Blog

  • Staff Photo

  • Giselle Brannam

    October 31, 2019
Feature Image

Related Posts

A New After-School Program at the Georgia Museum of Art

Fall 2019 Lecture Series

Family Day at the Georgia Museum of Art

Spotlight on the Arts at the Georgia Museum of Art

The University of Georgia's annual Spotlight on the Arts festival returns for its eighth year with dozens of exhibitions and performances in the visual, literary and performing arts November 6 – 17. Every year, more than 50 events are held during the Spotlight on the Arts festival, a collaboration involving several campus units such as the Georgia Museum of Art, the Hugh Hodgson School of Music and more.

The Spotlight on the Arts festival was created in 2012 to celebrate the arts at UGA and in Athens. “One of the goals of the UGA Arts Council is to raise awareness of and participation in the rich variety of programming offered by university units in the performing, visual and literary arts,” said Libby Morris, director of the Institute of Higher Education. The festival has done just that; attendance has nearly doubled since the first festival, with last year’s event drawing around 25,000 people.

In the festival’s first year, the University of Georgia president Jere Morehead said, “The arts are an integral part of the fabric of UGA, a powerful thread that helps us define ourselves and our community.” Morehead also noted that the university is a hub for the arts. “As the place where so many artists, writers, actors and musicians first find their voice, UGA offers a richness of opportunity for members of the university, community and audiences from throughout the area to participate in the arts.”

The festival is a wonderful opportunity to explore history, culture and creativity through different mediums. Jack Hu, the university's senior vice president for academic affairs and provost, said, “The creativity and dedication of the members of the UGA Arts Council, faculty and performing artists will be on display throughout the festival.”

The Georgia Museum of Art will be holding five exhibitions during the festival. Listed below are details for each exhibition and their related events.

“Mary Lee Bendolph: Quilted Memories”: This exhibition features quilts created by artist Mary Lee Bendolph spanning three decades. The Gee’s Bend, Alabama, native has produced hundreds of colorful, geometric designs linked to family memories, local architecture and images from daily life. This exhibition has several related events that will be held during the festival:

  • Holbrook lecture: Alvia Wardlaw’s lecture “All of One Piece: The Life and Art of Mary Lee Bendolph” focuses on Bendolph’s quiltmaking career and the various aspects which influenced it. The presentation also examines how Bendolph’s quilting and printmaking are extensions of her joyful and spiritual energy. The talk discusses her prints and the award-winning exhibition “The Quilts of Gee’s Bend.” Thursday, November 7, 5:30 p.m.
  • Teen studio: Teens ages 13 – 18 are invited to this studio-based workshop led by local artist and educator Kristen Bach. Teens will explore innovative and abstract quilts by Mary Lee Bendolph, then create their own work of art. Includes a pizza dinner. (This program is free, but space is limited. Please email madison.hogan@uga.edu or call 706.542.4883 to reserve a spot.) Thursday, November 14 , 5:30 p.m. – 8:30 p.m.
  • Family Day: Learn about the rich history and artistry of Mary Lee Bendolph from an exhibition of her work. Make your own modern “quilted” collage inspired by Bendolph’s quilts, and check out a quilting demonstration led by Brown Sugar Stitchers Quilt Guild of Atlanta. Saturday, November 16 , 10 a.m. – noon.
  • Student Night: The Georgia Museum of Art Student Association will host a night of music, food, fun and themed activities to celebrate the latest exhibitions. Thursday, November 14, 6:30 p.m. – 8:30 p.m.

    • Rachel Whiteread: This exhibition features five cast-stone sculptures with variations in stone type and surface by Rachel Whiteread are arranged in a table setting, reinforcing their domestic nature and origins and making use of different lighting over the course of a day. There will also be works on paper by Whiteread and related artists from its collections that will be on display inside the galleries.

    “Drama and Devotion in Baroque Rome”: Rome has long been a key destination for artists. The works presented in this exhibition celebrate how Caravaggio shaped the Italian Baroque and galvanized numerous followers. One of the main highlights is a Crucifixion by Peter Paul Rubens, who spent more than eight years in Italy. Events related to this exhibition are below:

  • Art Cart (After Class): Drop in and explore the museum’s Renaissance and Baroque galleries. This is a free after-school program that the entire family can enjoy at their own pace, with “choose your own adventure”–style gallery activities, art projects and games. Wednesday, November 6, 3 – 4:30 p.m.
  • Music Performance “Color and Contrast: Music of the Roman School of Composers”: This program features performances of works by the Roman School of Composers alongside the composers who influenced them, performed by student musicians at the Hugh Hodgson School of Music with commentary by Dr. Peter Van Zandt Lane. Come to the event and find out what the rich and varied music of Caravaggio’s 17th century Rome sounds like. Friday, November 8, 4 p.m.
  • Tour at Two - “Drama and Devotion in Baroque Rome”: Join Nelda Damiano, Pierre Daura Curator of European Art, for a tour. Tuesday, November 12, 2 – 3:00 p.m.

    • “Before the War: Photographs of Syria by Peter Aaron”: In 2009, Peter Aaron traveled with his family to Syria. Aaron spent his trip photographing city streets and sites in and around Syria, such as the desert city of Palmyra or Krak des Chevaliers, the largest fortified castle built by the crusaders. Two years after his trip, civil war broke out in Syria, and since then, many of the monuments in these photographs have been destroyed. This exhibition will include images from Aaron’s book “Syria: Before the Deluge,” which contains photographs from his trip. Related event below:

  • Film “The Road to Palmyra”: A documentary in which BBC television presenter Dan Cruickshank and British photojournalist Don McCullin travel to Palmyra to learn about damage inflicted upon the ancient Syrian city. There will also be an introduction and gallery tour of the exhibition “Before the War: Photographs of Syria by Peter Aaron” led by Ashlyn Parker Davis, art history graduate student and Daura Center intern. Thursday, Nov. 21, from 7 p.m.

    • “Storytelling in Renaissance Maiolica”: This exhibition unites a small selection of tin-glazed earthenware produced in the duchy of Urbino, Italy, in the 16th century. Colorfully decorated with ornamental motifs and narrative scenes from the Bible, classical mythology and ancient history, these ceramic vessels demonstrate the extension of the Renaissance revival of Greek and Roman antiquity into private and public life. The exhibition investigates the visual links between these objects and the art of classical antiquity along with a range of decorative motifs and subjects.