Dindga McCannon

Artist Statement

I have worn many, many, hats, as that of a painter, printmaker, wearable art maker, muralist, writer, illustrator and fiber artist/quilter. Currently I consider myself a multimedia Mixed Media Artist. I use fabrics, paper and other media in the same way traditional artists use paint to embellish a surface. I tend to work in series which brings order to my various styles. I use paint, fabric, photographs, recycled anything, beads, yarns, transparencies, metals, fabric collages and many of the “New Age Materials” to create my work. My favorite themes deal with people of the African diaspora, especially the histories of known and little known African American Women, images of Harlem and landscapes.

Biography

Dindga McCannon was born and raised in Harlem, N.Y. She began her artistic career at age 16 and has been making art for over five decades. She has worn many artistic hats during that time as painter, printmaker, muralist, wearable art designer, author, illustrator, quilter, and mixed media artist. Dindga mixes and combines combinations of these media into what she calls Art Quilts.

Ms. McCannon has taught in schools, shelters, other alternative venues as well as teaches out of her studio. Additionally, she was one of the founding members of “Where We At, Black Women Artists” the first African American Women Artists collective (1971-2000). She has exhibited at galleries throughout the United States including the American Craft Museum, the Renwick Gallery at the Smithsonian, the American Folk Art Museum and the Brooklyn Museum. Her work is in the permanent collections of The Bennett Collection of Women Realists, the Disney Corporation, the Proctor and Gamble Collection and the Brooklyn Museum.

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Three Girls on the Lower East Side, 1975

Linoleum cut on dyed pink paper, 18" x 17.5"