This is Lois Mailou Jones, an American painter and textile artist from the Harlem Renaissance movement in the 1930's.She received international acclaim during a time when black, female artists--especially painters, were often not taken seriously in America.
There is an unfortunate lack of materials available for many of the great female artists, and especially those of color, designed for young artists. It is absolutely important young children see artists who reflect the diversity of our world.Due to the lack of resources available online for her, I am still working on 3 part cards and reading materials and will update soon.
Lois Mailou Jones was a fantastic painter and textile artist to come out of the Harlem Renaissance movement, and one of the only female african american artists to be recognized internationally. Her work has beautiful Haitian and African themes that would pair wonderfully with geography studies, and black history month. Her geometric patterns can also be paired with the metal inset work and geometry cabinets.
Many of her works also include elements of cubism which can be used in 3-d art projects, or to introduce the style as a whole.
Here is an example of her textile patterning. Here I would simply trace a small portion of this (for example one diamond) and allow children to paint or color their own patterns with-in. You can limit the color palette to complimentary (yellow, orange, red) and grey and black to keep the look and feel of this piece. I would love to see a whole booklet of these pieces!
An example design
Many of her pieces have these mask-like images. I have pictured below one of her paintings and a project from www.artprojectsforkids.org that pairs well with it.
Image source: artprojectsforkids.org
Draw a simple mask design on black paper with white colored pencil. Crayons or oil pastels could be used as well if you have children who have not developed their pencil grip yet.