Sallie Bingham

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You are here: Home / Art / W.O.W.

W.O.W.

March 3rd, 2019 by Sallie Bingham in Kentucky, Art 1 Comment

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Wonderful Old Women - No. 12 - Bessie (2012) Paper Mosaic  15"x11"

Wonderful Old Women – No. 12 – Bessie (2012) Paper Mosaic 15″x11″

My dear friend, Ann Stewart Anderson, is entering the last days of her life. I first met her long ago when I went to a show in Louisville where she was exhibiting some of her work, and I immediately recognized the originality and daring of a kindred spirit.

SO RARE!

Ann Stewart was the wonderfully effective second executive director—after me—of the Kentucky Foundation for Women, where she combined empathy for women artists with a practical grasp of what it takes to run a grants-giving not-for-profit, empathy and toughness combined.

Having met Judy Chicago when Judy and her collective were creating The Dinner Party, Ann Stewart put together a team of women to create a sewn major work called The Hot Flash Fan, celebrating menopause. As I remember, tampons were included in the design. It has looked for a permanent home for years, having been shown at intervals; I think in time it will find its roost as The Dinner Party, after decades, found its place in a wing devoted to Feminist Art in the Brooklyn Museum, thanks to Elizabeth Sackler.

I immediately recognized the originality and daring of a kindred spirit.

So it is in line with her fresh vision that she has devoted the past few years to creating a series of portraits called Wonderful Old Women. Many are mosaics, constructed out of bits of broken pottery. They combine the humor and wisdom that we as a culture are beginning to recognize as an aspect of women’s aging, perhaps our major contribution to the world around us.

Good-speed, Ann Stewart. You will find materials and inspiration where-ever you go to continue your vital work, and surely your final wish will be granted: to complete the last in the series of Wonderful Old Women.

Ann Stewart Anderson – KFW Digital Storytelling Project

Ann Stewart Anderson – Looking Back / Moving Forward a retrospective

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In Kentucky, Art 20 Favorites of 2019 Judy Chicago Ann Stewart Anderson

A long and fruitful career as a writer began in 1960 with the publication of Sallie Bingham's novel, After Such Knowledge. This was followed by 15 collections of short stories in addition to novels, memoirs and plays, as well as the 2020 biography The Silver Swan: In Search of Doris Duke.

Her latest book, Taken by the Shawnee, is a work of historical fiction published by Turtle Point Press in June of 2024. Her previous memoir, Little Brother, was published by Sarabande Books in 2022. Her short story, "What I Learned From Fat Annie" won the Thomas Wolfe Fiction Prize in 2023 and the story "How Daddy Lost His Ear," from her forthcoming short story collection How Daddy Lost His Ear and Other Stories (September 23, 2025), received second prize in the 2023 Sean O’Faolain Short Story Competition.

She is an active and involved feminist, working for women’s empowerment, who founded the Kentucky Foundation for Women, which gives grants to Kentucky artists and writers who are feminists, The Sallie Bingham Center for Women's History and Culture at Duke University, and the Women’s Project and Productions in New York City. She lives in Santa Fe, New Mexico.

Sallie's complete biography is available here.

Comments

  1. Carol M. Johnson says

    March 3rd, 2019 at 4:03 pm

    I’ve just spent the last hour or so being captivated by Ann Stewart Anderson. Such a fascinating woman to “spend time with”. It was an interesting way to tell a life story without the audible interruptions of of an interviewer. Thank you, Sallie, for sharing this friend of yours in such an intimate way. I’m just sorry I didn’t have the privilege of having her as a friend. She’s a pip!
    So, when will there be a similar “interview” of you? We’d all love to spend an hour listening to you weave a monlogue of your storied life up to its current chapter. You often share your written thoughts, but there’s something so appealing about sitting down and just….talking.

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Watch Sallie

Taken By The Shawnee

Taken By The Shawnee

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Sallie Bingham introduces and reads from her latest work, Taken by the Shawnee.
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This event was recorded November 1, 2024 in Taos, NM at SOMOS Salon & Bookshop by KCEI Radio, Red River/Taos and broadcast on November 8, 2024.
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This reading took place at The Church of the Holy Faith in Santa Fe, New Mexico in August of 2024.

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Years ago a man I was in love with persuaded me to have a large fish pond dug near my studio. I think it was his attempt to be part of my necessarily solitary life there; like other such attempts it failed—and now I'm left with the fish pond! https://buff.ly/fGgnN39 #Koi #KoiPond

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Our wisdom outlasts kingdoms and democracies and tyrannies. It is for all places all people and all times. Unfortunately our wisdom can be bought, suborned, which is what I see in all the pretty women around Mr. T. "Lady Wisdom": https://buff.ly/mKAYBnf #HagiaSophia #DonaldTrump

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