The Weatherspoon Art Museum at UNC Greensboro presents the exhibition Xaviera Simmons: Falk Visiting Artist (January 23 - May 29, 2021). Images and objects, bodies and geography, the personal and the social: artist Xaviera Simmons binds these themes together in artworks that respond to the gaps and distortions in our understanding of histories—be they artistic, political, or economic. Working extensively from archival sources and thinking deeply about art history, she focuses on documents and artifacts that shed light on “the experiences of White, Indigenous, and Black Americans who descend from slavery, stories shaped in relationship to the overarching theme of White threat and terror.” Honoring the layers and nuances of these narratives, she works within abstraction and metaphor--offering viewers accumulations of visual elements to be considered from multiple perspectives.

Curator of Exhibitions, Dr. Emily Stamey notes that “this is an important show with which to launch 2021, for as much as Simmons’s work challenges us to critically examine the past, it also pushes us to find new ways of looking and seeing, perspectives that will help us move us forward.”

The Falk Visiting artist program is a partnership between the Weatherspoon and UNCG’s School of Art. In conjunction with her exhibition at the Weatherspoon, Simmons will be meeting and working with students and will present a public talk.

This exhibition is organized by Dr. Emily Stamey, Curator of Exhibitions.

Related Program:

Artist Talk: Xaviera Simmons
Thursday, March 11, 7pm, virtual event, registration required

Image: Xaviera Simmons, Currents, 2010. Chromogenic color print, 40 x 50 in. Edition of 3. Courtesy of the artist and David Castillo, Miami. © Xaviera Simmons

About the Weatherspoon Art Museum

Mission
The Weatherspoon Art Museum at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro acquires, preserves, exhibits, and interprets modern and contemporary art for the benefit of its multiple audiences, including university, community, regional, and beyond. Through these activities, the museum recognizes its paramount role of public service, and enriches the lives of diverse individuals by fostering an informed appreciation and understanding of the visual arts and their relationship to the world in which we live.

History
The Weatherspoon Art Museum at UNC Greensboro was founded by Gregory Ivy in 1941 and is the earliest of any art facilities within the UNC system. The museum was founded as a resource for the campus, community, and region and its early leadership developed an emphasis—maintained to this day—on presenting and acquiring modern and contemporary works of art. A 1950 bequest from the renowned collection of Claribel and Etta Cone, which included prints and bronzes by Henri Matisse and other works on paper by American and European modernists, helped to establish the Weatherspoon’s permanent collection. Other prescient acquisitions during Ivy’s tenure included a 1951 suspended mobile by Alexander Calder, Woman by Willem de Kooning, a pivotal work in the artist’s career that was purchased in 1954, and the first drawings by Eva Hesse and Robert Smithson to enter a museum collection.

In 1989, the museum moved into its present location in The Anne and Benjamin Cone Building designed by the architectural firm Mitchell/Giurgola. The museum has six galleries and a sculpture courtyard with over 17,000 square feet of exhibition space. The American Association of Museums accredited the Weatherspoon in 1995 and renewed its accreditation in 2005.

Collections + Exhibitions
The permanent collection of the Weatherspoon Art Museum is considered to be one of the foremost of its kind in the Southeast. It represents all major art movements from the beginning of the 20th century to the present. Of the nearly 7,000 works in the collection are pieces by such prominent figures as Sol LeWitt, Robert Mangold, Cindy Sherman, Al Held, Alex Katz, Henry Tanner, Louise Nevelson, Mark di Suvero, Deborah Butterfield, and Robert Rauschenberg. The museum regularly lends to major exhibitions nationally and internationally.

The Weatherspoon also is known for its adventurous and innovative exhibition program. Through a dynamic annual calendar of fifteen to eighteen exhibitions and a multi-disciplinary educational program for audiences of all ages, the museum provides an opportunity for audiences to consider artistic, cultural, and social issues of our time and enriches the life of our university, community, and region.

UNC Greensboro
UNC Greensboro, located in the Piedmont Triad region of North Carolina, is 1 of only 50 doctoral institutions recognized by the Carnegie Foundation for both higher research activity and community engagement. Founded in 1891 and one of the original three UNC system institutions, UNC Greensboro is one of the most diverse universities in the state with 20,000+ students, and 2,700+ faculty and staff members representing 90+ nationalities. With 17 Division I athletic teams, 85 undergraduate degrees in over 125 areas of study, as well as 74 master’s and 32 doctoral programs, UNC Greensboro is consistently recognized nationally among the top universities for academic excellence and value, with noted strengths in health and wellness, visual and performing arts, nursing, education, and more. For additional information, please visit uncg.edu and follow UNCG on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.


Weatherspoon Art Museum
UNC Greensboro
Spring Garden and Tate Streets, PO Box 26170
Greensboro, NC 27402-6170, (336) 334-5770, weatherspoon@uncg.edu

For more information or press images, contact:
Loring Mortensen, (336) 256-1451, lamorten@uncg.edu