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August, 2007
David C. Driskell Center Moves To New Home
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African Women, Windows, 2004. Color Monoprint and Woodcut, 19.00" x 24.75". This image is part of the David C. Driskell Center for the Study of the Visual Arts and Culture of African Americans and the African Diaspora. Read more on page one. |
The David C. Driskell Center for the Study of the Visual Arts and Culture of African Americans and the African Diaspora at the University of Maryland, College Park celebrates the legacy of David C. Driskell, Distinguished University Professor Emeritus of Art, artist, art historian, collector, and curator, by preserving the rich heritage of African American visual art and culture. Established in 2001, the Driskell Center provides an intellectual home for artists, museum professionals, art administrators, and scholars of color, broadening the field of the African diasporic studies. The Driskell Center is committed to preserve, document, and present African American art as well as to replenish and expand the field of African American art.
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Eve and the Apple II, 1968, ca. Woodcut, AP 18.25" x 12.75". |
Under the leadership of the Executive Director, Dr. Robert E. Steele, the Driskell Center activity has been centered on the visual arts, including solo or group exhibitions of works by African American artists. In addition, the Driskell Center also offers a series of lectures about the visual arts, including the Claudia DeMonte Lecture Series, highlighting the contribution of minorities and women to the field. The Driskell Center also organizes conferences focusing on collecting African American art. Dr. Steele, who has an extensive background in the visual arts, is also the co-owner, with his wife Jean, of the Steele Art Collection of Prints and Works on Paper by African American Artists.
This summer, the Driskell Center moved to its new home at Cole Student Activities Building, commonly known as "Cole Field House," which is adjacent to the Adele H. Stamp Student Union at the heart of the College Park Campus. The new location includes the Driskell Center offices as well as space for exhibitions and art storage. The new Driskell Center will be open for study and research for scholars and students from the University community as well as from other institutions and the general audience.
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Reclining Nude, 2000, Woodcut, AP, 9.25" x 11.75". |
The Driskell Center's official opening will be held on the week of October 17, 2007, with the exhibition Evolution: Five Decades of Printmaking by David C. Driskell. The exhibition will remain until March 14, 2008 before starting its national tour in the spring of 2008. Following Evolution, the Driskell Center will feature the next scheduled exhibition, Selections from the David C. Driskell Center's Permanent Collection, curated by Dr. Steele and Dorit Yaron, Deputy Director of the Driskell Center, will open.
Evolution is organized by the David C. Driskell Center at the University of Maryland, College Park. The exhibition highlights, for the first time, the prints of the renowned Distinguished University of Maryland Professor Emeritus of Art, David C. Driskell; an artist, art historian, collector, curator, educator, and one of the most recognized and respected names in the world of African American art and culture.
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Spirits Watching, 1986, Hand-colored Offset Lithograph, Edition of 100, 21.50" x 29.75", Collection of Tuliza Fleming. |
The exhibition features about 75 prints as well as 10 to 15 additional works on paper that provide insight into Professor Driskell's artistic process and development. In addition, it will also include several woodblocks used to produce the prints. Evolution is curated by the Driskell Center's Curator-in-Residence, Dr. Adrienne L. Childs.
The list of prints include works dating back as early as 1952, including a small lithograph, 7.50" x 9.75", titled "School Life, David & Thelma", as well as several prints which Professor Driskell completed this year, such as "Night Vision", a 36" x 24" mixed media print, and a small 7.00" x 5.50" color woodcut. During the last five years, Professor Driskell collaborated with Master Printmaker, Professor Curlee Raven Holton, Founder and Director of the Experimental Printmaking Institute at Lafayette College in Easton, PA. Some of the works printed by Driskell and Holton includes "African Women, Windows", a 22" x 30" color woodcut printed in 2004. This is the first print in the David C. Driskell Center Print Series, commissioning African American artists to create prints for the Center.
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Red Table (Still Life), 1956, Color Linocut, AP, 10.25" x 11.50". |
In conjunction with the exhibition, a fully illustrated, 120-page scholarly catalogue will be published by Pomegranate Communications Inc. It includes a foreword and acknowledgments by Dr. Robert E. Steele, Executive Director of the Driskell Center; a curatorial essay by Dr. Adrienne Childs; an essay by Ruth Fine, Curator of Special Projects in Modern Art, National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC; and an introduction by Deborah Willis,
Professor of Art, Tisch School of the Arts, New York University. In addition, color reproductions of all the works are included with a comprehensive list of Professor Driskell's prints, with thumbnail color reproductions of the prints not included in the exhibition.
Professor Driskell studied at Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture in Maine and received his undergraduate degree in art at Howard University (1955) and a Masters in Fine Arts degree from Catholic University (1962). He joined the faculty of the Department of Art at the University of Maryland in 1977 and served as its Chairman from 1978-1983. He has been a practicing artist since the 1950s and his works are in major museums throughout the world, including the National Gallery and Yale University Art Gallery. In 1976, David curated the groundbreaking exhibit "Two Centuries of Black American Art: 1750-1950" which laid the foundation for the field of African American Art History. Since 1977, Professor Driskell has served as cultural advisor to both Camille O. and William H. Cosby and as the curator of the Cosby Collection of Fine Arts. In 2000, Professor Driskell received the National Humanities Medal from President Bill Clinton during a White House ceremony. In 2007, he was elected as a National Academician by the National Academy.
All exhibitions and events at the David C. Driskell Center are free and open to the public. The facility is wheelchair accessible. For the David C. Driskell Center's hours of operation and further information regarding this exhibition and future events and activities, please visit www.driskellcenter.umd.edu or call 301.314.2615.
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