The Hunter Museum of American Art is pleased to announce the opening of two complementary special exhibitions featuring collections of work by Beauford Delaney and Nellie Mae Rowe, two Black artists who grew up during the Segregation Era in cities neighboring Chattanooga.
Though their life experiences, career paths, and artistic styles differed, both artists used visual art to express their visions for change in the world.
Explore Delaney’s experimentation with abstraction and immerse yourself in Rowe’s imaginative works with the exhibitions Beauford Delaney’s Metamorphosis into Freedom and Really Free: The Radical Art of Nellie Mae Rowe. Both exhibitions will open Thursday, January 26th at 6pm and remain on view through May 1st.
Metamorphosis into Freedom examines the artistic evolution of modern painter and Knoxville, Tennessee native Beauford Delaney as influenced by the places where he lived—Knoxville, New York City, and Paris. As Delaney moved from being part of the Harlem Renaissance to embracing the tenets of Abstract Expressionism, his work developed and shifted – ranging from portraits to intense abstractions.
While following the progression of Delaney’s career and artistic style, the exhibition also explores the deep friendship between the artist and writer James Baldwin and how their ongoing intellectual exchange shaped one another’s creative output and worldviews.
Really Free chronicles the life and work of contemporary, self-taught artist Nellie Mae Rowe through her imaginative works on paper, sculptures made from found and experimental materials, and an artful examination of her “Playhouse” – the striking environment Rowe created in her home and yard on a busy thoroughfare just outside of Atlanta.
This vivid exhibition is the first-ever exhibition to consider Rowe’s practice as a radical act of self-expression and liberation in the post-civil rights-era South. Really Free features Rowe’s colorful, and at times simple, sketches and explores themes in her work such as depictions of women, her childhood, images of her garden, and her experimentation with materials.
The Hunter Museum will also host events, including drop-in art making experiences for families, dance performances, and conversations about Chattanooga's community that explore the issues central to the art featured in the special exhibitions. Visit huntermuseum.org for a complete list of exhibition-related events.
Thursday, February 16, 6-7:30 PM
- A Sense of Place: Memories of Chattanooga*
- Inspired by the artwork on view in Really Free: The Radical Art of Nellie Mae Rowe, this program series explores the municipal changes that have impacted Chattanooga’s African American community. Alongside educators and faith leaders David and Carol Meredith, educator, activist and lifelong Westside community member Charlie Newton will share memories followed by performances by local creatives. Free and open to all.
Thursday Feb 23, 6-7 PM
- Vision + Verse: Jazz Age Nights
- Celebrate the creative spirit of jazz-age Harlem and Paris as creatives Kimmie J Soul, Ryan Deshawn Roberts, Erika Roberts and Steely Bruno reinterpret the choreography of Cab Calloway, music of Ella Fitzgerald and poetry of James Baldwin. The evening will culminate in a conversation about the role of community in the work of Beauford Delaney and James Baldwin. Free and open to all.
Thursday, March 2, 6-7 PM
- Art + Issues: Representing and Healing Communities
- Responding to pieces in Really Free: The Radical Art of Nellie Mae Rowe, community leader Marie Mott will speak about current issues facing Black and Latin American Chattanoogans and lead a conversation on ways we can heal and work together to support one another in community. Free and open to all.
Thursday, March 9, 6-7:30 PM
- Art+ Issues: Art Health & Social Justice with CHI Memorial
- Inspired by themes in Beauford Delaney’s Metamorphosis into Freedom, this year’s partnership program with CHI Memorial will focus on teen mental health, identity and reproductive health. To create a performance of dance, music, and poetry, local Black and Latinx creatives will work with youth in schools to offer them a space for creation and truth-sharing. Information from local agencies offering support for youth in these areas will be available. Free and open to all.
Sunday March 12, 2-4 PM
- Family Fun Day
- Enjoy art activities, performances and more inspired by the Hunter’s special exhibitions Beauford Delaney’s Metamorphosis into Freedom and Really Free: The Radical Art of Nellie Mae Rowe. Regular admission applies; members and youth 17 & under are free. Admission to this program is also free with a Chattanooga Public Library card if you’re attending with children. Family programming is generously sponsored by The Mark Hite Team.
Thursday, March 16, 6-7 PM
- Art Wise: Curator Stephen Wicks
- Learn about Beauford Delaney’s Metamorphosis into Freedom from Stephen Wicks, the Barbara A. and Bernard E. Bernstein Curator of the Knoxville Museum of Art, exhibit organizer. Wicks will give an in-gallery tour of the exhibit and offer insights into the artist and his works. Free and open to all.
Thursday, March 23, 6-7:30 PM
- A Sense of Place: Memories of Chattanooga*
- In continuation of the program series inspired by the work of Nellie Mae Rowe, community leaders Dr. Edna Varner and BettyeLynn Smith will expand on the conversation about municipal changes that have impacted Chattanooga’s African American community by sharing their memories and thoughts. Free and open to all.
Thursday, March 30, 6-7 PM
- Vision + Verse: Delaney and Baldwin
- In partnership with the James Baldwin Festival of Ideas and the Chattanooga Festival of Black Art and Ideas, the talented poets of Rhyme n Chatt will perform a poetic exploration of Baldwin and Delaney’s relationship as portrayed in Beauford Delaney’s Metamorphosis into Freedom. Free and open to all.
Thursday, April 13, 6-7:30 PM
- Create & Sip: Doll Making
- Make your own creation inspired by the found object art and dolls of Nellie Mae Rowe while also enjoying a glass of wine! Led by a Hunter educator, the program offers an opportunity to explore the exhibit followed by a how-to on doll art. Open to anyone 21 and over. $25/person ($20/member). Please register at huntermuseum.org.
Sunday, April 23, 1:30-2:30 PM
- Art Wise: Curator Katherine Jentleson
- Hear from Katherine Jentleson, the curator who organized Really Free: The Radical Art of Nellie Mae Rowe. Jentleson, the Merrie and Dan Boone Curator of Folk and Self-Taught Art at the High Museum of Art in Atlanta, will give an in-gallery tour of the exhibit and offer insights into Rowe and her work.
Beauford Delaney’s Metamorphosis into Freedom is organized by the Knoxville Museum of Art, which owns the largest and most comprehensive public collection of Beauford Delaney’s art.
Really Free: The Radical Art of Nellie Mae Rowe is organized by the High Museum of Art, Atlanta. Support for this exhibition and publication is provided by The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts. Major funding for this exhibition and publication is provided by Judith Alexander and Henry Alexander. Generous support for the national tour is provided by Art Bridges. The exhibition is curated by Dr. Katherine Jentleson, Merrie and Dan Boone Curator of Folk and Self-Taught Art, High Museum of Art, Atlanta.
Local support for both exhibitions is generously provided by Elder’s Ace Hardware.
*Generous support for this project provided by Art Bridges.