Founding Deputy Director Kinshasha Holman Conwill Has Retired From Smithsonian’s National Museum of African American History and Culture
A MUSEUM LEADER and institution builder, Kinshasha Holman Conwill dedicated her entire career to being a faithful steward of art, history, and culture, establishing the background and experience necessary to seize the opportunity of a lifetime. Few get the chance to help envision and develop a monument to the African American experience, from ideas...
Neon Museum Marks 10 Years at Current Site, Welcoming Visitors at Building Designed by Architect Paul R. Williams
Neon Museum Visitor Center designed by Paul R. Williams. | Courtesy Neon Museum IN DOWNTOWN LAS VEGAS, the Neon Museum is celebrating 10 years at its current location on Las Vegas Boulevard with a special proclamation from the city. The museum collects, restores, and exhibits iconic neon signs, preserving the legacy and symbols of...
Underground Museum in Los Angeles Announces Departure of Co-Directors and Closure ‘Until Further Notice’
THE UNDERGROUND MUSEUM (UM) in Los Angeles announced “with deep sadness” that it is closing “until further notice” and the tenure of co-directors Meg Onli and Cristina Pacheco has ended. The action also cuts short a long-awaited exhibition of paintings by the museum’s visionary co-founder Noah Davis (1983-2015). The survey opened six weeks ago...
At Glenstone Museum, Glenn Ligon’s Neon ‘Warm Broad Glow’ is Welcome Beacon
‘GLENN LIGON: AMERICA’ opened in 2011 at the Whitney Museum of American Art, then located on Manhattan’s Upper East Side. Before entering the museum, visitors to Glenn Ligon‘s mid-career retrospective were greeted by “Warm Broad Glow II” (2011), installed in the front window, facing Madison Avenue. Lighting up the wealthy, overwhelmingly white New York...
Studio Museum in Harlem Names 2021-22 Artists-in-Residence: Cameron Granger, Jacob Mason-Macklin, and Qualeasha Wood
THE STUDIO MUSEUM IN HARLEM has thrown its support behind three promising new artists working across diverse disciplines. The museum announced the selection of Cameron Granger, Jacob Mason-Macklin, and Qualeasha Wood as 2021-22 artists-in-residence. The group is the latest to participate in the germinal program, which has provided material and institutional support to artists...
Happy Birthday: Alma Thomas Would Have Been 130 Today, New Exhibitions, Film, Books, & More Celebrate the Pioneering Artist
Alma Thomas at the Whitney Museum in 1972 | Smithsonian Archives of American Art TODAY IS THE FIRST DAY OF FALL and the 130th anniversary of the birth of Alma Thomas (1891-1978), an occasion for celebration. The pioneering artist known for her vibrant and rhythmic abstract paintings was born Sept. 22, 1891. Inspired...
Coming Soon: Toyin Ojih Odutola’s ‘A Countervailing Theory’ Exhibition Will Make U.S. Debut at Hirshhorn Museum This Fall
THIS FALL, A FASCINATING STORY about Nigerian women, female warriors who ruled a prehistoric civilization, will be told at the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden in Washington, D.C. Presented through a series of 40 large-scale monochromatic drawings by Toyin Ojih Odutola, the mythological narrative conceived by the artist will unfold on the Smithsonian museum’s...
Museum of African Diaspora in San Francisco Will Host First Solo Museum Exhibitions of Amoako Boafo and Billie Zangewa This Fall
THE SEMINAL TEXT OF W.E.B. DU BOIS (1868-1963) inspired the title of a forthcoming solo exhibition of Amoako Boafo. The Ghanaian-born painter grew up in Osu, where Du Bois, the author of “The Souls of Black Folk” is buried. “Amoako Boafo: Soul of Black Folks” will be on view this fall at the Museum...
Ngaire Blankenberg Named Director of Smithsonian’s National Museum of African Art: ‘My Main Priority is to Hire More BIPOC Staff in Positions of Power’
IN WASHINGTON, D.C., the Smithsonian announced Ngaire Blankenberg has joined National Museum of African Art (NMAfA) as director. She started July 6. A consultant for museums and heritage sites around the world, Blankenberg has advised clients on some of the most challenging matters cultural institutions are currently navigating—how to address diversity issues, approach decolonization...
On View: ‘Photo Cameroon: Studio Portraiture, 1970s-1990s’ at Fowler Museum at University of California, Los Angeles
Emmanuel Lucky Sparrow, the backdrop painter, and his girlfriend. | Undated photo by JACQUES TOUSSELE On View presents images from noteworthy exhibitions POST-INDEPENDENCE STUDIO PHOTOGRAPHY in West and Central Africa is celebrated around the world. “Photo Cameroon: Studio Portraiture, 1970s-1990s,” provides a lens through which to view life and culture during an...
Museums Recognize Juneteenth: Newly Established National Holiday is ‘Celebration of Resilience, Freedom Deferred But Found’
FOR BLACK AMERICANS, transformational change has always been on the horizon, just out of reach. After President Abraham Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation, it took effect Jan. 1, 1863. It would be another two-and-a-half years, however, before Union troops arrived in Galveston, Texas, enslaved African Americans learned the Civil War was over (it ended...
Culture Talk: Long-Serving Museum Trustee Denise Gardner on Her Historic Election as Next Board Chair of Art Institute of Chicago
THE ART INSTITUTE OF CHICAGO announced last week that Denise Gardner was elected chairperson of the Art Institute of Chicago Board of Trustees. She will be the first woman and first African American to chair the board, which serves as the governing body of both the School of the Art Institute of Chicago (SAIC)...
Aug. 28: Smithsonian is Marking March on Washington Anniversary With Film Dedicated to Pivotal Day in Black History
TO MARK THE 57TH ANNIVERSARY of the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom, the Smithsonian’s National Museum of African American History and Culture (NMAAHC) is making its grand opening film, “August 28: A Day in the Life of a People,” available online, free to public for 24 hours, beginning tomorrow morning. “Aug. 28”...
Toyin Ojih Odutola Calls Her Portrait of Zadie Smith a ‘Love Letter to Black Britain’
THE MUTUAL ADMIRATION between storytellers Zadie Smith and Toyin Ojih Odutola is palpable. The British novelist has written about the Nigerian-born visual artist’s work for British Vogue and contributed an essay to her forthcoming catalog, “Toyin Ojih Odutola: A Countervailing Theory,” which will accompany a show at the Barbican Centre in London, the artist’s...
Black Women Leaders Appointed to New Roles at Contemporary Arts Museum Houston, and Skirball Cultural Center and Lucas Museum in Los Angeles
MUSEUM OPERATIONS CONTINUE TO CHURN as institutions navigate months of challenges resulting from COVID-19. Museums are facing budget constraints in the wake of the virus. At the same time, several are dealing with accusations of racism from staff and former staff. Many remain temporarily closed and others are joining a wave of re-openings. Three...
Tate Museums are Reopening July 27. New Exhibitions are Delayed, Including Surveys of Lynette Yiadom-Boakye and Zanele Muholi
AFTER JOINING A CHORUS of museums around the world that closed temporarily in mid-March to contain the spread of COVID-19, the Tate in London announced its reopening plans. All four Tate galleries are opening to the public July 27. The pause in operations resulted in a shift in exhibition schedules and six-month delays for...
Smithsonian Secretary Lonnie Bunch: ‘Protest is the Highest Form of Patriotism, You Are Trying to Make a Country Better’
THIS IS NOT NEW, unfortunately. America has been killing black people in one form or another since the nation’s founding. From lynching to murder by police, the history is well-documented and contextualized in the National Museum of African American History and Culture (NMAAHC), most poignantly with the display of Emmett Till’s casket. Till was...
Museum of African Diaspora in San Francisco Raised $450,000+ in Online Benefit Auction, Helping to Sustain Operations
MoAD Executive Director Monetta White reported results of online benefit auction in video message to supporters. ARTISTS, GALLERIES, AND COLLECTORS answered a call for support and came together to help the Museum of the African Diaspora (MoAD) in San Francisco, which has faced a critical funding shortfall since temporarily closing in the wake of...
In Wake of COVID-19, Artists are Uniting to Support the Museum of the African Diaspora San Francisco With an Online Benefit Auction
AN IMPORTANT PLATFORM for artists of African descent, the Museum of the African Diaspora (MoAD) in San Francisco is facing a funding shortfall and possible interruption of operations in the wake of the COVID-19 virus. To help raise funds, the museum is launching its first-ever benefit auction with Artsy. Artists, galleries, and collectors from...
Virtual Reality Video Invites Viewers to Step Inside the Veiled Ideal of Kerry James Marshall’s ‘Our Town’ Painting
DETAILS ARE CRITICAL in Kerry James Marshall‘s paintings. In “Our Town” (1995), the artist portrays a pleasant 1950s-era neighborhood scene. A young boy bikes down a vehicle-free lane with his sister and their dog running alongside him. Wearing an apron, their mother can be seen in the distant background waving from the walkway of...
