Consigning the works of Emma Amos

1
(No Transcript)
2
Emma Amos was born to a middle-class Atlanta
family that was active in the Black artistic,
literary, and political scenes.  Her parents
regularly hosted such guests as W.E.B.  DuBois
and Zora Neale Hurston these early associations
would prove invaluable to Amoss artistic and
philosophical development.  At the age of
sixteen, Amos enrolled in Antioch College, where
she took classes and traveled to major cities
including London and New York.  
3
During the next decade, Amos worked under New
York print masters Letterio Calapai and Robert
Blackburn and the textile artist Dorothy
Liebes.  In 1964, Amos became the firstand
onlywoman to join the renowned Spiral
Collective, working alongside Romare Bearden and
Norman Lewis.  She would go on to join the
Heresies and Guerilla Girls collectives,
collaborating and clashing with many of the most
decorated artists of the latter 20th century, and
working tirelessly to make space for women and
artists of color in leading galleries and museums.
4
Amos had difficulty finding gallery
representation, selling her work, and breaking
into the exclusive, white, male-dominated art
world.  Despite institutional barriers, Amos was
an integral part of the visual contemporary
culture.  She influenced artists and students for
five decades, constantly challenging herself, her
students, and her audiences with new work, and
carving a space in the archive for herself
despite a lifelong lack of public recognition.
5
(No Transcript)