Image Not Available

Sonya Clark

United States, b. 1967

BiographySonya Clark was born in Washington, D.C. in 1967 to parents who emigrated from the Caribbean; her mother is from Jamaica and her father is from Trinidad. At an early age, Clark developed an interest in the visual arts. Her grandmother, a tailor by profession, taught Sonya how to sew. Although Clark's parents were very supportive of her artistic nature, she decided to follow her father, a psychiatrist, and study psychology at Amherst College, finishing her B.A. in 1989. After graduation, Clark traveled to West Africa to study textiles. Two years later, she returned to school and earned her BFA from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago; in 1995, she completed her MFA from Cranbrook Academy of Art, Michigan.

A believer in sharing her education with others, Sonya Clark has taught at numerous institutions. Currently she is the chair of the Craft/Material Studies Department at Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond. Clark's work is held in a number of private and public collections, including the White House; the Montreal Museum of Decorative Arts, Canada; the Hampton Museum, Virginia; and the Indianapolis Museum of Art, Indiana.