The E-Spot with Camille Kauer
-ec0dcee.png/:/rs=h:230,cg:true,m/qt=q:100/ll)
September 28, 2024–January 5, 2025 East Bldg NCMA
Venice and the Ottoman Empire
The exhibition explores the relationship between the Republic of Venice and the Ottoman Empire from 1400 to 1800. Featuring 190 works across various media, it showcases the interactions between these two Mediterranean rivals in areas such as politics, diplomacy, economics, art, technology, and cuisine.
To Take Shape and Meaning: Form and Design in Contemporary
The North Carolina Museum of Art Announces Spring 2024 Exhibition Schedule, Featuring To Take Shape
"Raleigh, NC — The North Carolina Museum of Art (NCMA) is pleased to share its upcoming spring season, on view from February through July 2024 and featuring the Museum’s first major exhibition of contemporary Indigenous art. The exhibitions invite audiences to consider multilayered storytelling and contemporary materials spanning three centuries of American art history. To Take Shape and Meaning: Form and Design in Contemporary American Indian Art will celebrate its opening on March 2 with the NCMA’s second annual NC Indigenous Artist Festival.
Organized by guest curator Nancy Strickland Fields (Lumbee), director and curator of the Museum of the Southeast American Indian at the University of North Carolina at Pembroke, To Take Shape and Meaning: Form and Design in Contemporary American Indian Art will be on view at the NCMA from March 2 to July 28, 2024. Featuring works by 75 Indigenous artists from over 50 tribes across the United States and Canada, this exhibition is a testament to the enduring elements of form and design in American Indian art. In an exhibition composed exclusively of 3-D artworks, each piece reflects both traditional American Indian craftsmanship and contemporary culture.
The show includes baskets made out of blown glass, cars transformed into works of art, and cutting-edge fashion ensembles embellished with goose feathers and turkey quills, which reveal transitions of place, experiments in materiality, and meanings blended from present-day and traditional beliefs. Curator Fields states, "For thousands of years, Native artists have manipulated their materials into fantastic expressions of art. The contemporary artists featured in the show are among the most acclaimed in their genres and are credited with pushing their art forms in ways that retain meaning and continue to evolve culture.” To Take Shape and Meaning will be accompanied by an NCMA–published exhibition catalogue with essays by Fields, artist Rose B. Simpson (Santa Clara Pueblo), and Stephen Fadden (Mohawk), director of programming at Poeh Cultural Center in Pojoaque, New Mexico.
On Saturday, March 2, the Museum will celebrate the opening of To Take Shape and Meaning with the NC Indigenous Artist Festival and free admission to the exhibition. Community Days will occur on Saturday, April 20;
Sunday, May 19;
Sunday, June 16; and
Sunday, July 21, from 10 am to 5 pm. Exhibition programming details include:
Artist Panel: Indigenous Understanding of Shape and Meaning in American Indian Art Friday, March 1, noon–1 pm. Free with registration. Join us for a discussion moderated by guest curator Nancy Strickland Fields (Lumbee) with renowned artists Kenneth Johnson (Muscogee/Seminole), Virgil Ortiz (Cochiti Pueblo), and Margaret Roach Wheeler (Chickasaw/Choctaw).
NC Indigenous Artist Festival Saturday, March 2, 10 am–4 pm Free, including free admission to To Take Shape and Meaning Celebrate Indigenous arts and culture from across the state of North Carolina, meet artists, and buy traditional crafts and contemporary jewelry, and drop in for free workshops and a performance by Lumbee culture dancers.
Meet the Curator: Nancy Strickland Fields Free on Community Days: Saturday, March 2, April 20, 1–2 pm Free with ticket to the exhibition (must register): Saturday, May 18, June 8, 1–2 pm Meet Nancy Strickland Fields, director/curator of the Museum of the Southeast American Indian and guest curator of this celebration of contemporary Indigenous art, who leads a tour of To Take Shape and Meaning.
To Take Shape and Meaning: Form and Design in Contemporary American Indian Art:
March 2–July 28, 2024 NCMA, East Building, Level B, Meymandi Exhibition Gallery
Free for Members, $20 Adults, $17 Seniors age 65 and older, $14 Youth ages 7–18, Free for children 6 and under and college students
To Take Shape and Meaning
A decade in the making, "Art in Bloom" SPring '24
A DECADE IN BLOOM: THE NCMA CELEBRATES 10TH ANNUAL ART IN BLOOM, PRESENTEd by PNC Bank
"Raleigh, NC — The North Carolina Museum of Art (NCMA) is thrilled to announce the 10th edition of its annual Art in Bloom festival, a five-day Museum fundraising event showcasing local and national floral designers who interpret in flowers the works of art in the People’s Collection. Presented by PNC Bank, this highly anticipated celebration of creativity will take place March 13–17, 2024. All funds raised by Art in Bloom support the Museum’s public programming, annual exhibitions, and the NCMA Foundation, Inc. Art in Bloom tickets went on sale to NCMA members on Thurs., Jan. 18, and will go on sale to non-members at 10 am, Thurs., Feb. 8. With limited capacity and time slots expected to sell out, those interested in attending are encouraged to join as members for early ticket access. All 2024 Art in Bloom tickets also includes free entry to the NCMA’s special exhibition To Take Shape and Meaning: Form and Design in Contemporary American Indian Art. Over the past decade, Art in Bloom has been sponsored by PNC Bank and has displayed over 400 floral installations, welcomed over 130,000 attendees, and featured nearly 200 North Carolina floral artists..”
“As one of the Triangle’s most anticipated and cherished annual events, Art in Bloom continues to inspire visitors, create local economic impact, and support the NCMA, an institution that is integral to our region’s cultural landscape,” said Jim Hansen, PNC Regional President for Eastern Carolinas. “All of us at PNC are proud to have supported this successful event since its inception and look forward to helping welcome visitors during this special milestone year of creativity and artistry.” In honor of the event’s 10th year and the 100th anniversary of the founding of the North Carolina State Art Society, whose passionate advocacy led to the establishment of the North Carolina Museum of Art, Art in Bloom 2024 will showcase 10 feature installations themed per decade from the 1920s to the 2020s. NCMA Director Valerie Hillings expresses her excitement, stating, “Art in Bloom has become a cornerstone of artistic expression and community engagement, and we are thrilled to mark this significant milestone by celebrating in parallel one hundred years of support of the arts in North Carolina.” In celebration of this year’s Art in Bloom, the Museum Store will feature a selection of local artisan collaborations with Cathy Boytos, Sophia Woo, Vietri, Layla Christie, and more. Dining options include Art of Tea in Bloom in East the ding, a garden grill menu in the West Building, and a gelato and popcorn cart in the Museum’s Gipson Plaza (weather permitting). Residents of the Triangle can also expect to see a series of NCMA community engagements with giveaways and pop-up floral displays in the weeks leading up to Art in Bloom."
Art in Bloom Ticket Details and Hours
● $40 Members
● $50 Nonmembers
● Free for children 6 and under
Art in Bloom tickets are on sale to NCMA now to members and nonmembers.
Tickets for related events are sold separately.
During the five days of Art in Bloom, the Museum’s West Building will operate on a special schedule, as follows:
● Wednesday, March 13, 10 am–3 pm
● Thursday, March 14, 10 am–5 pm
● Friday, March 15, 11 am–7 pm
● Saturday, March 16, 10 am–7 pm
● Sunday, March 17, 10 am–5 pm
For more information, including transportation updates, tours, and membership information, please visit ncartmuseum.org/bloom or by emailing help@ncartmuseum.org.
Related events, including select workshops, presentations, and other special programs, will be ticketed separately.
East Building galleries are open 10 am–5 pm, East Building will be on view and free to the public during this time.
Learn more about North Carolina Museum of Art
A Must See it to Believe it: 10 Years of Art IN Bloom 2024
Capturing Moments: The NCMA 's Decade of Art In Bloom
Pedestal #34 - Terry Godfrey, AIFD, Washington, D.C. Inspiration: Venus Rising from the Waves, François Boucher and studio NCMA sponsor: Latin students at Broughton High School
Pedestal #42 - Terry Godfrey, American Institute of Floral Designers, Washington, D.C. Inspiration: Three Graces: Les Trois Femmes Noires, Mickalene Thomas NCMA sponsor: Debbie and Larry Robbins
Floral artist: Alicia Springfield, Floral Expressions of Chapel Hill Inspiration: Saint John the Baptist, Jusepe de Ribera, 52.9.183
Pedestal #34 - Terry Godfrey, AIFD, Washington, D.C. Inspiration: Venus Rising from the Waves, François Boucher and studio NCMA sponsor: Latin students at Broughton High School
Pedestal #26 - Brandi Dennison, NCCPF, and Amber Cassle, Brandi’s Botanicals, Youngsville, N.C. brandisbotanicals.com NCMA sponsor: Cree Inc. and Wolfspeed
Pedestal #31 - Jane Owen Barbot, Garden Club of North Carolina, Raleigh, N.C., gardenclubofnc.org Inspiration: Reverie, Robert Frederick Blum NCMA sponsor: Adele McGugan, Anita Summers, and Sara Summers in memory of their mother, Marie Summers
Pedestal #6 - Sherri Suttle, NCCPF, Bostic Florist, Bostic, N.C. Inspiration: New Orleans: Ragging Home, Romare Bearden NCMA sponsor: Gary and Laura Robinette
Pedestal #2 - Erica Winston, Garden Club of North Carolina Judges Council, Cary, N.C. Inspiration: The Emperor, David Salle NCMA sponsor: McGuireWoods LLP
Lisa McPherson Ruf, EMC, Goodness Graciious Florals Inspiration: Mask of Man with Broken Nose, Auguste Rodin, 2009.1.1
Pedestal #28 - Catherine Mangum Phelps, Garden Club of North Carolina Judges Council, Hillsborough, N.C. Inspiration: British School, Portrait of a Gentleman Wearing a Breastplate
Stephen Hayes: Reclaiming the Discarded
Stephen Hayes: Reclaiming the Discarded Now Open at Ella West Gallery
Stephen Hayes: Reclaiming The Discarded Sculptures now on view at Ella West Gallery
Stephen Hayes: Reclaiming The Discarded Sculptures now on view at Ella West Gallery
Durham, North Carolina – Ella West Gallery is pleased to present a new exhibition Stephen Hayes: Reclaiming the Discarded. Notions of cultural capital are reoriented through a modern lens in Hayes’ larger-than-life interrogations of the gaudy, shimmering, and resplendent, through
a wide range of media including bullet shell casings, raw cotton buds, stone, twine, and bronze. His rumination on capitalism and consumerism is contained within the reflective surfaces that bring these works to life across sculptures, wall reliefs, and textiles.
Stephen Hayes: Reclaiming the Discarded is on view through April 6,
2024. For more information about Ella West Gallery, the exhibition, or to
inquire about available work for
purchase, visit:
www.ellawestgallery.com or call (919) 485-9602.
Stephen Hayes: Reclaiming The Discarded Sculptures now on view at Ella West Gallery
Stephen Hayes: Reclaiming The Discarded Sculptures now on view at Ella West Gallery
Stephen Hayes: Reclaiming The Discarded Sculptures now on view at Ella West Gallery
In another corner of the exhibition, a collection of bronze muses stands as envoys of collective memory, powerful missives from a troubled past. While Hayes’ subjects are cast from those who walk among us today, the symbols he uses to adorn them transport the audience into a historical setting from which Black women’s trials and triumphs can be reimagined and re-experienced. The gallery is located at 104 W.Parrish Street in Durham and is open to the public Wednesday through
Saturday, 11 am to 6 pm, with private appointments available upon request.
Stephen Hayes: Reclaiming the Discarded is on view through April 6,
2024. For more information about Ella West Gallery, the exhibition, or to
inquire about available works for
purchase, visit:
www.ellawestgallery.com or call (919) 485-9602.
Ella West Gallery Opens August 19 with Inaugural Exhibition
Exhibition Return to Parrish Street: A Dream Realized on View August 19–October 21, 2023
Ella West Gallery Opens August 19 with Inaugural Exhibition Celebrating Black Artistic Expression and Honoring Historic Location
Exhibition Return to Parrish Street: A Dream Realized on View August 19–October 21, 2023
Durham, North Carolina – Ella West Gallery will open in downtown Durham with the launch of its inaugural exhibition Return to Parrish Street: A Dream Realized. The gallery will proudly showcase extraordinary new works from North Carolina artists Kennedi Carter and Clarence Heyward and North Carolina native Ransome, and honor the legacy of its location in the heart of Durham’s Black Wall Street.
Dedicated to the memory of iconic artist and Durham native Ernie Barnes (American, 1938– 2009), the exhibition will open with works on view by the celebrated late artist in conversation with new photography and paintings available for purchase by Carter and Heyward; portraiture by Ransome will be added September 11. These works probe perception, identity, and vulnerability, creating a visual dialogue around dreams and destiny.
Ella West Gallery invites collectors and community members to join in the celebration of its grand opening on Saturday, August 19, from 11 am to 6 pm, at 104 W. Parrish Street in Durham. The gallery will then be open to the public Wednesday through Saturday, 11 am to 6 pm, with private appointments available upon request. Return to Parrish Street: A Dream Realized is on view through October 21, 2023, offering budding and established art collectors and enthusiasts a unique opportunity to access these internationally acclaimed artists.
This exhibition marks a significant milestone for Ella West Gallery as it endeavors to create a vibrant artistic space that champions underrepresented artists and cultivates a new era in the world of art. Nestled within the heart of Black Wall Street’s Parrish Street in the building that once housed the printing presses of The Durham Reformer, a 1920s-era Black newspaper, the gallery is poised to act again as a destination for raising marginalized voices.
Ella West Gallery Opens August 19 with Inaugural Exhibition Celebrating Black Artistic Expression and Honoring Historic Location
Return to Parrish Street: A Dream Realized reflects gallery founder Linda Shropshire’s mission to amplify diverse voices and provide a platform for emerging and established regional, national, and international artists.
“Return to Parrish Street: A Dream Realized looks both backward and forward, celebrating generations of Black achievement while working to nurture the artistic growth of a new class of artists poised to shape the future of art history,” said Shropshire, a longtime collector and arts advocate. “Through their distinct art practices, Ernie Barnes, Kennedi Carter, Clarence Heyward, and Ransome express a sense of agency and autonomy that embodies the spirit of Ella West Gallery and more importantly, the neighborhood the gallery calls home.”
Photographer Kennedi Carter (American, b.1998) creates lush images that celebrate beauty, the body, and Blackness. After honing her skills as a celebrated editorial fashion photographer working with British Vogue, Essence, Vanity Fair, and The New York Times, Carter’s fine art practice explores the aesthetics of the Black quotidian, capturing the unexpected, unknown, and unimaginable slices of life that she finds tucked away in the corners of society often overlooked, and aims to reinvent notions of creativity and confidence in the realm of Blackness. She lives in Durham.
Clarence Heyward (American, b.1983) is a painter and collagist whose work explores notions of the Black American experience through his dynamic and fresh take on figurative art, investigating cultural truths, challenging stereotypes, and questioning identity. Born in Brooklyn, New York, Heyward relocated to North Carolina to study art education at North Carolina Central University.
He has shown his work at venues including the 21c Museum of Durham, the Harvey B. Gantt Center for Cultural Arts, the Block Gallery in Raleigh, North Carolina, the Nasher Museum of Art at Duke University, and (CAM) the Contemporary Art Museum of Raleigh. Heyward was the recipient of The Brightwork Fellowship residency at Anchorlight, Raleigh in 2020, the Emerging Artist in Residence at Artspace, Raleigh in 2021, and was the 2022 Artist in Residence at North Carolina State University. His work is in the collections of several notable private and public institutions, including a recent acquisition by the North Carolina Museum of Art. He currently lives and works in Raleigh.
Ella West Gallery Opens August 19 with Inaugural Exhibition Celebrating Black Artistic Expression and Honoring Historic Location
colored and richly layered; household names like Harriet Tubman and Serena Williams share focus with everyday working heroes, intertwining the narratives and references of Black history across the canvas with every stroke.
The Rich Square, North Carolina native graduated from the Pratt Institute in addition to receiving a Master of Fine Arts from Lesley University. He is a recipient of The Hudson Valley Artists Annual Purchase Award from the Dorsky Museum and has exhibited his work in the Katonah Museum of Art, The Sigal Museum of Easton, Pennsylvania, The Southeastern Center for Contemporary
Art (SECCA) Museum of Art in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, and the Visual Art Center of New Jersey. The View from Here was his first solo exhibit which opened in 2020 at the historic Barrett Art Center. Say It Loud at the Elaine Bailey Augustine Gallery at the University of North Alabama, Alabama, and Harmony of Difference at the Alpha Gallery in Boston, Massachusetts, both opened in 2022. He was awarded the Coretta Scott King Award for Illustration and IBBY Honor Award for children’s books The Creation and Uncle Jed’s Barbershop. Ransome lives in Rhinebeck, New York.
For more information about Ella West Gallery, the upcoming exhibition, or to inquire about available works for purchase, visit www.ellawestgallery.com or call (919) 485-9602.
And the Winner is....NCMA!
NCMA Spring Exhibitions Celebrate Artist Michael Richards and Award-Winning Ruth E. Carter
Raleigh, NC (December 6, 2022)—This spring, the North Carolina Museum of Art (NCMA) will host a pair of exhibitions celebrating the accomplishments of two African American artists, Michael Richards, and Ruth E. Carter. Presented March 4 to July 23, 2023, Michael Richards: Are You Down? is this artist's largest solo exhibition and first touring museum retrospective, whose career was tragically cut short when he died in the World Trade Center terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001. Richards’s moving tribute to the Tuskegee Airmen, Tar Baby vs. St. Sebastian (1999), is currently on view in the Global Contemporary galleries at the NCMA and has been a visitor favorite, on continuous display since 2003. This retrospective will feature another version of the sculpture, and will also present several recently conserved artworks, including the exhibition’s namesake Are You Down? (2000).
Fresh off of her second Academy win, costume designer Ruth E. Carter's exhibit opens at North Carolina Museum of Art, Ruth E. Carter: Afrofuturism in Costume Design, open from April 1 to August 6, 2023, presents intricately designed costumes from popular movies, including Amistad, Do the Right Thing, Malcolm X, Selma, and Black Panther. The exhibition dives into the Academy Award winner’s research, process, and incredible craft.
“We are excited to present these two exhibitions highlighting the work of these trailblazing artists,” said Valerie Hillings, museum director. “Tar Baby vs. St. Sebastian (1999) has been an NCMA favorite for years, and we cannot wait to introduce visitors to more of Michael Richards’s powerful and diverse body of work. Ruth E. Carter’s influence cannot be understated. It is fortuitous that we can share with our visitors her iconic work near the release of her latest project, the costumes for Black Panther: Wakanda Forever; seeing her artistry go from the big screen to the museum galleries.”
Michael Richards: Are You Down?
Michael Richards Are You Down? is the first museum retrospective of Michael Richards’s artwork, exhibiting his extensive sculpture and drawing practice. Of Jamaican and Costa Rican lineage, Michael Richards was born in Brooklyn in 1963, raised in Kingston, and came of age between post-independence Jamaica and post–civil rights era America. Richards used the language of metaphor in his art to investigate racial inequity and the tension between assimilation and exclusion. Flight and aviation were central themes for Richards, who explored the concepts of freedom andescapede in his work. His artwork gestures toward both repression and reprieve from social injustices, and the simultaneous possibilities of uplift and downfall, often in the context of the historic and ongoing oppression of Black people.
Significant points of reference for Richards include the Tuskegee Airmen—the first African American pilots in United States military history who served in World War II—and the complexity of their triumphs in the face of segregation. Other important influences include cultural, religious, and ritual stories from African, African American, Jamaican, and Judeo-Christian traditions, as well as Greek mythology. Richards merged worlds in his art, bringing together spiritual and historical references with popular culture. His recurring interest was in both the every day and the transcendent, and how to bring them into conversation with each other. Centering his own experience, Richards also used his body to cast the figures for his sculptures, which often appear as pilots, saints, or both. Inextricably connected to the moment of its making in the 1990s, Richards’s work—engaging Blackness, flight, diaspora, spirituality, police brutality, and monuments—remains timely and resonant decades after its creation.
Ruth E. Carter: Afrofuturism in Costume Design
An Academy Award–winning costume designer, Ruth E. Carter has dressed film and TV actors in ways that have defined generations. Her art adds dimensionality, flair, and culture to the characters she helps envision. Her vibrancy and attention to detail in costuming are integral to translating stories of race, politics, and culture to the big screen. From humble roots in Massachusetts, Ruth E. Carter has been helping style the Afrofuturism movement, an aesthetic movement connecting African diaspora culture with science and technology, for almost 40 years.
"Ruth E. Carter describes Afrofuturism as the “African culture and diaspora using technology and intertwining it with imagination, self-expression, and an entrepreneurial spirit.” Often the word technology is used to describe something that is “high-tech,” but it actually means the application of knowledge."
Designing pieces for films such as Black Panther, Malcolm X, Selma, and Do the Right Thing, Carter has created costumes for legends Oprah Winfrey, Denzel Washington, Chadwick Boseman, Eddie Murphy, Angela Bassett, Forest Whitaker, and more. The exhibition features more than 60 of Carter’s original garments while also showcasing her immersive process and extensive historical research that imbues every project she brings to life.
"In 2019, Carter was the subject of an episode of Abstract, a Netflix documentary series highlighting artists working in the field of design. The same year, she was honored by the Costume Designers Guild with a Career Achievement Award and by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Science who awarded her the Academy Award for Best Costume Design."
For Women's History Month Olivia Gatewood
Award-Winning Artist Olivia Gatewood, hosted by Award-Winning host Camille Kauer
The Exhibit Will Highlight Abstract Artist, Olivia Gatewood
Durham, NC, (January 19, 2023) This Winter for Black History Month, award-winning artist Olivia Gatewood, will be on exhibit at Hayti Heritage Center. To kick off the exhibit, Olivia's daughter, the founder of The E-Spot with Camille, will host the Artist's Chat at Hayti Heritage Center this Friday.
Olivia Gatewood is a North Carolina native who exudes a vibrant passion for life and its simplistic beauty. Utilizing a multitude of media, Olivia creates abstract compositions of sensual, tactile colorations that epitomize artwork as a profusion of tactual expressions reflective of the beauty she finds in the natural world around her. She successfully translates blank canvases into visual experiences that resonate with brilliance.
Olivia received her BFA with honors from California State University in Turlock, CA. She went on to pursue graduate studies at Hacettepe and Middle Eastern Technical University in Ankara, Turkey.
Gaining inspiration from her love of world travel, Olivia lived for 14 years between Germany, Turkey, The Netherlands, and Hawaii. She taught art in the American Military Schools in Holland and Turkey and worked as an illustrator for the US Air Force while in Germany. She has gained inspiration from her underwater adventures as an advanced certified scuba diver and downhill skier. Olivia earned her Black Belt in Combat Shotokan and was the European Division Fighting Grand Champion for two years. Her fighting spirit contributes to her being an eight-year breast cancer survivor. Her enormous passion for life and adventure is reflected in her paintings. Olivia's paintings have been presented in national exhibits and have won numerous awards. In 2019, Olivia was one of the African- American artists honored by North Carolina Governor Roy Cooper.
Her work can be found in personal collections as diverse as those of talk show host, Oprah Winfrey, the late actress and singer, Suzzanne Douglas, the late Dr. John Hope Franklin, Grammy-nominated jazz vocalist, Nnenna Freelon, and corporations like Mitsubishi International in Tokyo, Japan, and SAS Institute. Her paintings have been shown in many feature films and nationally syndicated television shows including "New Jack City," "The Parent 'Hood" and the Oprah Winfrey Show. Her work was displayed on the cover of and featured in several issues of the North Carolina Literary Review.
Artist Statement:
"My art reflects my life and belief in experimental improvisation's essential purity. I work with various media and techniques to create unusual visual effects. Using an amorphous blend of color, I strive for new images that fit into my sense of the beautiful. These images often suggest biomorphic origins flowing from some subconsciously remembered or dreamed epoch. I utilize surface tensions to attract, refract and reflect light. I work with organic lines, forms, and richly textured shapes that glow with color. These elements sometimes become the subject matter of my paintings.
These paintings should be regarded as short stories in vision, full of life, color, and expression They are visual mysteries of the universe and cast a magical spell around a world full of romantic interest. My artwork is about stepping outside the boundaries of what people think art is supposed to be. It's about change, growth, and the evolution of one's self. I paint melodies to stimulate an awareness of the beauty surrounding us and integrate my life as a universal being."
-Olivia Gatewood
Artist, Actor, and Retired Stuntwoman Olivia Gatewood!