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Buttons are a universal fastener connecting the world through an everyday item. Through this medium I create visual and wearable artworks by hand-sewing clothing buttons onto mostly upcycled fabrics, materials, and objects. My goal is to generate a dialogue by using buttons to expand the definition of art, stimulate one’s curiosity and imagination, draw attention to the unique history of buttons, and address a vast array of themes including pop culture and social justice.
Beau McCall—proclaimed by American Craft magazine as “The Button Man”—creates visual and wearable art by hand-sewing clothing buttons onto mostly upcycled fabrics, materials, and objects. His artworks offer commentary on an array of topics such as pop culture and social justice.
In the late 1980s, McCall began his professional career in New York’s Harlem neighborhood after arriving from his native, Philadelphia, PA with nothing more than a few hundred dollars, a duffel bag, and buttons. Circa 1988 he made his wearable art debut at The Harlem Institute of Fashion (HIF) show for HARLEM WEEK. McCall went on to become an established force within HIF’s collective presenting at their shows consecutively through 1995, as well being featured in their Black Fashion Museum exhibitions and prestigious events. During this time, McCall’s visually captivating work was featured in the fashion bible Women’s Wear Daily, on the PBS version of George C. Wolfe’s The Colored Museum (1991), and in the award-winning film Quartier Mozart (1992), directed by Jean-Pierre Bekolo. The film won prizes at film festivals in Cannes, Locarno, and Montreal and was nominated, in 1993, for a British Film Institute award.
In 2012, McCall professionally applied his mastery of the button to visual art. Since then, both his visual and wearable art have entered the permanent collection of public institutions and private individuals including the Getty Research Institute (Los Angeles, CA), Museum of Arts and Design (New York, NY), Philadelphia Museum of Art (Philadelphia, PA), Victoria and Albert Museum (London, UK), Rhode Island School of Design (Providence, RI), The Museum at FIT (New York, NY), Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture (New York, NY), Amistad Research Center (New Orleans, LA), The Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Thomas J. Watson Library (New York, NY), The Museum of Modern Art Library (New York, NY), Leslie-Lohman Museum of Art (New York, NY), Stonewall National Museum & Archives (Fort Lauderdale, FL), The San Francisco Museum of Modern Art Library (San Francisco, CA), Cyndi Lauper’s True Colors Residence (New York, NY), Debbie Harry of Blondie, Jeffrey Gibson, and Cristina Grajales. McCall has also been commissioned by several institutions including the Museum of Arts and Design, The Newark Museum of Art (Newark, NJ), Columbia University (New York, NY), and the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture.
McCall’s visual and wearable art has been included in exhibitions at the Museum of Arts and Design, The Museum at FIT, Park Avenue Armory (New York, NY), Nordstrom (New York, NY), the African American Museum in Philadelphia (Philadelphia, PA), Houston Museum of African American Culture (Houston, TX), Charles H. Wright Museum of African American History (Detroit, MI), Stax Museum of American Soul Music (Memphis, TN), the Langston Hughes House (New York, NY) in partnership with the inaugural Columbia University Wallach Art Gallery Uptown triennial and StoryCorps, and Rush Arts Gallery (New York, NY). And his wearable art can be found in multiple Museum gift shops.
McCall has been featured in The New York Times, Associated Press, NPR, Los Angeles Times, on PBS, and more. In addition, he has served as a speaker and/or teaching artist at The Metropolitan Museum of Art (New York, NY), Peabody Essex Museum (Salem, MA), the New York Public Library, and the Harlem Arts Alliance.
McCall has also created a wearable art line called, Triple T-shirts. For these pieces, he upcycles three T-shirts by combining them into one flowing garment that can be worn in six different ways. Each style—from poncho to hoodie to shawl and beyond—brings dynamic versatility to traditional T-shirts. The shirts are curated to form a narrative about various socially-conscious and lighthearted themes.
In 2021, McCall released his debut artists’ book titled, REWIND: MEMORIES ON REPEAT, commissioned and published by SHINE Portrait Studio@ Express Newark, Rutgers University-Newark. The book honors the legacy of ten of McCall’s deceased friends through collages composed of archival photos and images from his button artwork. The collages capture the late 1970s to the mid-1980s, from Philadelphia to New York, during the LGBTQ+ rights movement, the height of disco music and the AIDS crisis.
In 2024, McCall debuted his first-ever retrospective and exhibition catalog titled, Beau McCall: Buttons On! at Fuller Craft Museum (Brockton, MA). The exhibition is currently on a nationwide tour including stops at the Museum of Craft and Design (San Francisco, CA), Mattatuck Museum (Waterbury, CT), and the African American Museum in Philadelphia.
In McCall's words, his artistic practice is rooted in the belief that, “With a teeny tiny button you can create, you can have a voice, and you can inspire.”
McCall currently lives and works in Harlem, NY.
For more information: BeauMcCall.com or IG: @beau_mccall
2025
Jar of Beau, GBH, Boston, MA
GBH Community Canvas Digital Mural
2024
The National Arts Club, Guest Speaker, December 2024
The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Guest Speaker, June 2024
Fuller Craft Museum, Guest Speaker, March 2024
RISD Museum, Guest Speaker, January 2024
Museum of Arts and Design, Guest Teaching Artist, January 2024
2023
Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, Guest Panelist, August 2023
Stonewall National Museum, Archives, & Library, Guest Speaker, June 2023
Museum of Arts and Design, Guest Panelist, February 2023
2022
Peabody Essex Museum, Guest Teaching Artist, September 2022
2021
Museum of Arts and Design, Guest Teaching Artist, November 2021
2018
Newark Museum of Art, Guest Teaching Artist, November 2018
2012
Harlem Arts Alliance, Guest Teaching Artist, July 2012
The New York Public Library, Guest Teaching Artist, June 2012
2024
PBS, “One button at a time, Beau McCall makes his mark on the art world,” September 2024.
Harvard Magazine, “Unbuttoned Up,” September 2024.
Smithsonian Folklife Magazine, “The Afterlives of Buttons and the Visionary Fashion of Beau McCall,” September 2024.
The Boston Globe, “Beau McCall a.k.a. The Button Man, blurs the lines between art, fashion, and craft,” July 2024.
Art New England, “Summer of Joy” (cover story), July 2024.
Forbes, “Beau McCall, ‘The Button Man,’ At Fuller Craft Museum, July 2024.
NBC New York, “Meet the artist transforming buttons into works of art,” April 2024.
FOX 5 New York, “Creating wearable art with buttons,” February 2024.
Columbia University’s Columbia Neighbors, “A Conversation with Harlem’s Beloved ‘Button Man’ Beau McCall,” February 2024.
Dilys Blum, Dr. Christine Checinska, James Claiborne, Michelle Millar Fisher, Barbara Paris Gifford, Stamatina Gregory, Colleen Hill, Kara Olidge, Eric Darnell Pritchard, Petra Slinkard, and Souleo, Foreword by Beth C. McLaughlin, Beau McCall: Buttons On! (Fuller Craft Museum, 2024).
Barbara Paris Gifford, ed. OUT of the Jewelry Box. (Museum of Arts and Design, 2024). Pages 54, 59.
2023
NY1 News, “Artist Beau McCall uses all types of buttons for his unique creations,” November 2023.
Miami Herald, “This art exhibit in Fort Lauderdale honors the joy and power of Black, LGBTQ friendship,” June 2023.
ESSENCE, “Artist Beau McCall is Highlighting LGBTQ+ History By Honoring His Lost Friends,” July 2023.
EBONY, “Artist Beau McCall–’The Button Man’–Celebrates Pride Month with Nostalgic Collage,” June 2023.
New York Amsterdam News, “Rewinding memories by preserving friendships,” June 2023.
The New York Times, “Reminiscing About Clothes that Shaped Hip-Hop,” February 2023.
Elizabeth Way and Elena Romero, Foreword by Slick Rick, Fresh Fly Fabulous: 50 Years of Hip Hop Style (Rizzoli Electa, 2023).
2021
Beau McCall, REWIND: MEMORIES ON REPEAT (Newark, NJ: SHINE Portrait Studio@ Express Newark, Rutgers University-Newark, 2021).
Indira Etwaroo and Hollis King, Black Lives Matter Bed-Stuy 2020: Our Open Casket to the World (The Billie Holiday Theatre, 2021).
2018
American Craft Council Magazine, “Material Matters: Button Man,” June 2018.
2017
The Houston Chronicle, “Identity and inspiration on display in 'i found god in myself,'” March 2017.
2016
The Associated Press, “Buttons as Contemporary Art, Reimagined in NYC Exhibition,” January 2016.
2014
New York Daily News, “Harlem artists team up for new Schomburg exhibit honoring the 40th anniversary of Ntozake Shange’s poetic monologues,” October 2014.
NBC’s TheGrio.com, “Eyes on the Wall: 40 African-American Artists to Watch,” January 2014.
2013
The New York Times, “Evening Hours” (Bill Cunningham), November 2013.
TV One, “Life After” (Season 5), October 2013.
The New York Times, “On the Street” (Bill Cunningham), September 2013.
WNBC, “Positively Black” September 2013.
NBC’s TheGrio.com, “Legendary filmmaker Melvin Van Peebles makes visual art debut at Harlem gallery,” September 2013.
NY1 News, “Motown Sounds Inspire Harlem Galleries Exhibit,” June 2013.
The Philadelphia Gay News, “Beau McCall: Of Buttons and Bottles,” May 2013.
2012
WNBC, “NY Nightly News with Chuck Scarborough,” July 2012.
EBONY.com, “Artists’ Diary: Beau McCall and Shirley Nette Williams,” July 2012.
BlackEnterprise.com, “8 Works of Art from Everyday Objects,” July 2012.
NY Amsterdam News, “Singer Ledisi Finds Beauty and Beau McCall is Visual Artist of the Month,” July 2012.
RollingOut.com, “Artist Beau McCall Creates Chic Fashion and One-of-a-Kind Mosaics with Buttons,” June 2012.
BlackEnteprise.com, “Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Decoded,” January 2012.
1992
Women’s Wear Daily, “Buttons and Beau,” July 1992.
1991
PBS, “George C. Wolfe’s The Colored Museum,” February 1991.
2024
OUT of the Jewelry Box, Museum of Arts and Design, New York, NY
I’m a Thousand Different People–Every One is Real, Leslie-Lohman Museum of Art, New York, NY
A Few of Our Favorite Things: Selections from Childs Gallery, Childs Gallery, Boston, MA
Africa’s Fashion Diaspora, The Museum at FIT, New York, NY
CANDESCENCE: A Tribute To Charlotte Mills Mouquin Voznesenskaya, Pelham Arts Center, Pelham, NY
2023 - Present
Untitled, Marcus Live! Bar & Grille, East Rutherford, NJ
2023
Art and Design from 1900 to Now, RISD Museum, Providence, RI
Craft Front & Center, Museum of Arts and Design, New York, NY
Newark Arts Festival: Cross Cultural Perspectives, Newark Museum of Art, Newark, NJ
Uptown Triennial 2023, Columbia University, New York, NY
Fresh, Fly, and Fabulous: Fifty Years of Hip Hop Style, The Museum at FIT, New York, NY
2022
Newark Arts Festival: Artful Healing, Newark Museum of Art, Newark, NJ
Reinvention and Restlessness: Fashion in the Nineties, The Museum at FIT, New York, NY
2021
Newark Arts Festival: Dionne Warwick: Queen of Twitter, Hahne & Co., Newark, NJ
2020
Styling: Black Expression, Rebellion, and Joy Through Fashion, Nordstrom, New York, NY
2018
Supernatural Woman: Tribute to the Queen, Irwin House Gallery, Detroit, MI
Oh You Fancy! Black Hair & Fashion, Charles H. Wright Museum of African American History, Detroit, MI
i found god in myself: a celebration of Dr. Ntozake Shange’s for colored girls… Charles H. Wright Museum of African American History, Detroit, MI
2017
i found god in myself: a celebration of Dr. Ntozake Shange’s for colored girls… City Without Walls Gallery, Newark, NJ
i found god in myself: a celebration of Dr. Ntozake Shange’s for colored girls… Houston Museum of African American Culture, Houston, TX
2016
The Button Show, Rush Arts Gallery, New York, NY
i found god in myself: a celebration of Dr. Ntozake Shange’s for colored girls… African American Museum in Philadelphia, Philadelphia, PA
2015
Stax: Visions of Soul, Stax Museum of American Soul Music, Memphis, TN
Untitled, Cyndi Lauper’s True Colors Residence, New York, NY
2014
i found god in myself: the 40th anniversary of Ntozake Shange’s for colored girls…, Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, New York, NY
2013
eMerge 2.0: Melvin Van Peebles & Artists on the Cusp, Strivers Gardens Gallery, New York, NY
Motown to Def Jam, multi-venue exhibition: Arts Horizons LeRoy Neiman Art Center, and Strivers Gardens Gallery, New York, NY
Art Enology: Philadelphia, Vivant Gallery, Philadelphia, PA
Sculpture Now 2013, Honfleur Gallery, Washington D.C.
Lasting Legacy: An AARP Exhibition, Arts Horizons LeRoy Neiman Art Center, New York, NY
2012
Art Enology, Art in Flux Harlem, New York, NY
Unveiled, Unlocked, The City College of New York, New York, NY
eMerge: Danny Simmons & Artists on the Cusp, Strivers Gardens Gallery, New York, NY
2025
Beau McCall: Buttons On!, Mattatuck Museum, Waterbury, CT, October 2025 - January 2026.
Beau McCall: Buttons On!, Museum of Craft and Design, San Francisco, CA, May 2025 - September 2025.
2024
Beau McCall: Button-Up, Button-Down, Fashion Outlets of Chicago, Chicago, IL, October 2024 - June 2025
Beau McCall: Buttons On!, Fuller Craft Museum, Brockton, MA, March 2024 - February 2025.
REWIND: MEMORIES ON REPEAT, Childs Gallery, Boston, MA, June 2024 - August 2024.
2023
REWIND: HISTORY ON REPEAT, Stonewall National Museum, Archives, & Library, Fort Lauderdale, FL, June 2023 - September 2023.
2017
The Conversation, Columbia University/The Langston Hughes House, New York, NY, June 2017.
African American Museum in Philadelphia
Amistad Research Center
Cyndi Lauper’s True Colors Residence
Fuller Craft Museum
Getty Research Institute
Leslie-Lohman Museum of Art
Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Thomas J. Watson Library
The Museum at FIT
The Museum at FIT Library
Museum of Arts and Design
The Museum of Modern Art Library
The Newark Museum of Art
Peabody Essex Museum
Philadelphia Museum of Art
The Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture
RISD Museum
The San Francisco Museum of Modern Art Library
Stonewall National Museum, Archives, & Library
Victoria & Albert Museum
African American Museum in Philadelphia
Columbia University, Miriam and Ira D. Wallach Art Gallery
Museum of Arts and Design (MAD Ball Gala 2022)
Newark Arts
The Newark Museum of Art
Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, New York Public Library
The Store at MAD (Museum of Arts and Design)
Design Industries Foundation (DIFFA)
