Barbara Ward Armstrong (1940–2013) was a gifted visual and performing artist who was born and raised in Cambridge. She was an accomplished musician, dancer, and seamstress who fashioned many of her own clothes and designed theatrical costumes. Barbara’s design and fabric artistry culminates in her richly textured African-inspired fabric sculptures, also known as soft sculptures, a medium she helped to define. These soft sculptures range from doll-size to life-size and are constructed entirely of dark-hued fabric and are adorned from head to toe in colorful fabrics, beads, and other artifacts representing all corners of the African Diaspora.
Although most of the sculptures are held in private collections, a family of four, called New Race II, was recently donated to the Cambridge Public Library and is currently on exhibit at the Institute of Contemporary Art (ICA) “Say It Loud” exhibition through August 2. “Say It Loud” is an historic collection of the works of thirty-nine artists affiliated with the African American Master Artists-in-Residence Program (AAMARP) at Northeastern University.
The Cambridge Black History Project is hosting a special tour of “Say It Loud” on July 23. There are a limited number of spaces available. Please contact the CBHP by July 18 at info@cambridgeblackhistoryproject.org for further details if you would like to join them on this special tour.
