Bisa Butler
Bisa Butler (1973 - present)
Born Malissa Yamba Butler in 1973, in Orange, NJ.
Earned a BFA in painting from Howard University. While there, she attended lectures and studied under Loïs Milou Jones and Elizabeth Catlett. She earned a master's degree in art education at Montclair State University, which is where she started to experiment with fiber arts and quilting.
She learned quilting and sewing from her mother and grandmother. Similar to Faith Ringgold, she is known for using bold, colorful fabrics in a painterly style, often African fabrics like kente cloth.
She is known for making portraits of unnamed African Americans from historic photographs.
You can learn more about Bisa Butler and see more of her works on her website. In 2021, The Art Institute of Chicago hosted her first solo exhibition, titled Bisa Butler: Portraits. In 2021, CBS This Morning Saturday interviewed Butler and visited her workshop in her New Jersey home. Butler's works hang in many prestigious institutions including two Smithsonian Institutions: The National Museum of African American History and Culture, and the Smithsonian American Art Museum at the Renwick Gallery. In 2019, the Museum of Fine Arts acquired her quilt To God and Truth.
What do you notice? ✏️ What do you wonder? ✏️ What do you like or dislike?
Don’t Tread On Me, God Damn, Let’s Go!— The Harlem Hellfighters
2021-2022, pieced, appliquéd, and quilted cottons, silk, wool, and velvet Smithsonian American Art Museum, Washington, DC
Bisa Butler.pdf