Amalia Amaki "Born to Blow Blue" Mixed Media Art

Amalia Amaki (American (Atlanta, Georgia) b. 1949- ), "Born to Blow Blue"-1991, mixed media textile, signed, dated and titled at right. Modern artwork with ruffled black lace framed central soft pillow with portrayal of the talented jazz musician and singer Bessie Smith (American, 1894-1937) on blue dyed and printed cotton textile, depicted with red lips and wearing a long pearl stranded necklace with faux pearl and pink ribbon embellishment, sides of pillow with blue fabric showing sheet music for Pick Pocket Blues-1928 and Slow Drivin' Moan. Overall framed approximately 17.3" x 26.5". Provenance: From the Private Collection of Dr. & Mrs. Calvin Wayne McLarin, Atlanta, Georgia. Note: Amaki had her first retrospective exhibition at the National Museum of Women in the Arts and the Spelman College Museum of Fine Art in 2005. Amaki earned a bachelor's degree in journalism from Georgia State University, a bachelor's degree in photography and painting from the University of New Mexico and a doctorate from the Graduate Institute of Liberal Arts at Emory University. She worked a a curator (Paul R. Jones Collection) and an assistant professor of Black American Studies at the University of Delaware. Amaki's artwork can be found in the collections of the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, the High Museum of Art, Atlanta, the Minnesota Museum of American Art, St. Paul, the University of Delaware, Newark, DE, the Albany Museum of Art, Albany, GA and the Hammonds House Museum, Atlanta, Read more…