Questions with a Curator featuring Sheridan Tucker Anderson

Of Her Becoming: Elizabeth Catlett’s Legacy in Chicago is one of the many exhibitions open this summer as part of Art Design Chicago. Open from June 14, 2024–August 31, 2024 at Arts + Public Life at the University of Chicago in the heart of Washington Park, this exhibition spotlights the work of Elizabeth Catlett and three contemporary Black women artists from the South Side. Works in the exhibition touch on topics surrounding the lived experience of Black women, activism, and more. Art Design Chicago sat down with curator Sheridan Tucker Anderson to better understand the history, impact, and legacy of Elizabeth Catlett.

Art Design Chicago: What is Elizabeth Catlett’s impact on the history of art in Chicago?

Sheridan: “I think it varies. I initially worked on a Charles White exhibition that was at the Art Institute and that was in 2018. Charles White was her first husband and working so closely with Catlett, though I have studied her throughout my career and through undergrad, she was right there but the exhibition wasn’t about her.

And so, Charles White, a famous wonderful artist in his own right, gave me the idea or the need to focus on her specifically. It’s a full circle moment now that I get to focus on her. She was here in Chicago for just maybe two to three years. She would spend her summers here taking classes at the Art Institute in sculpture and interfacing with artists at Southside Community Arts Center. She was raising money for them; she was an artist-activist.”

Read the full conversation “Questions with a Curator featuring Sheridan Tucker Anderson” on Art Design Chicago’s website, originally published July 31, 2024.