Margaret Taylor Burroughs

 

Parish Gallery proudly presents Dr. Margaret Burroughs, one of America’s top cultural figures: a poet, visual artist, educator, arts organizer, community activist, and institution builder.  This exhibition will be showing from February 5^th with a reception from 6:00 – 8:00 pm on Friday, February 19 and will run through Saturday, February 27, 2010.

Burroughs, born in Saint Rose, Louisiana in 1917 was always very passionate about learning, she moved to Chicago where in 1937 she received her elementary teaching certificate from Chicago Normal College.  She continued her education at Chicago Teachers College and later at The Art Institute of Chicago where she received her B.A. in art education in 1946 and an M.A. in 1948.

At age twenty-two she made the first of her many contributions to African American arts and culture when she founded the South Side Community Arts Center, an organization that serves as a workshop studio for artists and students and a gallery.  She continues to serve on the board of the center, which remains active more than 60 years after its formation.

In 1961, Burroughs and her husband, Charles made the first of her many contributions to African American posterity in the founding of the DuSable Museum of African American History, opening the fledgling museum on the ground floor of their Chicago home.  The museum later moved into its own buildings in Washington Park and has become an internationally recognized resource for African American art.  The museum houses a permanent collection of more than thirteen thousand artifacts, artworks and books and also hosts various educational programs.  “Every individual wants to leave a legacy; to be remembered for something positive they have done for their community,” stated Ms. Burroughs in Ebony Magazine.  “Long after I’m dead and gone, the museum will still be here.” 

Her exceptional skill as a printmaker has earned her a place within the history of art, even though she has worked in sculpture, painting and many other art forms throughout her career.  She has also illustrated a number of children’s books, published several volumes of her poems, and exhibited her own artwork all over the world.  Her work has been shown in exclusive shows at the Corcoran Art Gallery in Washington, DC and the Studio Museum in New York. She has served as art director for the Negro Hall of Fame.  To this day she remains active in the institutions that she has created in her lifetime.  She will be attending the reception.