The weekend marks the opening of a new
Springfield Museum of Art exhibit that will be on display through the end of February.
Black Life as subject Matter II was curated by Willis “Bing” Davis and is an exhibition that celebrates Black artists and culture. It features more than 25 Black artists from across the Miami Valley and Ohio.
A special exhibition opening will be from 5-7 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 23, with heavy hors d’oeuvres served by
All Seasons Catering’s Chef Troy Wheat and music from saxophonist Ed Thomas. The event will also include a cash bar.
The exhibit will open during the event at 5:30 p.m. in the McGregor Gallery.
Admission to the museum is free for members, students, and kids 17 and younger. Cost for non-members is $5, and the cost for seniors is $3. Free admission is also available for anyone who benefits from SNAP or WIC through Museums for All. The event is family friendly.
“An area we are really working on is to make sure our galleries represent all the audiences we strive to have here at the museum,” says Elizabeth Wetterstroem, collections and exhibitions manager for the museum. “Different age groups, different races, different accessibilities – we want to make sure that anybody who comes here can see themselves in some of the artwork so we are telling our community’s full story.”
For the exhibition, Davis selected more than 50 pieces that feature a variety of media and showcase the artists as natural storytellers who are portraying “aspects of life as they see it and experience it by using the artistic and creative gifts that they have been given.
The museum is striving to be a community leader in conversations about diversity, race, equity, and inclusion, and hopes Black Lives as subject Matter II will serve as a visual resource to open conversations.
The exhibition will be accompanied by monthly Community Conversations, which are free and open to the public. These events will be in a gallery discussion format between an artist featured in the exhibition and a humanities professional.
The monthly Community Conversations include:
- Saturday, Nov. 13, 2 p.m. – Bias: Moderated by Bing Davis, Ebonia Gallery and guest curator of Black Life as subject Matter II. Moderated by Ryan Wynett, manager of Implicit Bias Initiatives, National Underground Railroad Freedom Center, Cincinnati
- Saturday, Dec. 11 – 2 p.m. – Race as Social Construct: Moderated by Andrea Cummings, artist in Black Life as subject Matter II
- Saturday, Jan. 8 – 2 p.m. – Community Building: Moderated by Dwayne Daniel, artist and assistant professor of fine and performing arts, Central State University. Moderated by Dr. Dawayne Kirkman, vice president of student affairs, Clark State College.
- Saturday, Feb. 12 – 2 p.m. – Social Identities and Systems: Moderated by Karlos Marshall, founder and president, The Conscious Connect.
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