Triangle Arts and Entertainment

Beverly McIver, Truly Grateful, 2011, oil on canvas, 30 x 30 inches, North Carolina Museum of Art, Gift in memory of Janet Martin Lampkin, former member of the executive committee of the Friends of African and African American Art, © 2011 Beverly McIver

Reflections: Portraits by Beverly McIver is an exhibition celebrating McIver’s prodigious work from the past decade, highlighting her renowned, emotive self-portraits and portraits of her family. Opening December 11, 2011 in the North Carolina Gallery, the exhibition will be free to the public and on view through June 24, 2012.

“Beverly McIver’s work is remarkable in its own right, but the timing of Reflections with Rembrandt in America is particularly illuminating, as both exhibitions examine self-portraiture in some way,” said Jennifer Dasal, curator of the exhibition. “McIver’s portraits of herself and her family offer an opportunity for visitors to experience her world view as an African American, a caretaker, a daughter, and a woman.”

McIver, a Greensboro native whose first solo show was in 2003, is recognized as a significant presence in contemporary American art. McIver has examined racial, gender, and social identities through the lens of her own experiences. The history of her family—particularly the struggles surrounding her sister’s disability, her mother’s death, and her subsequent assumption of Renee’s caregiving—allows McIver to explore and illustrate the complicated emotions that arise from these situations, including depression, frustration, tender compassion, and innocent joy.

“All of my portraits are self-portraits,” says the artist. “I use the faces of others who reflect my most inner being.” Among those closest to McIver represented in Reflections are her sister Renee and her mother, Ethel.

Accompanied by an exhibition catalogue, Reflections includes numerous loans from the artist, private collections, and select museums, as well as a new painting, Truly Grateful, recently added to the NCMA’s permanent collection.

The NCMA will screen the documentary film about McIver, Raising Renee, produced and directed by Academy Award nominees Jeanne Jordan and Steven Ascher, on December 9. The screening begins at 7:30 and is free to the public; tickets are required as seating is limited.

The latest installment in a series of exhibitions dedicated to the art and artists of North Carolina, Reflections is part of the NCMA’s ongoing commitment to exhibit the work of emerging and established North Carolina artists. Solo and thematic exhibitions rotate twice a year and draw from loans and the Museum’s permanent collection. After the presentation at the NCMA, Reflections will travel to the Mint Museum’s Uptown location in Charlotte, North Carolina.

Visitor Information

Location

Reflections: Portraits by Beverly McIver is located in East Building’s North Carolina Gallery.

Hours

• Tuesday–Thursday 10 a.m.–5 p.m.
• Friday 10 a.m.–9 p.m.
• Saturday–Sunday 10 a.m.–5 p.m.

Admission

Free

Beverly McIver, Renee as an Angel, 2008, oil on canvas, 48 x 48 in., Collection of the artist, © 2008 Beverly McIver

Reflections: Portraits by Beverly McIver is organized by the North Carolina Museum of Art. This exhibition is made possible, in part, by the North Carolina Department of Cultural Resources; the North Carolina Museum of Art Foundation, Inc.; and the William R. Kenan Jr. Endowment for Educational Exhibitions.

The North Carolina Museum of Art’s permanent collection spans more than 5,000 years, from ancient Egypt to the present, making the institution one of the premier art museums in the Southeast. The Museum’s collection provides educational, aesthetic, intellectual, and cultural experiences for the citizens of North Carolina and beyond. The 164-acre Museum Park showcases the connection between art and nature through site-specific works of environmental art. The Museum offers changing national touring exhibitions, classes, lectures, family activities, films, and concerts.

The Museum recently opened its new gallery building, home to the permanent collection. The North Carolina Museum of Art, Lawrence J. Wheeler, director, is located at 2110 Blue Ridge Road in Raleigh. It is the art museum of the State of North Carolina, Beverly Eaves Perdue, governor, and an agency of the Department of Cultural Resources, Linda A. Carlisle, secretary.

Admission to the Museum’s permanent collection and Museum Park is free. Museum hours are Tuesday–Thursday and Saturday–Sunday, 10 a.m.–5 p.m.; Friday, 10 a.m.–9 p.m.; Closed Monday.

For more information about the Museum, visit www.ncartmuseum.org.