Opening Reception - Sedrick Huckaby “Big Mama’s House”

In “Big Mama’s House,” Fort Worth artist Sedrick Huckaby takes a long loving look at all aspects of his grandmother’s life to reflect the fullness of her person. Until her passing this summer, Hallie Carpenter sat for all of Huckaby’s studies, from up-close paintings of her face without her wig, to more formal portraits in her church attire, to panoramic views of her seated among the things in the one room to which her life contracted as she aged. In this series of more than 60 paintings, pastels, and drawings, Huckaby’s work stands as a universal statement about all grandmothers who are venerated as matriarchs of their family.

A 2008 recipient of a Guggenheim Fellowship and an earlier Joan Mitchell Foundation Award, Huckaby is inspired by his faith, his family, and his African-American heritage. After earning a BFA at Boston University in 1997 and an MFA from Yale University in 1999, he returned to live and work in his hometown of Fort Worth.

Huckaby’s work is included in the permanent collections of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston; the Nasher Museum of Art at Duke University, Durham; the Whitney Museum of American Art, New York City; and the African American Museum, Dallas, among others.