An Evening with Lavett Ballard

The Community Folk Art Center presents, An Evening with Lavett Ballard. Join us on Zoom for an in-depth talk with artist and art historian, Lavett Ballard. This is a conversation that you don’t want to miss!

Traveling back to the many summers spent at her family’s farm in Virginia, Lavett Ballard would reminisce on the stories that her grandmother told about their hometown. Based in New Jersey, Ballard uses visual narratives to reflect social issues that affected the African American experience in the south.

The nostalgic memories of old wood around what she would refer to as “the Big House”, vintage photos, and listening to the histories being told are what led to Ballard’s practice of African Diaspora art. Using aged wood as her palettes, Ballard narrates historical stories of resistance, survival, and joy that would lead her to do a commission on Rosa Parks for Time Magazine’s special Woman of the Year double edition, released in March 2020.

Whether it’s diving into the story of the 1921 Tulsa Race Riot or the Rosa Parks Bus Boycott, “Stories My Grandmother Told Me” takes one on a visual journey through southern roots.

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