“I never want to be more than three minutes from the George,” said Ringgold. And like her character, Ringgold, who now makes her home in Englewood, N.J., a short distance from the span, has been a lifelong fan. Tar Beach is adapted from Ringgold’s original Tar Beach story quilt on which the narrative text of the children’s book, along with Ringgold’s autobiographical information, is woven on the quilt’s border. “I can wear it like a giant diamond necklace. One evening she actually does: “Now I have claimed it,” Cassie says.

To escape the sweltering summer heat of their Harlem apartment, Cassie’s family would go up to the roof and cool off on the “beach,” where Cassie dreamed of someday flying over the George Washington Bridge.

In the book, Ringgold recounts the dream adventure of eight-year-old Cassie Louise Lightfoot, who was born the same day the George Washington Bridge opened in 1931.Ĭassie is based on Ringgold’s own childhood memories growing up in Harlem during the 1930s. Perhaps no artist has impressed the hearts and minds of children more through the bridge’s beauty than Faith Ringgold, renowned painter, textile artist and award-winning author of the children’s book Tar Beach. The George Washington Bridge may not be quite as famous as that other well-known bridge in Brooklyn, but if popularity in the lofty world of bridges is measured by a span’s ability to inspire world-class art, the star power of the GWB is undisputed.įor the past 85 years, the George has sparked the imaginations of writers, composers, filmmakers and, perhaps most importantly, generations of children.

Faith ringgold tar beach art