Artist Barbara Bullock and editor Klare Scarborough with a copy of the reprinted edition.
PFF would like to thank the books editor Klare Scarborough, for her dedication to preserving and sharing Barbara Bullock's artistic legacy. She has been instrumental in bringing this reprint edition of Barbara Bullock: Chasing After Spirits to new audiences. This book continues our ongoing collaboration with Scarborough. PFF has previously had the pleasure of working with her, alongside Berrisford Boothe, on the publication of Shifting Time: African American Artists 2020-2021. We are grateful for her continued support of amplifying the works of Black artists.
Barbara Bullock: Chasing After Spirits has recently been reprinted in a 2026 edition published by the Petrucci Family Foundation Collection of African American Art. The book was originally published in 2016 by La Salle University Art Museum, with lead sponsorship from the Petrucci Family Foundation. The book features a preface by Leslie King Hammond; a poem by Linda Goss; interpretive essays by Lewis Tanner Moore, A.M. Weaver, Klare Scarborough, and William R. Valerio; and documentation including Nannette Acker Clark’s 1988 Spirit Rain exhibition essay and a 2014 interview with the artist. 176 pages, 155 illustrations.
Be sure to check out Barbara Bullock: Chasing After Spirits, now available in this newly reprinted edition!
For more information on the book, see our Publication Page
Barbara Bullock (b.1938) is a celebrated Philadelphia-based visual artist whose work has been exhibited widely, including in exhibitions such as Fearless Vision at Woodmere Art Museum and Echoes of Our Future at the Barbara Crawford Gallery. Bullock has also had solo exhibitions at Howard University and the Afro-American Historical and Cultural Museum, and was the recipient of a Pew Fellowship in the Arts in 1997. Her exhibition Chasing after Spirits, for which this book is also titled, was held at the Seraphin Gallery in Philadelphia.
“I describe my entire body of work as "Chasing after Spirits"... My work embodies research identity and the gathering of elements of African American retentions, evoking residues of dreams, images, and intuitive memories, creating visual stories that reach back into ancestral histories, and stories that impact the here and now.”
- Barbara Bullock
(quote from Seraphin Gallery)
Barbara Bullock: Chasing After Spirits honors Bullock's life and work as an artist. This book traces the genealogical, inspirational and international influences that have led to an unbelievable body of work by the prolific artist. The book is available on Amazon at the link below!
Highlight written by Hannah Sirlin, Collection Registrar at PFF
