The Betye Saar Art Box
Overview
The Betye Saar Art Box is a collaboration between five museums in Los Angeles: The Autry Museum of the American West; the California African American Museum (CAAM); the Hammer Museum; The Huntington Library, Art Museum, and Botanical Gardens; and the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA).
To celebrate Saar’s artistic legacy, each museum created an art activity inspired by one of her artworks.
About the Artist
Betye Saar, 2019. Courtesy of the artist and Roberts Projects Los Angeles, California; Photo David Sprague.
Betye Saar was born in 1926 and raised in Los Angeles. Saar has made significant contributions to the history of American art, and she continues to produce powerful artwork today. She makes art with a range of materials and is most known for combining everyday objects to create new meanings.
Saar’s African, Irish, and Native American heritage has influenced her work in many ways, as have the creative communities in which she has participated, including design, craft, theater, Black art, and women’s art. Her work explores topics like racial injustice and social inequality as well as mysticism, nature, and family. In Saar’s words, it is her goal as an artist to “create works that expose injustice and reveal beauty.”
