A Star is Born (at 86)

Shirley Woodson was born in 1936. She grew up and still lives in Detroit. It’s her city, her muse. At 86 the artist recently opened her first ever solo exhibition at her hometown museum, The Detroit Institute of Arts. “Shirley Woodson: Shield of the Nile Reflections” features 11 of the artist’s big, vibrant canvases depicting black bathers in rivers. On this episode we chat with the busy-as-ever artist and Valerie Mercer, the exhibition’s curator and head of the DIA’s Center for African American Art.