 Born and raised October 8, 1930 in Harlem  Graduated with a Masters Degree from City College of NY in 1959  Over her long, distinguished career, she has received more than 75 awards, fellowships, citations and honors.  She was professor of art at the University of California in San Diego.  She has exhibited at major museums in the U.S., Europe, South America, Asia, Africa, and the Middle East.

 She was greatly influenced by her mother, who was a fashion designer and worked with a lot of fabrics.  She is especially well known for her painted story quilts which blur the line between high art and craft by combining painting, quilted fabric and storytelling.

 Ringgold's first published book, the award winning, Tar Beach, "a book for children of all ages", was published in 1991 and has won more than 30 awards including. The book, Tar Beach, is based on the story quilt Tar Beach, from Ringgold's The Woman On A Bridge Series of 1988 and is in the permanent collection of the Guggenheim Museum in New York City.

 TAR BEACH is about….Cassie, an eight year old girl in 1939 who has a dream to be free to go wherever she wants for the rest of her life. One night, up on "tar beach" (the rooftop of her family's Harlem apartment building) her dream comes true. The stars lift her up, and she flies over the city.

So now its your turn…… You are flying over your favorite place…… Draw what you see……