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February Issue 2005
Weatherspoon Museum of Art in Greensboro, NC, Presents Exhibit Dealing with Civil Rights Movement
In anticipation of the opening of Greensboro's International Civil Rights Center and Museum later this year, the Weatherspoon Museum of Art, at the University of North Carolina-Greensboro, in Greensboro, NC, has organized an exhibition from the permanent collection that addresses core notions of freedom, equality, and opportunity for all. Artists and Civil Rights includes more than twenty prints, drawings, sculptures, photographs, and unique mixed media works made between 1909 and the present. The exhibit will be on view through Mar. 6, 2005.
Mel
Chin
Individual works mark events or periods in
our country's civil rights history that celebrate achievement;
protest racial, ethnic, and gender intolerance or inequality;
or call attention to specific issues and events. Mel Chin's Fan
Club (1994) is a multimedia sculpture created in memory of
Vincent Chin, a Chinese-American engineer killed in 1984 by two
American autoworkers who mistook him as Japanese. Harry Sternberg's
Southern Holiday (1935) and Vanilla Nightmare #7
(1986) by Adrian Piper portray scenes of lynching and slavery,
subjects which still challenge contemporary audiences given their
disturbing historical context.
Lewis Hine
Elizabeth Catlett
For many of the artists included in the exhibition, social activism and the hope for change has been an integral part of their art making. Elizabeth Catlett's woodcut print, Sharecropper (1952), conveys the dignity and strength of a tenant farmwoman despite many years of harsh life. Adolescent Spinner in Carolina Cotton Mill (1909) is one of Lewis Hine's historical photographs that documented the working and living conditions of Southern youth prior to child labor reform.
To demonstrate the breadth that issues of civil
rights play in almost every area of contemporary life, professors
and students at UNCG were invited to write about selected works
in a Community Label Project. The resulting collection of personal
response labels will accompany the works; they convey the diversity
of perspectives in our community and hopefully will assist viewers
to engage in a discussion about issues that still loom on our
cultural landscape.
Additionally, a comment book has been placed at the entrance to
the gallery to invite responses from visitors during the course
of the exhibition.
On Feb. 25 at 12:30pm, curator of education Ann Grimaldi will
lead a gallery talk through the exhibition.
Groups are invited to schedule free, guided tours of the exhibition
through Mar. 6, 2005. To schedule a tour, contact the Education
department at 336/256-1448.
Other exhibitions on view at Weatherspoon Museum of Art include: Phoebe Washburn: Bored Buys Options, on view through Feb. 20; Anne Chu: Falk Visiting Artist, on view through Apr. 17; American Art: 1960 - Present: Selections from the Permanent Collection, on view through July 3; and Jessica Stockholder Kissing the Wall: Works, 1988 2003, on view from Feb. 13 - May 8, 2005.
Editor's Note: This exhibition presents artworks that call attention to current and historical issues of civil and human rights. A few artworks contain graphic images and language that may be uncomfortable to some.
For further information check our NC Institutional Gallery listings, call the Museum at 336/334-5770 or at (www.weatherspoon.uncg.edu).
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