Betye Saar Lets It Speak
“My work started as a diary, an autobiography. I used to say I’m an artist who makes art from stuff. I collect things. I’ve always done that.” — Betye Saar
She Made That🖋️
A weekly moment to honor a woman artist you should know—told with curiosity, connection, and a lotta awe.
There’s something sacred about holding onto things. I’m not talking about hoarding (though my studio says otherwise😃). I mean saving—collecting the bits and pieces of life and letting them whisper stories to you.
That’s what Betye Saar does. She gathers, she listens, and she transforms.
Like me, Saar is an L.A. native. She was born in 1926 and came of age as an artist in a time and place where women, especially Black women, weren’t exactly being handed solo shows. Still, she made space—by hand, heart, and vision.
Her assemblage work reclaims racist imagery and reworks it into powerful commentary. One of her most recognized pieces, The Liberation of Aunt Jemima, holds a charged energy—like a protest frozen in time, daring you to look closer.
She didn’t start out political. She started out personal. But she let the world in—let her rage, her grief, her truth show up in her work. That makes her feel like a kindred spirit to me. Of course, she had to fight through walls I’ll never fully understand—being a Black woman artist in mid-20th century America meant pushing against both silence and erasure. And still, she made. She transformed. She spoke.
No matter how many mediums I leap between, I always return to this: make something, anything. Let it speak. Let it move. Let it mean something.
Saar once said, You can make art out of anything. I freakin’ love that! I believe it. I’m proving that to myself, one layer at a time. Thank you, Saar, for sharing your talent and vision with the world.
She made that.
(And at 98, she’s STILL making that. Now THAT’S inspiring.)
🎨 Want to see what I’ve been making lately? You can collect art, support my work, or sign up for my newsletter at anniewood.com.
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