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ACKLAND ART MUSEUM Email us: www.ackland.org Exhibitions Piece by Piece: Quilts, Collages, and Constructions Chords of Memory: Lithographs by Thomas Hart Benton Highlights from the Permanent Collection
One of America’s most remarkable living artists, Thornton Dial is widely recognized for his large-scale, multimedia assemblages, yet his most abundant body of work is his drawings, which he began producing in the early 1990s. Organized by the Ackland Art Museum, Thornton Dial: Thoughts on Paper will feature 50 of Dial’s earliest drawings from 1990-1991, a pivotal moment in his artistic career. The Ackland Art Museum is well known for its extensive collection of works on paper and in particular, its outstanding collection of drawings, making it a natural venue in which to explore this less-known but highly significant portion of Dial’s oeuvre. The works in the exhibition—characterized by flowing lines, color washes, and images of women, fish, and tigers—provide a touchstone of Dial’s creative process. Public Lecture and Opening Reception Bernie Herman, guest exhibition curator and George B. Tindall Professor of American Studies, UNC-Chapel Hill, will give an introductory talk about Thornton Dial and the works in Thoughts on Paper. A reception at the Ackland Art Museum—with music by the Sinful Savage Tigers—follows. An accompanying publication, Thornton Dial: Thoughts on Paper, edited by Bernard L. Herman (guest exhibition curator and George B. Tindall Professor of American Studies at The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill) and published by UNC Press, offers the first sustained critical attention to Thornton Dial’s works on paper. The book includes contributions by Bernard L. Herman, Juan Logan, Glenn Hinson, Colin Rhodes, and Cara Zimmerman. It is available for purchase at the Ackland Museum Store. The presentation of Thornton Dial: Thoughts on Paper at the Ackland Art Museum is made possible by a generous grant from the National Endowment for the Arts and the David G. Frey Expendable American Art Fund. Support for all Ackland exhibitions is provided by the William Hayes Ackland Trust, and members and friends of the Ackland Art Museum. Piece by Piece: Quilts, Collages, and Constructions Centered on a quilt from the legendary Gee’s Bend, Alabama, quilting community, this exhibition celebrates both the act of “piecing together” works of art from disparate elements and the influence of traditional women’s fabric arts on modern and contemporary art. Featuring quilts, sculptures, collages, painting, photography, and prints from eighteen artists in the Ackland’s permanent collection, Piece by Piece celebrates the work and influence of quilting both outside and within the art establishment. Notable works include Aldwyth’s The World According to Zell (1997-2001), Lezley Saar’s Elizabeth Keckley: Mrs. Lincoln’s Seamstress (2002), Ann Hamilton’s Untitled (Bookball) (1994), and many more.
Associated with the Regionalist movement, Thomas Hart Benton wanted to create a “living art” that presented American subjects in a way that was easily accessible to everyday people. He traveled on sketching trips around America’s heartland during the Depression, often playing his harmonica in exchange for room and board. His lithographs record his travels, paying homage to the people and places that he encountered. Some of the prints deal with Benton’s memories of his own childhood in Missouri, of his family and neighbors and how they lived. Others deal with music—with the singing, foot stamping, and folk songs that shaped the character of rural life in the South and Midwest. However, by the 1940s, these songs were beginning to disappear. Chords of Memory examines Benton’s attempt to record these songs and the way of life that they represented. Two abstract oil paintings by Benton will be shown along with the exhibition. They represent the artist’s early experiments in synchronism, a movement interested in creating harmonies with color just as musicians composed with sound.
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