Alison Saar

by Katie M.






Alison Saar is an African-American woman, who was born
in 1956 in California. Her mother, Betye Saar, has
European, Native American, and African-American
ancestors; her father, Richard Saar, had a German and
Scottish origin. Fragments of lore, myth, legend and
practices of these cultural backgrounds are rooted
into her artwork. In high school, Alison helped her
father with his restoration work. Doing this, she
studied artifacts from different cultures, such as:
Chinese frescoes (painting done rapidly with
watercolor on wet plaster), Egyptian mummies, and
Pre-Columbian and African art. She took more art
history courses that she did studio classes; she
graduated with a thesis on Southern African-American
Folk Art, from Otis-Parsons Institute.