Amy Sherald shares stories of her life and career, and reflects on her experience as the official portraitist for First Lady Michelle Obama. Sherald discusses her upbringing in Georgia, her path to becoming an artist, the development of her artistic voice, and major breakthroughs in her career, including her receipt of first prize in the National Portrait Gallery's Outwit Boochever Portrait Competi tion for "Miss Everything (Unsuppressed Deliverance)." She also remembers the Oval Office meeting with President Obama and the first lady at which she was selected as the official portraitist, recounts her process of styling and working with Michelle Obama, and describes composing the portrait and unveiling it alongside Kehinde Wiley, President Obama's portraitist. Also discussed are the evolution of Michelle Obama's style over the course of the Obama presidency, the artists that have influenced Sherald throughout her career, and Sherald's experience of suddenly becoming a well-known artist
Amy Sherald works mostly as a portraitist, illuminating Black Americans in everyday, real-life settings. In 2016, Amy Sherald won the National Portrait Gallery's Outwin Boochever Portrait Competition with her painting "Miss Everything (Unsuppressed De liverance)." The next year, she was selected to paint former First Lady Michelle Obama's official portrait, which was unveiled in 2018 for the National Portrait Gallery. In September 2020, her posthumous portrait of Breonna Taylor was on the cover of Vanity Fair. At the time of the interview, it was on display at the National Museum of African American History and Culture
Note
Interviewed by Mary Marshall Clark on March 30, 2021. This interview is part of the Columbia University: Obama Presidency Oral History
Note (Provenance)
Amy Sherald, Gift, transferred from Columbia Center for Oral History Research 2022