Barbara Ward Armstrong

Barbara Ward Armstrong (March 24, 1940 - September 4, 2013) was an American artist who primarily worked in fabric sculptures, often called soft sculpture, and was heavily involved in artistic and musician communities throughout the United States.

Early life Ward Armstrong was born in Cambridge, Massachusetts to parents Frances Cole and Richard Herbert Ward and was their ninth and youngest daughter. Her father died when she was 7 years old and she was primarily raised by her grandmother, who taught her how to sew. She began sewing and creating dolls, crafts, and clothes when she was young.

After growing up in Cambridge near Harvard University, she graduated from the local Cambridge High & Latin, and then Emerson College, she then moved to New York in order to pursue dance and performance. There, she taught dance and designed costumes for the Billie Pope Dance Company. Ward Armstrong frequently used bold color, fabrics from different cultures around the world, 3D objects, and abstraction to play with traditional forms of art, such as African masks and portraiture. Her sculpture work has been exhibited at the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, the California Afro-American Museum, the Harriet Tubman House, and the Institute of Contemporary Art, Boston.

She collaborated with her husband and musician Howard Armstrong on many creative ventures. A POV documentary released in 2002, Sweet Old Song, was made about their life together.

Notable works

New Race I, 1986 New Race II, 1987-1988 Life Begins at 70, 1988 Let My People Go, 1989