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Janaury Issue 2003
NC Museum of Art in Raleigh, NC, Offers Year Long Events Celebrating the 100th Anniversary of the Wright Brothers' Historic 1903 Flight
North Carolina residents should fasten their seatbelts and prepare for take-off in Mar. 2003 when the North Carolina Museum of Art in Raleigh, NC, embarks on a year-long celebration of aviation and the imagination with the festival Into the Blue.
Presented by Blue Cross and Blue Shield of
North Carolina, Into the Blue will commemorate the 100th
anniversary of the Wright Brothers' historic 1903 flight through
concerts, films, family events, workshops, lectures and more,
culminating in the Museum's ambitious exhibition Defying Gravity:
Contemporary Art and Flight, scheduled Nov. 2, 2003, through
Mar. 7, 2004.
"The exhibition is the heart of our centennial celebration,
but our visitors will also enjoy dynamic flight-related programming
inside the Museum and outdoors in the Museum Park," said
Museum Director Lawrence J. Wheeler. "Through our education
curriculum, we will reach schoolchildren across the state, right
in their own classrooms, providing them the opportunity to explore
the history of flight and the power of their own imagination."
The partnership with Blue Cross and Blue Shield of North Carolina will enable the Museum to serve as a hub of the state's celebration of the Wright Brothers' Kitty Hawk flight, said Bob Greczyn, president and CEO of BCBSNC. "We at Blue Cross and Blue Shield of North Carolina could think of no better way to celebrate this historic achievement than by teaming with the North Carolina Museum of Art, the state's leading cultural organization, to carry the celebration throughout the state," he said. "We're doing more than commemorating an event that took place in North Carolina. We're celebrating the innovation and imagination that flight represents."
The Defying Gravity exhibition explores the relationship between aviation and the imagination and the timeless human desire to fly. As many as 70 works, covering two entire floors of the Museum and part of the surrounding grounds, will make up Defying Gravity, believed to be the largest flight-related contemporary art exhibition in the nation. Included are large-scale works such as Panamarenko's fantasy flying machine and the works of Malcolm Morley, who achieves a zany mix of history, culture and mythology, as well as curious contraptions, giant color photographs, intimate graphite drawings, film, video and installations simulating flight.
Into the Blue
festivities are scheduled to begin in Mar. 2003 with a trio of
flight-related films screened as part of the Museum's 2003 Winter
Film Series. At the same time, artists will begin installing the
first commissions for "Defying Gravity". Plans for the
summer outdoor series include an "Into the Blues" blues
concert, juggling and acrobatic groups, and various musical performances,
all taking place in the Joseph M. Bryan, Jr., Theater in the Museum
Park.
One of the largest Into the Blue programs is scheduled
for Dec. 17, 2003, the centennial anniversary of the Wright brothers'
flight. A highlight of this program will be a one-day installation
by Triangle-based artist David Solow, who will create an airport
runway on the Museum grounds using special luminaries.
The Museum will keep extended hours on this day for visitors wishing
to see Defying Gravity. The Museum will also take the resources
of the exhibition Into the Blue to communities across North
Carolina through the Internet. Web pages called "Flight Plans"
will include biographies of selected artists from the exhibition,
ideas for fun and educational activities in classrooms and homes,
a series of lesson plans for school courses, reading lists, exhibition
information and links to additional resources. The "Flight
Plans" Web pages will be on-line starting in Apr. 2003. The
lesson plans included on the Museum's Web site will also be made
available in other media for classrooms across the state. The
lesson plans will be primarily designed for grades four and eight
and for high school students, with at least three different units
for each grade. Materials, including slide programs, are distributed
without charge to any school in North Carolina through the Museum's
lending service.
Admission will be charged for Defying Gravity and for
some of the Into the Blue programs. For tickets or information,
call the Museum at 919/715-5923 or on the web at (www.ncartmuseum.org).
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