Discursive Acts: African American Art at UD and Beyond brings into dialogue selections from UD collections, including the Paul R. Jones Collection of African American art, with individual and institutional loans. This is the first exhibition curated by Dr. Julie McGee, newly appointed curator of African American Art. It will be on view in Mechanical Hall on the University of Delaware campus from October 1 - December 7, 2008.

Discursive Arts takes as its premise the educational and visual power of aesthetic interchanges. Works are placed in visual conversations that raise several themes, including aspiration, beauty, history and representations of blackness. Juxtaposition of divergent imagery and histories illustrates the connective tissues that bind them beyond the exhibition space. Romare Bearden, Charles White, David Driskell, Keith Morrison, Joyce Scott, Lorna Simpson, Jack Whitten and Kevin Cole are among the artists represented.

Dr. Julie McGee has written and lectured extensively on African American Art and contemporary art in South Africa. She has curated exhibitions at Bowdoin College,the Visual Arts Center of New Jersey and in Cape Town, South Africa. Her publications include a recent biography of artist, collector and educator David C. Driskell as well as articles addressing issues of primitivism, canons and apartheid.

The public is invited to attend the programs offered free of charge in conjunction with the exhibition:

Exhibition Opening: Mechanical Hall
October 1, 5-7 pm

Gallery Talk: Curatorial Acts by Dr. Julie McGee
October 17, 4 PM.

Mechanical Hall

Lectures

Annual Paul R. Jones Lecture

Keith Morrison
"Paintings by Keith Morrison."
Oct. 7th, 2008; 7:00 PM
McDowell Hall 112

Guest lecture by artist, art educator, curator, art critic, and administrator, Keith Morrison. Morrison was born in Jamaica and studied at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, where he received both a BFA (1963), and an MFA (1965). Former dean and now professor at Tyler School of Art, Temple University, Morrison will discuss and illustrate his most recent artwork. Morrison has exhibited his paintings and prints across the US and abroad, was selected to represent Jamaica at the 2001 Venice Biennale, and has works on view at the University Museums in “Discursive Acts: African American Art at UD and Beyond.”

Kevin Cole
"Straight from the Soul."
Oct. 23rd, 2008; 7:00 pm
McDowell Hall 112

Arkansas born and Atlanta based artist and educator will discuss his recent artwork. As Cole notes, “When I turned eighteen years old, my grandfather stressed the importance of voting by taking me to a tree where he was told that African-Americans were lynched by their neckties on their way to vote. The experience left a profound impression in my mind.” Cole's work, on view in view at the University Museums in “Discursive Acts: African American Art at UD and Beyond,” is continuously inspired by the human condition and the communicative power of color and form.