May 31, 2006
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. – A touring exhibition, “Family Legacies: The Art of Betye, Lezley and Alison Saar,” was co-curated by Jessica Dallow, Ph.D., assistant professor of art history in the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) Department of Art and Art History.
“Family Legacies” is currently on view at the Pasadena Museum of California Art and will then travel to the San Jose Museum of Art and the Palmer Museum of Art at Pennsylvania State University.
Dallow produced and organized the show with Barbara Matilsky, Ph.D., curator of exhibitions for the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill’s Ackland Art Museum, where the exhibition was organized and started. The exhibition is accompanied by a 132-page scholarly catalog, written by the Darrow and Matilsky, with 50 color illustrations, co-published by the Ackland and the University of Washington Press of Seattle. Dallow and Matilsky obtained sponsorship from the National Endowment for the Arts, the Altria Group Inc. and the William Hayes Ackland Trust.The artists are a mother, Betye, and her two daughters, now living in Los Angeles. Influenced by their mixed-race African-American, European and Native American ancestry, the three artists interpret family, identity, race and gender. The exhibition of 50 mixed media works features paintings, sculptures and assemblages that incorporate found objects such as old photographs, fabric and embroidery, handmade paper, jewelry and clocks. It is the first exhibition by all three artists and spans artwork from 1964-2005.