On Friday, March 23 in the NCCU Art Museum, artist Elizabeth Catlett entertained a host of students, faculty and admirers during a walk-through for her exhibit “Elizabeth Catlett: Master Printmaker.”

The artist, whose career spans over five decades, gave a lively presentation sprinkled with anecdotes and memories of the events that have inspired her work over the years.

“Art makes me happy,” said Catlett. “It is a part of fulfilling your life.”

Born to John and Mary Carson Catlett on April 15, 1915, Catlett has spent her entire life creating.

“I started out drawing paper dolls and all kinds of dresses and things,” said Catlett about her early fascination with art. “Then in high school I started sculpting.”

Since discrimination kept blacks from enrolling in art school, Catlett enrolled at Howard University and graduated cum laude in 1935. After graduating from Howard, Catlett accepted a teaching job at Hillside High School in Durham, NC where she also supervised elementary school art programs. Catlett remembers the hardships she faced as teacher in the Durham County school system.

“Some teachers couldn’t handle their students,” she recalls. “One boy brought a gun to school to shoot the principal. They put him in my room, and I taught him how to print letters.” Years later, Catlett saw the boy painting a sign on the side of a building.

“That impressed me,” she said.

Catlett later entered graduate school in 1938 at the University of Iowa. In 1940, she graduated from Iowa and earned the first M.F.A from the school. Catlett’s artistic career took a drastic turn in 1945 when a grant from the Julius Rosenwald Foundation allowed her to travel to Mexico and study with the Taller de Grafica Popular, an art community that protested against social injustice.

During her time in Mexico, Catlett became one of the Taller de Grafica’s most active and outspoken members. After years of harassment by the American government, Catlett married Mexican muralist Francisco Mora and became a naturalized Mexican citizen in 1962. She remains in Mexico, but regularly travels the United States to attend exhibitions and conferences.

Hearing Catlett talk about her career is like an extended lesson in Black history. Over the years, her work has come to represent all aspects of Black life. During the exhibit, Catlett spoke openly and frankly about her work.

“I don’t like this one,” said Catlett about “Waving,” a piece published in 1989 that shows a Black woman waving in front of a black background.

“Someone asked me to do this for them. When someone says ‘I want you to do this,’ or ‘I don’t want you to do that’ then I don’t have any inspiration at all.”

One of her most popular and politically charged pieces, “Homage to the Panthers,” was created as a symbol of praise for the Black Panthers.

“I was inspired by the work they were doing with the children in Oakland,” said Catlett about the Panthers piece. “They were a group with the intention of being good people. I thought if they had been left alone they could have done a lot more. I thought they were forced into violence.”

When she created “Malcolm X Speaks for Us,” Catlett says she was thinking of something “emotional.”

“I try to do something that will move people,” she said about the piece.

Catlett continues to work everyday, and is currently working on a 15 foot, bronze monument to Ralph Ellison. She is also planning a trip to New Orleans to discuss doing a monument to Mahalia Jackson.

The mother of 3 children, 9 grandchildren, and 3 great-grandchildren, Catlett enjoys listening to classical, folk, and jazz music, and reading mysteries in her spare time. She says one of the main goals of her work is to get more blacks involved in the arts.

“What hurts me is that I don’t see many black people in museums,” said Catlett. “One of my efforts is to get art by black artists in the museums to encourage black people to come to the museums. I’d rather see people in art museums than at baseball games, but that’s just my opinion.”