African/American: Graphic Work by Contemporary Women Artists

University of Virginia Art Museum

(formerly Bayly Art Museum)

University of Virginia, Charlottesville, VA

434-924-3592

http://www.virginia.edu/artmuseum/

African/American: Graphic Work by Contemporary Women Artists

On view through March 12, the exhibition "African/American: Graphic Work by Contemporary Women Artists" features works on paper by Adrian Piper, Alison Saar, Lorna Simpson, Kara Walker, and Carrie Mae Weems. The exhibition honors the Women's Center Tenth Anniversary -- "Women 2000: Shapers of the World." (left: Alison Saar (b. 1956), Blue Plate Special, 1993, etching with lithograph and chine colle 117/20, 24 1/2 x 24 1/2 inches, Bayly Art Museum Collection, purchased by the FUNd, 1993.3.1; right: Carrie Mae Weems (b. 1953), Coffee Pot, 1988-89, gelatin silver print, 3/5, 20 x 16 inches, Bayly Art Museum Collection, purchase with Curriculum Support Funds)

"These artists speak to the experience of being a black woman in late 20th century America from the unique insider position that each artist occupies," says Rebecca Young, curator of the exhibition and the 1999-2000 Bayly-Mclntire Graduate Student Fellow. "Their work," she continues, "reveals a pronounced tendency for narrative, often with linguistic interplay, which exists somewhere between fiction and autobiography." Drawing from a wealth of resources -- historical, political, cultural, and personal - the artists in the exhibition create work that is at once difficult, challenging, and at times controversial. (left: Kara Walker (b. 1969), Freedom, A Fable, 1979, Pop-up silhouette book, ed. 4,000, 9 1/4 x 8 1/4 inches, Bayly Art Museum Collection, gift of the Peter Norton Family)

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rev. 1/6/11

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