In 2023, vanessa german was one of six artists chosen to create a special art piece for the National Mall in Washington, D.C. This was part of the first art exhibition ever held on the Mall. Her sculpture, called Of Thee We Sing (2023), honored the African-American singer Marian Anderson. Anderson performed at the Lincoln Memorial in 1939 after she was not allowed to sing in a segregated hall.

Like the author bell hooks, vanessa german writes her name in all lowercase letters. She explained in 2023 that this is her way of showing that everyone is equal, without anyone being above another.

ARThouse and Love Front Porch

vanessa german also started a community art center called the ARThouse and Love Front Porch. It was located in the Homewood neighborhood of Pittsburgh. She began working on her front porch because her basement was too small for her large sculptures. When neighborhood children started watching her, the idea for ARThouse was born.

This grew into a special place for art in the community. It moved a couple of times before finding a permanent home in a house bought with donations and money from her art sales. The ARThouse officially opened in December 2015. In 2012, the Love Front Porch received a grant to help support community projects for African-Americans.

vanessa german also hosted the Tuesday Night Monologue Project at ARThouse. This was a weekly event where artists and community members could write and share their stories.

The Homewood neighborhood was once called "The Most Dangerous Neighborhood in America" by a news reporter. However, vanessa german said that extreme violence does not happen every day or even every week. She explained that only a very small number of people are involved in such activities.

Sadly, the ARThouse was badly damaged by a fire in 2021 and had to close. vanessa german tried to raise money to fix it. However, she decided to move to North Carolina herself. She said it became too hard to work in Homewood because she was often scared due to the violence in the community.

Where to See Her Art

vanessa german's art is part of the permanent collections in many museums and art centers. This means her work is kept there all the time for people to see. Some of these places include:

Important Art Shows

vanessa german's art has been shown in many important exhibitions. Here are some of them:

  • 2012: "African American Art 1950–present" at the Smithsonian Institution
  • 2013: "Homewood" at Pavel Zoubok Gallery, New York, New York
  • 2015: "Vanessa German: Bitter Root" at Holter Museum of Art, Helena, Montana
  • 2016: "i am armed. i am an army." at Pavel Zoubok Gallery, New York, New York
  • 2017: State of The Art: Discovering American Art Now, a traveling show from Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art
  • 2019: "Vanessa German: Miracles And Glory Abound" at Flint Institute of Arts, Flint, Michigan
  • 2021: "Reckoning: Grief and Light" at The Frick Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

Awards and Recognition

vanessa german has received several awards for her amazing art and community work: