Ringgold, Unterberg, Vendler to be honored by arts academy

NEW YORK (AP) — Artist Faith Ringgold, poetry critic Helen Hennessy Vendler and photographer Susan Unterberg will be honored this spring at the American Academy of Arts and Letters’ annual awards and induction ceremony. Ringgold, known for her narrative quilts and her themes of social justice, will receive a Gold Medal for Painting. Vendler, who has been cited for championing the works of Seamus Heaney, Jorie Graham and many others, will be given a Gold Medal for Belles Lettres and Criticism.  Unterberg will be presented an award in recognition of her founding the organization Anonymous Was a Woman, which provides grants to women-identifying artists.