Betye Saar

A native of Los Angeles and Pasadena, California, Saar studied design at the University of California, Los Angeles—an academic field imposed upon women of color who were interested in the arts, rather than Fine Arts, due to the racism and sexism prevalent in universities at the time. Saar eventually studied printmaking, and her earliest works on paper use the soft-ground etching technique, where she pressed stamps, stencils, and found materials into her plates to capture their images and textures. Her prints are notably concerned with spirituality, cosmology, and family. With her background in design and printmaking, Betye Saar created Takin’ A Chance on Luv’ during her residency at FWM. Saar worked closely with Master Printer Robert Smith to create large silk screens to print the rhythmic fan pattern repeating on the border and the large-scale symbols of dice, fish, and hands appearing in the center of the duvet.