Pioneer Information
Born in Fuquay-Varina, North Carolina and raised in Orangeburg, South Carolina, Buchanan graduated from Bennett College with a B.S degree in 1962. She continued her education at Columbia University, earning an M.S. in parasitology in 1968 and a M.P.H. in 1969. She subsequently worked as a medical technician in New York City and as a public health educator in New Jersey. In 1971 Buchanan enrolled at the Arts Students’ League, where she studied under painter Norman Lewis. Her early abstract expressionist paintings were inspired by derelict structures observed throughout the region. She continued to explore themes of architectural decay throughout the 1970s, producing, arranging, and photographing cast concrete assemblages of stone, brick, clay, and cement.
In 1977 Buchanan relocated to Macon, Georgia and from 1979 to 1986 produced site-specific works throughout the southeast that confronted African American histories of enslavement and segregation. Her installations often incorporated cement slabs or clay molds, rubbed with ground rocks or tabby (a mixture of lime, sand, oyster shells, water, and ash) historically used by African Americans in structures and graves markers. These works, referred to as “ruins,” were intended to weather and deteriorate over time, evoking themes of decay, commemoration, and memory. Constructed works include Ruins and Rituals (1979) and Unity Stones (1983) in Macon; Marsh Ruins (1981) in Brunswick, Georgia; and Blue Station Stones (1986) in Miami, Florida.
Beginning in the mid-1980s Buchanan produced sculptures, works on paper, and photographs depicting or inspired by vernacular southern dwellings or “shacks.” As an avid gardener Buchanan drew vivid floral compositions and was inspired by folk art traditions, creating “spirit jars,” which reference African American memory jugs. Buchanan died in Ann-Arbor, Michigan at the age of 74.
Photo © Estate of Beverly Buchanan, courtesy Andrew Edlin Gallery, New York
