An elegant young woman with a giant teacup. A man holding a whale puppet. Baltimore artist Amy Sherald paints vibrant oil portraits of African-Americans, like characters from a fairy tale. She says she creates an imaginary world for marginalized people who have not always had the luxury of imagination. “There’s places in this world where fantasy just doesn't exist and it doesn't exist in the minds of the people who live in those spaces,” she says. Amy Sherald tells us about her near-death experience, the years of effort, and the major prize she won last spring from the National Portrait Gallery. A show of her work goes up in Baltimore this weekend.
Amy Sherald, Portrait Artist
