Beverly Buchanan

Beverly Buchanan (October 8, 1940 – July 4, 2015) was an African-American artist whose works include painting and sculpture. Buchanan is noted for her exploration of Southern vernacular architecture through her art.

Buchanan was born in Fuquay, North Carolina, but grew up in Orangeburg, South Carolina, where her father was dean of the School of Agriculture at South Carolina State College, which was then the only state school for African Americans in South Carolina.

In 1962, Buchanan graduated from Bennett College, in Greensboro, North Carolina, a historically black women's college, with a bachelor of science degree in medical technology. She went on to attend Columbia University, where she received a master's degree in parasitology in 1968 and a master's degree in public health in 1969.

Although she was accepted to medical school, Buchanan decided not to go due to her desire to dedicate more time to her art. In 1971 she enrolled in a class taught by Norman Lewis at the Art Students League in New York City. During the 1970s Romare Bearden became her friend and mentor. Buchanan decided to become a full-time artist in 1977 after exhibiting her work in a new talent show at Betty Parsons Gallery. In the same year, she moved to Macon, Georgia.

Buchanan has created drawings, sculpture, prints, and photos.

In 1976 and 1977, Buchanan drew "black walls" on paper. She "wanted to see what the wall looked like on the other side" and put four walls together in three dimensions. She then began to sculpt in cement. An example of a three-dimensional work from her early career is the sculpture "Ruins and Rituals" at the Museum of Arts and Sciences in Macon, Georgia, a series of concrete structures that recall ancient tombs.

Buchanan is best known for her many paintings and sculptures on the “shack,” a rudimentary dwelling associated with the poor. Scholar Janet T. Marquardt argues that Buchanan treats shacks not as documentary elements but as "images of endurance and personal history"; often using bright colors and a style of childlike simplicity, the works "evoke the warmth and happiness that can be found even in the meanest dwelling, representing the faith and caring that is not reserved for privileged classes."

1980: Guggenheim Fellowship and a National Endowment for the Arts Fellowship. 1990: National Endowment for the Arts Fellowship in sculpture. 1997: Georgia Visual Arts honoree. 2002: Anonymous Was a Woman Award. 2005: College Art Association Committee for Women in the Arts distinguished honoree

2011: Women's Caucus for Art lifetime achievement award