26 Facts About Sonya Clark

Sonya Clark's father was a psychiatrist from Trinidad while her mother was a nurse from Jamaica.

Sonya Clark was influenced by the craftspeople in her family, including a grandmother who worked as a tailor, and a grandfather who was a furniture maker.

Sonya Clark then received a BA in psychology from Amherst College in 1989.

Sonya Clark went on to receive a BFA from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago in 1993, where she studied with the artists Nick Cave, Anne Wilson, and Joan Livingstone.

In 1995, Sonya Clark received an MFA from Cranbrook Academy of Art.

In 2011, Sonya Clark was honored with Cranbrook Academy of Art's first Distinguished Mid-Career Alumni Award.

Sonya Clark has been a recipient of four honorary doctorates.

Sonya Clark cites professor Rowland O Abiodun, Amherst College as an early influence in her studies of the connection between her Caribbean culture and Yoruba culture, which was further enhanced by a post-graduation trip to the Ivory Coast, where she learned to weave on a hand loom.

Sonya Clark cites Nick Cave as instrumental in furthering her investigations in fiber.

Sonya Clark is a professor of art in the department of Art and the History of Art at Amherst College.

Much of Sonya Clark's work utilizes humble materials and objects, like combs, seed beads, coins, threads, and strands of hair.

Sonya Clark is perhaps best known for artwork that honors contemporary craftspeople, like hairdressers, and notable African American figures.

Sonya Clark has studied with craftspeople in places like Australia, Brazil, China, Cote d'Ivoire, Ghana, India, and Indonesia, where she learned about their mediums, tools, technique, and cultural associations.

The Hair Craft Project is a series of photographs and canvas works that were made in collaboration between the artist and Black hairstylists, who Sonya Clark sees as practicing their own form of textile artistry.

On each canvas, the hairstylists duplicated the hairstyle done on Sonya Clark's hair using silk thread.

Sonya Clark further considered the hair strand as a tool for communication and worked with graphic designer Boquin Peng to create an alphabet based on the curl pattern of her hair called Twist.

Sonya Clark specifically utilized Kente patterns for strength and endurance, advancement and achievement, and prosperity.

Since 2009, Sonya Clark has created serial projects surrounding the Confederate Battle Flag.

Sonya Clark has performed Unraveling in June 2015 at the now-defunct Mixed Greens gallery in New York City and then at the Nasher Museum of Art at Duke University, in October 2016.

In 2017, Sonya Clark created a hand woven linen cloth reproduction of the white dish towel used by a Confederate soldier to surrender at the Appomattox Court House on April 9,1865.

Sonya Clark reproduced the Truce Flag with the intention of drawing attention back to the flag that brokered and to the Civil War, questioning why symbols of white supremacy, such as the Confederate Battle Flag, are memorialized in favor of symbols of peace.

Sonya Clark's work has been exhibited in over 500 museums and galleries in Europe, Africa, Asia, Australia, and throughout the Americas.

Sonya Clark's work is in the collection of many museums including the Indianapolis Museum of Art, Delaware Art Museum, Philadelphia Museum of Art, the Madison Museum of Contemporary Art, and Memphis Brooks Museum.

Sonya Clark's work has been favorably reviewed in journals such as Art in America, The New York Times, Sculpture, Surface Design Journal, The Los Angeles Times, Fiber Arts, New American Paintings, Philadelphia Inquirer, Italian Vogue, Hyperallergic, Mother Jones, and Huffington Post.

Sonya Clark was inducted into the American Craft Council College of Fellows in 2020.

In 2023, Sonya Clark's work was featured in the group show and accompanying publication Spirit in the Land, organized and displayed by the Nasher Museum of Art at Duke University, which is traveling to the Perez Art Museum Miami.