African-American Sculptor & Designer, Valerie Maynard, dies at 85

African-American Valerie Maynard was a sculptor, educator, printer, and designer. The civil rights struggle and social inequalities are common themes in Maynard’s writing. Her works have been displayed in Lagos, Nigeria, Sweden, and the United States.

Artist Valerie Maynard, Who Explored the Complexities of Identity, Passes Away at 85.

Valerie Maynard, an ambitious sculptor, and printmaker whose works attempted to capture the nuanced aspects of the Black experience passed away at the age of 85. The Baltimore Museum of Art, which presented a survey of her work in 2020, acknowledged her passing.

Asma Naeem, interim co-director and head curator of the BMA, stated in an email to ARTnews that “Valerie was a genuinely individual maker and thinker and her legacy stretches well beyond the art world and into an abiding universe of ethics and dignity. Her work was intensely local, real, and political. Who else could envision a world of injustice spanning from Harlem to Johannesburg, and who else could cut the African continent and our environment into dancing objects?

Maynard had been producing photos of Black men and women for the last 60 years that defied easy interpretations. She took on a variety of subjects, such as South Africa’s Apartheid and the place of Black artists in society, and she won a lot of followers in the process.

“Lost and Found.”

One was the writer Toni Morrison, who once penned an introduction for one of Maynard’s print series, titled “Lost and Found.” “This is an art that summons, that creates what should be and disassembles what should not,” Morrison wrote. “The medium is a dream, but the power is magic.”

Morrison, Stevie Wonder, and Lena Horne were among those who purchased Maynard’s work, according to Baltimore Magazine.

Maynard’s writings may come off as very straightforward. The sculpture Rufus (1968), made from a stone Maynard discovered at the bottom of a swimming hole, is made to resemble a regular Black man, with his eyes fixed off in the distance.

Valerie Maynard Age, Family, and Early Life 

Valerie Maynard was 85 years old. She was born on August 22, 1937, in New York, USA. She was of African descent and of American nationality.

Valerie’s Zodiac as per her date of birth is Virgo. No details on her parents are available at the moment.

Valerie Maynard Career, What was her Profession?

Maynard has held academic positions at Howard University, the University of the Virgin Islands, and the Studio Museum in Harlem. At the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and the Rochester Institute of Technology, she resided as an artist.

She was an influential member of the Black Arts Movement and also specialized in the preservation and restoration of traditional art created by people of color.

Maynard participated in the group show Labor, Love, Live Collection in Context while she was an artist-in-residence at The Studio Museum in Harlem from November 2007 to March 2008.

The prosecution of her brother, William Maynard, in the 1960s and 1970s, helped Maynard’s ideas of societal unfairness take shape. Before being exonerated, Mr. Maynard served six years in jail after being falsely convicted of murder. We are Tied to the Very Beginning, a sculpture by Maynard that examines the Civil Rights Movements of the 1960s and 1970s, was inspired by these occurrences. The architecture of the figure’s head and its clenched fist profoundly reflect the aesthetics of African identity. Many of Maynard’s figures feature big heads as a nod to the deformed nature of Igbo or Yoruba art produced in Africa.

Maynard was a member of a group of hundreds of African-American artists who participated in FESTAC 77, the Second World Black and African Festival of Arts and Culture in Lagos, Nigeria, in January 1977. They were representing the North American Zone.

The Metropolitan Transportation Authority hired Maynard in 2003 to produce a collection of glass mosaic murals named Polyrhythmics of Consciousness and Light. The piece of public art is still permanently erected in the New York City subway station on 125th Street.

Which school and college did she go to?

Maynard earned a master’s degree in art/sculpture in 1977 from Vermont’s Goddard College after studying painting and drawing at the Museum of Modern Art, printmaking at the New School for Social Research, and printmaking there. Her Maryland Institute College of Art Honorary Doctorate of Fine Arts was awarded to her in 2021. (MICA).

Valerie Maynard Net Worth, How much does she earn?

The net worth details of Valerie Maynard are not known.

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Valerie Maynard Husband, What is her relationship?

The details of the married life of Valerie Maynard are not very clear. We have no details on if she was married to anyone and had any children or not.

Is she available on any social media platforms?

We did a quick search for the social media reach of Valerie Maynard but weren’t able to find her on any social apps.

Physical Appearance of Valerie Maynard’s Height, Weight

Interesting facts about Valerie Maynard’s which should be known