Past Exhibitions
The Spelman College Museum of Fine Art is regularly named one of the best college and university museums in Atlanta. Its exhibitions receive popular and critical acclaim for their thoughtful, visually compelling, and intellectually stimulating exhibitions that complement the academic curriculum and expand Atlanta’s art offerings.
The museum’s diverse exhibition history reflects a variety of exhibitions featuring works by emerging, midcareer, and established artists. These original mission-focused exhibitions have been distinguished by accessibility, relevance, and scholarship.
Contemporary Black Women Artists was developed and organized
exhibitions, which are often accompanied by original publications, focus on important topics and position Spelman College as an important thought-leader on the role of Black women artists and how they contribute to, shape, and define art and visual culture throughout history.
Material Girls: Contemporary Black Women Artists
(Sept. 6 - Dec. 1, 2012)
This exhibit features work by Chakaia Booker, Sonya Clark, Maya Freelon Asante, Maren Hassinger, Martha Jackson Jarvis, Joyce J. Scott, and Renée Stout, and explores the innovative ways that Black women artists fuse fine art and craft.
Acclaimed Artist Faith Ringgold’s Politically Charged 1960s Paintings Presented at the Spelman College Museum of Fine Art
(Feb. 2 – May 19, 2012)
Although Faith Ringgold is best known as the originator of the African-American story quilt revival that began in the 1970s, it is her pointed political paintings of the 1960s that are the focus of “American People, Black Light: Faith Ringgold’s Paintings of the 1960s.” This is Ringgold’s first solo exhibition in Atlanta since the High Museum presented the nationally touring exhibition, “Faith Ringgold: A Twenty-Five Year Survey” in 1990.
IngridMwangiRobertHutter: Constant Triumph and the artists’ performance of Copper Coloured Gold
(Feb. 4 – May 14, 2011)
The museum is proud that IngridMwangiRobertHutter: Constant Triumph is the cover story of the May/June 2011 issue of Art Papers, the magazine dedicated to art and culture in the world today. Read the review by Rebecca Dimling Cochran.
The Spelman College Museum of Fine Art Launches the 15×15 Acquisitions Initiative
(Oct. 2011)
To honor its 15th anniversary of showcasing renowned artists from New York City to Nairobi, Kenya, the museum launched its 15×15, an initiative to acquire 15 works of art by 15 different artists.
Evenly Yoked: Bradley McCallum & Jacqueline Tarry
(Sept. 9 – Dec. 4, 2010)
Evenly Yoked, the latest video endeavor by Brooklyn-based artists Bradley McCallum and Jacqueline Tarry, will launch the Spelman College Museum of Fine Art’s 2010/2011 exhibition season.
An American Consciousness: Robin Holder’s Mid-Career Retrospective
(Jan. 21 – May 15, 2010)
An American Consciousness: Robin Holder’s Mid-Career Retrospective featured 65 original works by acclaimed New York-based printmaker and art educator Robin Holder.
Undercover: Performing and Transforming Black Female Identities
(Sept. 10 – Dec. 5, 2009)
Undercover: Performing and Transforming Black Female Identities was an original exhibition, which examined the social implications of race, gender, and disguise.
Showcase & Tell: Treasures from the Spelman College Permanent Collection
(Jan. 29 – May 16, 2009)
During the course of more than six decades, Spelman College has amassed an impressive collection of African and African American art created by renowned artists including Romare Bearden, Elizabeth Catlett, Jacob Lawrence, Hale Woodruff, and Nancy Elizabeth Prophet.
María Magdalena Campos-Pons: Dreaming of an Island
(Sept. 10 – Dec. 6, 2008)
Throughout her distinguished 20-year career, María Magdalena Campos-Pons (b. 1959) has created a unique body works that examine her ancestral displacement from Africa, her self-imposed exile from Cuba, and her experiences as an Afro-Cuban women living in North America.
Cinema Remixed & Reloaded: Black Woman Artists and the Moving Image Since 1970
(Jan. 24 – May 24, 2008 – Part II; Sept. 14 – Dec. 8, 2007 – Part I )
The Spelman College Museum of Fine Art collaborated with the Contemporary Arts Museum Houston to present the groundbreaking exhibition Cinema Remixed & Reloaded: Black Women Artists and the Moving Image Since 1970.
Hale Woodruff, Nancy Elizabeth Prophet, and the Academy
(Jan. 18 – May 19, 2007)
Hale Woodruff (1900 – 1980) and Nancy Elizabeth Prophet (1890 – 1960) established the art programs in the Atlanta.