Now, I'm certain someone, somewhere is going to say: Black, you call yourself an artist; call yourself reasonably cognizent in the field of art and yet you've never heard of Betye Saar?! Fie and for shame!

And they'd be right. Because everybody should have heard of Betye Saar. I have no excuses and no explanation, but can say I certainly am glad I finally met her artistic acquaintance.

The evocative, moving and disturbing pieces of Saar’s work do exactly what Art should do. They open your mind and your eyes and your heart to the expression of the unique that speaks to the universal experience of being human.

Saar’s art is difficult to categorize. It’s called “assemblage” – a collection of individual pieces that make up a whole and coherent work. But I don't want to give the impression that the art looks like those old type-trays filled with dried flowers and little jugs, and other bits and pieces that everyone had in their kitchen or bathroom back in the early 1980s. Saar’s work is too powerful and each piece too integrated into a whole theme to be associated even for an instant with that cultural kitsch. So, what style of art is it? How do I describe it to you? Installation? Sculpture? Folk Art? Yes. And, No. Mystical, historical, personal, political, social? It is all -- and none -- of these.

Some of my notes from the exhibit, scribbled while trying to keep my eyes roaming over every intricate detail of her pieces:

"astounding, amazing vivid and mesmerizing works collage mixed media photos -- tell a very intricate tale, each one very interior Special pieces deal with racism and black imagery - collage in violin case, old window frames, boxes..."

Betye Saar was born in 1926 in Los Angeles. She grew up in the Watts section, watching Simon Rodia build his eccentric and compelling Towers*. His use of found objects was to be a big influence on her art career, as evidenced by her extensive use of family mementos, fabric scraps, ephemera and photos.

As I wandered around the exhibit, encompassed in two rooms, I found that I had started viewing the galleries in the wrong order, almost backwards. I had begun with Saar's more recent political and social commentary pieces like “Christening Dress” (above), which had caught my eye, and “The Blackbird” (below). The first room contained her dynamically personal pieces based on her travels to foreign lands and her spiritual quest, and further back to her earlier more personal and emotional pieces. When I realized this, I started my tour around the Saar exhibit all over again.

Blackbird by Betye Saar

The galleries were very nearly empty. No gaggles of students, no lecturing docents, no suburban art clubs touring around. It felt like it was just me and Betye Saar, circling each other, thinking we were separated by a barrier of years, experience, culture and history... only to find that the barrier was low, the years didn't matter, the experiences were shared, the culture and history a bond.

Her love of her family and her connection to them and their history -- both the joy and pain -- was exemplified in the detailed pieces like "Record for Hattie" (pictured below):

containing worn and familiar objects that could have belonged to my late maternal grandmother -- a similar mirror, rosary beads and old pieces of lace. Studying "Record for Hattie", I was overwhelmed by a sensation of loss and love, memory and longing for that grandparent -- and, indeed, for all the grandparents and relatives -- gone for many years, brought back to my mind and heart so vividly through this work made by a stranger, dedicated to the memory of another stranger. And yet, as an artist, as a human, Betye Saar -- and her work -- can never be a stranger to me, or to anyone with an ounce of human feeling or experience.

Other works in the Exhibit moved me particularly:

Midnight Madonnas by Betye Saar

Colored by Betye Saar

Dark Star by Betye Saar

as well as many others, some listed below, for which I cannot find images:

Night Letter/Special Delivery
Josiah WWI
Haynes at Home
Miss Ruby Brown
Leena by the Lake

I left the exhibit reluctantly, forced only by time constraints and other obligations, so filled with Saar's images and so emotionally moved by the experience, that I could not spare my eyes or mind to look at another piece of work on my way out the door. When asked about what I had seen, I could not speak of the pieces or their impact on me for several days. Even now, despite my best efforts in this piece, I cannot truly express in full the impact these works have had on me. I do know my own work will be taking some different turns in the future -- becoming much more deeply personal and thereby, hopefully, far more universal.

Sites where some examples of Betye Saar's work are available for viewing:

http://www.netropolitan.org/saar/saarwork.html

Prints and Lithographs:

http://www.michaelrosenfeldart.com/prints/prints_artist.php?artist_id=56

Betye Saar is represented exclusively by Michael Rosenfield Galleries, 24 West 57th Street, New York, NY.

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*Rodia's Towers are also one of my major influences and when I saw them in person, I was blown away. At a future date, they will get an entire essay of their own.

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