Leaves, butterflies, old photographs and

handkerchiefs are ordinary objects…but

can tell an extraordinary story. Through

her many collages and assemblages that

incorporate common objects together in

artful ways, artist Betye Saar weaves

narratives about mysticism and

spirituality, celebrity, personal

memories, and race and politics.

The Loss, 1977Mixed media on handkerchief8 3/4" x 9 1/2"

Betye Saar: Still Tickin’

On view January 30 – May 1, 2016 at the

Scottsdale Museum of Contemporary Art

Betye Saar was born in 1926

in Los Angeles, California.

She is known for her work in

assemblage, a sculptural

technique of combining

diverse materials, often

discarded or found objects,

into a unified whole.

Through her art, she

explores African-American

identity, spirituality and

the interrelationship of

cultures.

Betye Saar

Los Angeles, December 2015

Photo: Ashley Walker; courtesy of Roberts &

Tilton, Culver City, California

As a child, Betye Saar watched artist Simon Rodia

as he built the Watts Towers from bits of ceramic,

glass, found objects and cement. She called these

towers “a fairy tale place”, and credits them with

inspiring her to create her own art with found

objects and mixed media.

The artist brought her own children to the Watts Towers: here pictured with daughters Alison and Lezley, circa 1960

Mysticism, Ritual and Magic

Betye Saar began her artist career as a printmaker. In the mid-to-late

1960’s, her work began to shift from printmaking to assemblage, bringing a

variety of objects together within a box or window frame. Much of her

imagery and symbolism of this time is taken from Africa and a variety of

religions and belief systems from different cultures.

Mystic Window for Leo, 1966, Mixed media in window, 14 1/4 x 17 ¾ in. Courtesy the artist and Roberts & Tilton, Culver City, California. © Betye Saar

Wizard, 1972Mixed media13 1/4" x 11" x 1" (33.66 x 27.94 x 2.54 cm)

Many of Saar’s assemblages take the form of

shrines, recalling an ancient African past.

.

Spirit Catcher, 1976-77, mixed media assemblage,

45 x 18 x 18”(not in show)

Notice the influence

of the Watts Towers

reflected in the form

of Sprit Catcher

Nine Mojo Secrets, 1971Mixed media assemblage49 3/4" x 23 1/2" x 1 3/4"

She creates free-standing, altar-like structures, incorporating elements

from different places that represent visual traditions of spirituality

among ancient cultures.

This assemblage

includes objects

from India,

Mexico and

Africa. The art

of assemblage is

to unify diverse

elements such as

these into a

cohesive

sculpture.

The base of this

assemblage uses a

fabric printing

block from India.

The artist

fashioned a

fetish cat figure

to stand in front

of a circuit

board diagram.

What are some

reasons you can

think of why Saar

uses technology

with objects of

ritual?

Mti, 1973, mixed-media assemblageGuardian of Desires, 1988Mixed media assemblage10 3/4" x 7 1/4" x 2 3/4"

CelebrityIn these collages, the artist pays

homage to two African American women

who made noteworthy contributions:

Rosa Parks and singer Bessie Smith.

The Victory of

Gentleness: For

Rosa Parks, 1975,

mixed-media

assemblage

(Not in show)

Bittersweet

(Bessie’s Song),

1973, assemblage

box

(Not in show)Saar created a

feminine

representation

of “how being a

gentle person

can have the

same power as

being an

aggressive,

assertive

revolutionary”.

Singer

Bessie

Smith died

in an

automobile

accident

(1937)

because

racism

prevented

her from

receiving

medical

treatment

in time.

Bridge of Memory

Saar’s work is often autobiographical, bringing out the importance of ancestry and

personal history.

Record for Hattie, 1975, mixed-media assemblage Mama’s Flowers, 1973, mixed-media collage

(not in show)

The artist

created

Record for

Hattie as a

memorial

for her

aunt, and

Mama’s

Flowers* as

a gift for

her mother.

What

objects

would you

use to

create an

assemblage

about a

close

family

member?

Smiles We Left Behind, 1976Mixed media assemblage13.375" x 10" (34.0 x 25.4 cm)

The artist used other objects

from her Aunt Hattie’s estate to

create Smiles We Left Behind.

Notice the glove on the lower

left. Saar uses gloves in

several pieces to suggest hands

reaching from the past to the

present and into the future.

Justice, 2011mixed media assemblage

Race and Politics

At the age of almost 90 years, Betye

Saar has lived through the rise of

the civil rights movement, the

assassination of Dr. Martin Luther

King, Jr. and the Watts Riots. These

events and others influenced her to

create art that is socially and

politically engaged, often

addressing racial issues.

In this assemblage, Betye Saar

empowers this “Aunt Jemima” figure

with the Tarot card Justice,

transforming the figure from a

subordinate figure of a housemaid

into a representation of a strong

woman with power over her destiny.

This christening gown evokes a sense of sweetness

and purity. It hangs over a framed photograph of

an African American child that rests on a small

child’s chair.

How do you interpret this artwork?

Looking closer, you will see words sewn into the

gown. These words are racial slurs, or extremely

offensive names that have been used and should

never be used to bully and demean children of

color.

A baptism, or christening ceremony, marks a

person’s beginning of a new life aligned with

religious beliefs.

Does the addition of the slurs, or bad names to

the christening gown change the message in this

work, from purity and sweetness to something else?

What might this baptism be about?

A Loss of Innocence,

1998

Mixed media tableau

What does it mean to feel the weight of the world on your shoulders?

Saar uses scales in these assemblages to symbolize a weight, or heavy burden, that

many Americans feel about the issue of racism.

The Weight of Waiting, 2014. Mixed media assemblage, 20 × 6 ¾ × 5 inches. Courtesy the artist and Roberts & Tilton, Culver City, California. © Betye Saar

The Weight of Whiteness, 2014. Mixed media assemblage, 14 × 9 × 7 inches. Courtesy the artist and Roberts & Tilton, Culver City, California. © Betye Saar

In The Weight of Waiting, a figure of an African American gentleman stands upon a scale. We see a crow resting on his head and a ship attached to the scale. We know by the scale that the man feels burdened. The crow represents Jim Crow laws that enforced segregation (separation) of African Americans from whites in public places in the Southern United States until 1965. The ship reminds us of how people weretransported from Africa to the United States to be exploited as slaves.

The Weight of Whiteness speaks about the burden of guilt and shame. Look closely; notice the cotton and notice the chains. If this artwork could talk, what would it say?

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