Faith Ringgold’s Children’s Book Art on Display at High Museum 

For some visitors, Faith Ringgold’s newest exhibition at the High Museum will transport them back decades. For others, it will capture them in their present moment. But regardless of their stage in life, the show aims to reconnect viewers with their childhood through the late artist’s beloved children’s book illustrations.

Andrew Westover first encountered Faith Ringgold’s children’s book art while working on Ringgold’s retrospective at the New Museum of Contemporary Art in New York around 2021-22, where he helped create a reading room featuring her literary works.

When Westover joined the High Museum of Art in 2022 as deputy director of learning and civic engagement, he knew exactly which artist he wanted to feature in the museum’s children’s book exhibition series.

“I immediately thought of Faith Ringgold, because I think her work is incredible, and there really has not been any exhibition of this scale for her children’s picture books,” said Westover, a former middle school teacher from Glendale, Arizona, who taught at Melvin E. Sine Elementary School before transitioning to museum work.

The result is “Faith Ringgold: Seeing Children,” which runs June 27 through Oct. 12 and features more than 100 original paintings and drawings from the late artist’s beloved children’s books, including never-before-exhibited works from titles such as “Tar Beach” and “We Came to America.”

Westover emphasized that visitors will see Ringgold’s original illustrations, the actual artworks she created before they were digitized and compiled into books. The exhibition marks the eighth in the High’s popular children’s book art series.

Ringgold, who died in 2024 at age 94, was widely celebrated for her paintings and narrative quilts but received less recognition for her award-winning children’s books.

“Faith Ringgold started her career as a teacher and believed that all children are artists and should seriously consume art,” Westover said. “Often a child will first encounter visual art on the pages of picture books, and they can help children feel valued and empowered.”

The exhibition planning process extended over several years, continuing even after Ringgold’s death. “Exhibition making is a long process,” Westover explained. “It starts with an idea, and then it goes to research, and then it goes to conversations, and then at some point, a contract comes along, and then it’s actually building the role.”

While the museum didn’t work directly with Ringgold extensively, Westover praised her family’s efforts to preserve her legacy. “She has an incredible family that has done so much to preserve and protect her legacy and her work,” he said.

The exhibition features original artwork from a dozen of Ringgold’s books, including “If a Bus Could Talk: The Story of Rosa Parks” (1999), “Dinner at Aunt Connie’s House” (1993) and “Tar Beach” (1991), which tells the story of Cassie, a Black child in 1930s Harlem who imagines a future where she can go anywhere from her apartment rooftop. Also featured are complete works from “The Invisible Princess” (1999) and “We Came to America” (2016), which examines immigration history in America.

Organized into three sections, American Histories, Stories We Tell, and American People,  the exhibition explores what Westover calls three key themes: adults’ capacity to see children, children’s ability to see themselves and their world, and children’s ability to imagine possibilities beyond adult perspectives.

When asked about his hopes for young visitors, Westover said: “When they walk in, I want them to be curious. I want them to look at everything. I hope that they’ve come with a loved one who they can have conversations with about the work.”

He wants children to leave feeling “inspired” and “affirmed,” hoping they’ll be “pushed to ask questions or learned a new story or understood a little bit more about the past.”

For adult visitors, Westover has similar goals: “I want them to connect. I want them to experience the works of art. I want them to connect with the people they came with and hopefully have opportunities for self reflection on how does this reflect with what I know of America, of faith, Ringgold, of history, of the present, and how might this shift my thinking, especially if I think a bit more as a child might.”

In conjunction with the exhibition, the Alliance Theatre will present “Rhythm & Thread” (June-August 2025), a theatrical show for young audiences inspired by Ringgold’s quilts. The production, created by Andrea Washington and featuring artistry by Marquetta Johnson and an original jazz score by Eugene H. Russell IV, is designed for children under five and their caregivers as part of the Alliance’s Bernhardt Theatre for the Very Young series.

The exhibition will be presented in the Special Exhibition Galleries on the second level of the High’s Stent Family Wing.