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October Issue
2009
Hickory Museum
of Art in Hickory, NC, Honors North Carolina's NAACP 100th Anniversary
The Hickory Museum of Art in Hickory, NC, is presenting three exhibitions honoring the 100th anniversary of the NAACP, including: Ebony: Faces of African Americans in Catawba County, on view through Dec. 27, 2009; Rhythm & Rights: 1960s Era Photography by Mervin Sealy, on view through Jan. 31, 2010; and Of My People: Romare Bearden, John Biggers, Elizabeth Catlett and Jacob Lawrence from The Reverend Douglas and Dr. Doris Hughes-Moore Collection, on view through Dec. 27, 2009.
The NAACP will hold its 100th Anniversary Celebration as part of its Annual Conference, which will be in Hickory from Oct. 7 - 11, 2009.
Ebony: Faces of African Americans in Catawba County provides a look at African Americans residing and working in Catawba County through photographs created by graduating students from Catawba Valley Community College (CVCC). The images were selected by CVCC's Photographic Technology Instructor, Joe Young, and the Executive Director of CVCC's Office of Multicultural Affairs, Steve Hunt, in collaboration with Hickory Museum of Art staff members.
I, features works by this former NAACP Hickory Branch President and member of Morning Star Baptist Church. A native of Brooklyn, Sealy and several friends started a business called "Reflections" where they photographed family occasions, models, people on the street and performers. Some of the famous individuals he photographed and are featured in this exhibition include: Miles Davis, Smokey Robinson, Dizzy Gillespie, Bill Cosby, Nancy Wilson and Rosa Parks.
The third exhibition in the Hickory Museum of Art's NAACP anniversary tribute is, Of My People: Romare Bearden, John Biggers, Elizabeth Catlett and Jacob Lawrence from The Reverend Douglas and Dr. Doris Hughes-Moore Collection. Each of the nationally recognized artists in this exhibit are African Americans with important connections to North Carolina. Their art has also contributed to the appreciation of African American culture and civil rights in our state and throughout the country.
Romare Bearden (1911-1988) was born in Charlotte, NC. He is known for his strong imagery featuring everyday rituals of African American rural life in the South, as well as urban life in the North. During the 1960s civil rights movement he began to create more socially conscious art utilizing the collage, in which he continued to work until his death. A child of the Harlem Renaissance, Bearden was also a professional baseball player, song-writer, political cartoonist and social worker.
John Biggers (1924-2001) was born in Gastonia, NC. He founded the Texas State University (now Texas Southern) art department. His works depict mostly rural and poor African Americans. His murals and prints often reflect people working. In later creations, he often depicted suffering because of race or religion. Instead of soliciting galleries, Biggers sold and gave away much of his work without commercial representation to help spread his reputation as an artist.
Elizabeth Catlett
Elizabeth Catlett (born in 1915) is known for her sculpture and her prints which blend traditional African art forms with traditional realism depicting the Black experience, including their social struggle. Though she was born in Washington, DC. Catlett had strong family connection to the South. She also taught in the Durham public school system after graduating from Howard University. During this time Catlett participated with lawyer (later Supreme Court Justice) Thurgood Marshall in an unsuccessful effort to gain equal pay for Black teachers.
Jacob Lawrence (1917 2000) was born in Atlantic City, NJ. He had strong ties to the South through his parents who were part of the Great Migration, involving many Southern African Americans who left for opportunities in the North during the 1920s and 1930s. Lawrence shows this theme in his 1940-41 series "Migrations of the Negro." He taught painting at Black Mountain College in Black Mountain, NC, in the summer of 1946 as part of an innovative curriculum which impacted many of the art world leaders of the twentieth century.
This exhibition series is sponsored by a grant from the United Arts Council of Catawba County, the North Carolina Arts Council, with funding from the State of North Carolina and the National Endowment for the Arts which believes that a great nation deserves great art, in addition to special assistance from Catawba Valley Community College (CVCC).
For further information
check our NC Institutional Gallery listings, call the Museum at
828/327-8576 or visit (www.HickoryMuseumofArt.org).
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