Artist
“I’d have to say my most valued tools acquired from Scripps are my writing skills. Through writing, I have been able to verbalize my ideas to others and myself, in a clear and artful manner. I believe that writing, coupled with a strong Humanities background has enriched and broadened my vision of the world.”
As an Art History major at Scripps, Alison studied African, Haitian, Afro-Cuban, and other black visual traditions under Samella Lewis. She wrote her senior thesis on art made by self-taught African Americans. Alison received her M.F.A. in 1981 from the Otis Art Institute at the Parsons School of Design. She is also the recipient of numerous grants and artist residencies and has been represented by the Jan Baum Gallery in Los Angeles since 1982. Alison has also had three New York gallery shows and solo exhibitions at the New Gallery in the Canadian cities of Calgary and Alberta. In addition, she has also has shows at the Cleveland Center for Contemporary Art and the Addison Gallery of American Art in Andover, Massachusetts. The Wright Art Gallery of the University of California at Los Angeles organized and toured “Secrets, Dialogues, Revelations,” a retrospective shared with her mother, Betye Saar in 1990-1991. Alison’s work has been included in more than fifteen significant group shows, namely the 1993 Biennial Exhibition at the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York. A permanent commission by Alison can be seen at the 125th Street commuter station in Manhattan, New York.