Syd Carpenter | |
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Born | 1953 (age 70–71) Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, U.S. |
Education | Tyler School of Art and Architecture |
Occupation(s) | Visual artist, educator |
Known for | Ceramics, sculpture |
Awards |
Pew Fellowship in the Arts Anonymous Was A Woman Award |
Website |
syd-carpenter |
Syd Carpenter (born 1953) is an African American artist and a retired professor of studio art. She is known for her ceramic and sculpture work, which explores African-American farming and gardening. [1] [2] [3] She has received multiple fellowships, including a Pew Fellowship and an NEA Fellowship, and her work is currently in the Smithsonian American Art Museum's collection and the Philadelphia Museum of Art's collection. [4] [5]
Carpenter was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania in 1953. [4] She earned her Bachelors of Fine Art in 1974 and Master of Fine Art in 1976 from the Tyler School of Art and Architecture. [1] [6] [7]
External videos | |
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“Ceramic artist Syd Carpenter”, PBS. 11/01/22. |
In 1991, Carpenter began teaching at Swarthmore College as a Professor of Studio Art, where she would teach until her retirement in the fall of 2022, resulting in the college no longer offering ceramic classes. [8] [7] At Swarthmore, she was appointed to the Endowed Peggy Chan Professorship of Black Studies in January 2021. [7] [9] In 1992, she was awarded the Pew Fellowship in the Arts. [10]
In 2014, Carpenter's exhibit "“Syd Carpenter: More Places of Our Own" was one of the two exhibits that the African American Museum in Philadelphia received a $50,000 award from the Knight Foundation to enhance. [11] [12] In 2021, Carpenter and artist Steve Donegan, designed and constructed " hugel mounds" at Woodmere Museum as environmental art pieces. [13] From January–May 2022, her exhibit Earth Offerings: Honoring the Gardeners, inspired by the legacy of Black farmers, was displayed in the Rowan University Art Gallery. [14] [15] [16] [17] [18] In May 2022, her piece, Mary Lou Furcron, was included in the Smithsonian American Art Museum exhibit, “This Present Moment: Crafting a Better World." [19] In November 2022, Carpenter was named one of Anonymous Was a Woman (AWAW) 2022 award recipients, receiving $25,000. [20] On December 16, 2022, Carptenter appeared in the award-winning documentary series, Craft in America episode "Home,” alongside artists Biskakone Greg Johnson, Wharton Esherick, and Sim Van der Ryn. [2]
Carpenter's work is held in the permanent collections of the Smithsonian American Art Museum, [4] the Metropolitan Museum of Art, [21] and the Philadelphia Museum of Art, among other institutions. [5]