Meet the Artist: Sonyetta Strickland

Meet Hartford-grown, Manchester-based artist, Sonyetta Strickland, who created the selection of art works on display in the glass cases on the 3rd floor of the Downtown Library.

Strickland, whose work on display was created between 1996-2022, uses clay, paint, ink, wood, and objects like beads and cowry shells to tell stories about womenhood, sisterhood, brotherhood, family, and celebration, illuminating how she sees and envisions communities of the African diaspora. She says, “most of my inspiration comes from fellowshipping with my community.”

Sonyetta Strickland was born in Lumpkin, Georgia and grew up in Stowe Village on Kensington Street in Hartford. As a child, she was inspired by a Fred D. Wish Elementary School classmate who drew cartoons like Mickey Mouse and motivated her to draw superheroes, which her mother let her paint on her sibling’s bedroom wall. She found everything she could about art at the Barbour Street Library to teach herself how to create. She continued to sketch through high school and became a visual arts major at Manchester Community College. Stickland has been making art for decades and has shown her work in Hartford, Manchester, Stratford, CT and Springfield, MA. “Art became my foundation and my strength during difficult times in my life. I took solace in my work and leaned into my creative passion by sculpting, painting and wood-working,” says Strickland.