Current Exhibition
SPELMAN COLLEGE TO SHOWCASE ITS TREASURES
ATLANTA (January, 2009) Over the course of more than six decades, Spelman College has amassed an impressive collection of African and African American art created by Romare Bearden, Elizabeth Catlett, Jacob Lawrence, Hale Woodruff, and Nancy Elizabeth Prophet, as well as many others. On Thursday, January 29, the Spelman College Museum of Fine Art will present “Showcase & Tell: Treasures From the Spelman College Permanent Collection.” The College acquired its collection through the generosity of alumnae, artists, trustees, and friends.
Showcasing more than 60 works, this exhibition traces the evolution of the College’s permanent collection by telling and exploring pivotal moments of Spelman’s history through the voices of artists, alumnae and administrators. These milestones in Spelman’s history include the founding of the department of art in 1931; the development of the Atlanta University Center Coordinated Art Program in 1965; and the establishment of the Spelman College Museum of Fine Art in 1996. “Showcase & Tell” will be on view from January 29 – May 16, 2009.
“Showcase & Tell” captures Spelman’s unique visual arts history and positions the institution as a repository for important works of art. The exhibition also explores the museum’s unique mission to focus on works by and about women of the African Diaspora. “Showcase & Tell” highlights a selection of African objects from diplomat and Spelman College trustee Mabel Murphy Smythe-Haith and the bequest from artist Selma Burke. It also features the recent promised gift from Gale and William Simmons of African ceramics created by women who reside throughout Africa.
In addition, “Showcase & Tell” presents important works by celebrated African American artists Herman “Kofi” Bailey, Romare Bearden, Elizabeth Catlett, Sam Gilliam, Jacob Lawrence, Nancy Elizabeth Prophet, Faith Ringgold, Henry Ossawa Tanner, Hale Woodruff, and many others. The Atlanta-based artists whose works will also be shown include James Adair,
Jenelsie Walden Holloway, Debra Johnson and Freddie Styles. The exhibition also features recent acquisitions by artists including Amalia Amaki, iona rozeal brown, and Bradley McCallum and Jacqueline Tarry.
OPENING RECEPTION
For the first time since 2001, viewers will have the opportunity to see works from the permanent collection featured in “Showcase & Tell: Treasures from the Permanent Collection” at the opening reception on Thursday, January 29, 2009, from 6:30 p.m. to 8 p.m. The event is free and open to the public and all are invited to attend.
ABOUT THE SPELMAN COLLEGE MUSEUM OF FINE ART: The Spelman College Museum of Fine Art provides a learning environment for students, faculty, staff and alumnae. Museum activities enhance the cultural and intellectual development of the College's community through the collection, preservation, exhibition and interpretation of important works of art. Artists affiliated with the Atlanta University Center are of particular interest. As the only museum in the nation that focuses on works by and about women of the African Diaspora in its collections, exhibitions and programs, the Museum serves as a complement to local, regional, national and international art resources.
ADDRESS: The Spelman College Museum of Fine Art is located in the Atlanta University Center on the Spelman College campus in the Camille Olivia Hanks Cosby Academic Center at 350 Spelman Lane.
HOURS: The museum is open Tuesday through Friday, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. and Saturdays, noon to 4 p.m. The museum is closed Sundays, Mondays, major holidays and official College breaks. For more information on the Spelman College Museum of Fine Art, visit www.spelman.edu/museum
Spelman College:
Founded in 1881, Spelman College is the only historically Black college in the nation to be included on the U.S. News and World Report's list of top 75 "Best Liberal Arts Colleges — Undergraduate," 2005. Located in Atlanta, Ga., this private, historically Black women's college boasts outstanding alumnae, including Children's Defense Fund Founder Marian Wright Edelman; U.S. Foreign Service Director General Ruth Davis; authors Tina McElroy Ansa and Pearl Cleage and actress LaTanya Richardson. More than 83 percent of the full-time faculty members have Ph.D.s or other terminal degrees and the student-faculty ratio is 12:1. Annually, nearly one-third of Spelman students receive degrees in the sciences. The students number more than 2,186 and represent 43 states and 34 foreign countries. For more information regarding Spelman College, visit: www.spelman.edu .
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