Amy Sherald

The subjects of Amy Sherald’s portraits are African Americans. They wear clothing with vibrant colors and patters, and they stand out from richly colored, textured backgrounds. They look right at us, and they seem to be taking our measure. Their portraits are beautiful, luminous, and intense. When Sherald was asked to paint Michelle Obama’s official portrait, she produced a painting that was a departure from the traditionally stodgy first-lady portrait. Wearing a voluminous dress, Obama is seated against a sky-blue background, and she’s looking right at us, taking our measure.

Debbie talks to portrait painter Amy Sherald about her emotionally evocative work. “I didn’t know I was doing it until I had a show, and I had like, three people start crying when looking at the work. And I was like, what is with y’all?”

For more information about Design Matters or to subscribe to the show newsletter, go to DebbieMillman.com. If you love this podcast, please consider contributing to Debbie’s Drip Kickstarter community. Members get transcripts of every interview, invitations to live episodes, Q&A sessions with guests, and a brand new annual magazine. You can learn more about this at https://d.rip/debbie-millman. And if you like this podcast, please write a review on iTunes and link to the podcast on social media. Design Matters is produced by Curtis Fox Productions. The show is published exclusively by DesignObserver.com.

Subscribe to Design Matters with Debbie Millman on iTunes, your favorite podcast app, or follow on SoundCloud.