Dindga McCannon
- Hayeon Kwak
- May 27, 2024
- 5 min read
Updated: Aug 2, 2024
Dindga McCannon is an African-American artist based in New York City
“I’ve always equated my relationship with art with a long love affair. You know how you would do outrageous things for love, all throughout your life? This is how I feel about art. I’ve done some outrageous stuff, but, man, I’m still in love.”- Dindga McCannon
Art pieces line the white halls, filling an otherwise blank space with bursts of equidistant colour. The rigid and exact spacing between the pieces contradicts the freedom expressed within them. From fabric on paintings to acrylic and yarn, the artist, Dindga McCannon, has pioneered a modern form of fibre art with her vibrant and unique use of colour and textiles.
Dindga McCannon uses diverse materials to create remarkable art that addresses everything from racism, and sexism, and recognizing female artists. Today, McCannon’s art is presented in many exhibitions, such as Black Power at the National Civil Rights Museum (Memphis, Tennessee), Fridman Gallery (New York City, New York), and Pippy Houldsworth Gallery (London, UK). But success didn’t come easy to her.
From the time she realized and announced her love for art to her family at ten years old, McCannon was met with nothing but discouragement. In the mid-20th century, social attitudes towards equality and inclusion were just barely emerging, but misogynistic ideas popularized earlier in history forced women into the role of subordinates to their male counterparts in the art field. Like many parents, McCannon’s wanted the best for her, and an artist’s path for their daughter seemed unpromising at the time. Still, McCannon was eventually allowed to attend a school which included fashion design as a subject. It was there that she was first introduced to colourful fabrics and unique textures.
After graduating, McCannon jumped head-first into the art scene. After finding a job as a volunteer teacher, she attended night classes at the City College of New York, immersing herself in the overwhelming knowledge available to her in the world. Amidst the vibrant art scene of New York City, McCannon was drawn to the Black Arts Movement, a community that produced art centred around Black experience and culture. The group led her to explore art in various contexts, such as politics, music, literature, and activism. With fellow young artists from the Black Arts Movement, McCannon formed the Weusi Artists Collective, an organization of African American Artists creating art that represented African American history using culturally significant themes and symbols. Weusi, named after the Swahili word for blackness, nurtured young McCannon’s dreams of art, teaching her practical skills she would need later in life, such as stretching a canvas, and even getting her her first solo show at a coffee shop.
After two years at the City College of New York, McCannon wanted more and left to join the Art Students League of New York in Manhattan to learn from renowned instructors, including artists Jacob Lawrence and Richard Mayhew. Unlike the City College, where McCannon and other black students faced harsh criticism for painting Black subjects, the Art Students League had classes taught by important Black artists from previous generations. Under the auspices of the Art Students League, McCannon found herself more at home, away from the mainstream art community that had been painfully slow to recognize Black artists.
After graduation, McCannon went on to make her place in the New York art scene, discovering her own style. But with two children at home, and the misogynistic tradition that kept men away from any form of childrearing and housekeeping, McCannon struggled to find a balance between being an artist, a housewife, a parent, and work. Without any support behind, McCannon felt alone and helpless until she met artists Faith Ringgold and Kay Brown. The three women shared their day-to-day struggles as black female artists faced with the double bind of racism and sexism. Eventually, more women were invited to talk, and a community of Black female artists formed naturally around regular meetings. McCannon, Ringgold, and Brown decided to hold a show at a gallery in Greenwich Village, called Where We At: Black Women Artists: 1971 as the first public debut of the collective that came to be known as Where We At. What started as a heart-to-heart between a close-knit group of female artists grew into a refuge, a lifeline for those struggling to stay afloat against the oppressive expectations society had for mothers, female artists, and black people in general. Members of Where We At could depend on each other for support of any kind, whether it was an emotional outlet to share stories and feel a sense of community, or material help, such as babysitting or covering rent. In McCannon’s own words, they were the “sisters [she] never had.” Where We At was family for many women, and the collective drew increasing interest from the public, becoming a revolutionary nonprofit that lasted 28 years.
Through Where We At, McCannon’s focus shifted to feminism both in her life and art. With the support of fellow women artists to turn to, McCannon’s work began to take on an even more unique form. Up until the 1970s, McCannon had largely used painting and printmaking, but soon her practice expanded to include quilting. McCannon’s first few unique quilts exhibited at the American Craft Museum in New York, garnered a positive public reaction that encouraged her to keep going.
For over fifty years, Dindga McCannon created fibre artwork, representing her life as an African American woman in Harlem. While her work was celebrated throughout her entire career by fellow black artists and the fibre art community, McCannon’s work remained unrecognized by mainstream art communities for decades. It was only recently, in 2021, that Dindga McCannon had her first solo exhibition, In Plain Sight, at Fridman Gallery in New York.
Since her breakthrough, McCannon has been able to create whatever her heart desires. With the burden of financial hardship finally lifted off her shoulders, McCannon is enjoying the luxury of saying “no,” to projects she does not want to undertake to continue to learn and experiment with her style. “As artists, you never stop growing, you never stop learning, you never stop experimenting, you never stop doing,” McCannon said in an interview with the New York Times. Today, Dindga McCannon is celebrated across the United States as well as Europe, paving the way for fibre art and young artists to follow.
Written by Hayeon Kwak
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