Amaza Lee Meredith was a woman ahead of her time. Or, more accurately, her time wasn’t ready for her.
An architect and educator who defied the limitations that society tried to put on her, Meredith was born in 1895 to a Black mother and a white father who weren’t allowed to marry because of anti-miscegenation laws. Unable to enter the architectural profession because of “both her race and her sex,” she nonetheless designed houses, founded Virginia State University’s art department and developed a subdivision for middle-class African Americans in Sag Harbor, New York.
Meredith’s life and work were the inspiration for “Dear Mazie,” a 2024-2025 exhibition at the Institute for Contemporary Art at Virginia Commonwealth University. It also inspired the new book “Dear Mazie,: Sanctuary, Speculation and Sky,” published by the ICA and the Center for Art, Research and Alliances earlier this year.
The ICA also recently published “Living to Learn: Art & Education for the Common Good.” Co-published by Inventory Press, the book explores the intersection of contemporary art and education in the 21st century. The book features contributions from dozens of artists, educators and curators.
Last month, Style interviewed the editors of both publications.
“Dear Mazie,: Sanctuary, Speculation and Sky”
Nestled in the trees, hiding behind VSU’s faculty parking lot 32, is Azurest South, the International Style home and workplace that Amaza Lee Meredith designed for herself and her partner Edna Meade Colson. The architectural masterpiece is just one of the legacies that Meredith left behind…