ncmuseums

An occasional list of exhibits, programs, and events at North Carolina museums. Sponsored by the North Carolina Museums Council.

Monday, April 27, 2009

1). Asheville Art Museum: The Asheville Art Museum invites you to take an Art Break and join a member of the Asheville Art Museum Docents on a conversational tour of “Eva Zeisel: The Shape of Life” on Friday, May 8 from 12:00 to 1:00 p.m. Eva Zeisel is one of the top names in 20th century design and her story is fascinating. At 102, she continues to design and has quite a prolific portfolio.

2). Cape Fear Museum presents “ToyTime,” a new exhibit that opens on May 8. Enter a world of “old-timey” toys that is larger than life. Toys that spin. Toys that walk. Toys that twirl. Play with giant wooden folk toys that run on nothing more than good old-fashion laws of physics. “ToyTime” is a fun blend of craft, culture, history, science and play.

3). Southeastern Center for Contemporary Art (SECCA): The Southeastern Center for Contemporary Art (SECCA), in conjunction with the RiverRun International Film Festival will present “Minus 8,” a video by artist and architect Anna von Gwinner - April 15 - 30 (every night), 7 p.m. to 12 a.m., in the windows of the Loewy Building, 500 West Fourth St., in Winston-Salem.

4). Airborne & Special Operations Museum: The Airborne & Special Operations Museum will open a new temporary exhibit on 19 May 2009 at 0930. Entitled "173rd Sky Soldiers, the legend continues. . . ," the exhibit will feature a painting by renowned artist Craig Bone. "The 8th of November" is a tribute to those soldiers who paid the ultimate sacrifice in Operation Hump in 1965 and is based on the famous country duo, Big & Rich's hit by the same name. The exhibit will be featured through Veterans Day.

5). High Point Museum: In celebration of National Volunteer Week (April 19 – 25), the High Point Museum hosted a reception for its volunteers Monday. The theme for National Volunteer Week is "Celebrating People in Action." The theme captures the meaning behind this signature week – honoring the individuals who dedicate themselves to taking action and solving problems in their communities. During the past year, 85 volunteers worked 3,495 hours valued at $70,773.75 at the High Point Museum.

6). Mint Museum of Art: Platform shoes are back this spring, but don’t expect to see them on the runway. Opening April 25 at the Mint Museum of Art, “The Heights of Fashion: Platform Shoes Then and Now” showcases more than 60 platform shoes from the 1930s through the present – a true shoe lover’s delight!

7). Port Discover: Experience anatomy from the inside out at “Inside-Out Yoga,” Port Discover’s Second Saturday Science program set for Saturday, May 9. Children will learn about the muscle groups and how they are expanded and contracted through the practice of yoga. Registered Yoga teacher Lorrie D. Taylor will lead the group. “Inside-Out Yoga” will be offered at 9:30 a.m. and 11:00 a.m.

8). Hickory Museum of Art: The Hickory Museum of Art will be hosting the 8th annual Art on the Avenue Saturday, May 2 from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. This free family festival will take place on the SALT Block lawn between the Arts & Science Center and Hickory Public Library. This year will be the largest Art on the Avenue to date with more than 30 artists, multiple live performances, and a wide range of free art activities for children!

Monday, April 20, 2009

1). N.C. Transportation Museum presents “Hoofing it By Mule across North Carolina,” by Bernie Harberts on April 25 and is brought to the Transportation Museum in association with the N.C. Humanities Council. Harberts will have tales of his journey and bring two mules that carried him across the state.

2). Asheville Art Museum: The contemporary artist Beverly Buchanan creates works that speak to the integrity, resilience and resolution of humankind. Her drawings and sculpture will be on view in the Asheville Art Museum’s solo exhibition “Response and Memory: The Art of Beverly Buchanan,” opening Friday, May 8, 2009 with a reception with artist Beverly Buchanan from 5:00 to 7:00 p.m. that evening.

3). Cameron Art Museum presents “Art and Architecture: A Conversation with Dr. Ned Rifkin and James Demetrion,” the second in the three-part series is the highlight of the year's lectures featuring two scholars of modern and contemporary art, each experienced in the intimate relationship between art and architecture for the past century. Their public conversation Sunday, April 26, 3:00 p.m. at the Cameron Art Museum on art and architecture will be an unprecedented opportunity for the community to hear from internationally recognized art historians and museum directors.

4). Kings Mountain Historical Museum: The Kings Mountain Historical Museum would like to invite everyone to visit our current exhibit “The History of Cleveland County: What You Need to Know.” The exhibit features the early years of the county’s development, agriculture, natural resources, education and the textile mills. The exhibit runs through April 25, 2009.

5). N.C. Museum of Natural Sciences: A gift for the gods. A symbol of wealth and luxury. An economic livelihood. Bonbons. Hot fudge. Candy bars. Get the complete story behind the tasty treat that we crave in “Chocolate: The Exhibition,” a tantalizing, fully bilingual exhibition showing at the North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences in downtown Raleigh from May 9 to September 7, 2009.

6). Bellamy Mansion presents “Family Fun Day” on Saturday, May 2nd from 1-4 p.m. Come to the Bellamy Mansion Museum and step back through time. Participate in activities for the young and young at heart. Activities for the whole family!

7). Ackland Art Museum: This summer, the Ackland Art Museum at The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill will present “Seeing Your World,” a week-long summer art program for children ages nine to twelve. The program runs June 22 – June 26, 9:00 a.m. – 12:00 p.m. daily. Participants will investigate original art in the Ackland’s galleries, practice the techniques used to make them, and learn new ways to see and understand through art.

Monday, April 13, 2009

1). N.C. Aquarium at Fort Fisher: Get ready to run, walk or shuffle…the NC Aquarium at Fort Fisher is hosting the first “5K Race for the Planet – Seahorse Sprint” on Sunday, April 19. Race time is 8:00 a.m. with on-site registration and packet pick up beginning at 7:00 a.m. Scenic Fort Fisher will be your route as this race starts and ends at the aquarium. The first 100 runners will receive an organic t-shirt and reusable shopping bag. Afterwards, enjoy live music by The Casserole, refreshments, and vendor booths. Prizes worth over $1200 will be awarded to top three male and females in each category.

2). Asheville Art Museum: The Asheville Art Museum is pleased to screen the documentary film “Throwing Curves ~ Eva Zeisel” on Saturday, April 25 and Sunday, April 26 at 2:00 p.m. each day. In this engaging film, documentary filmmaker Jyll Johnstone explores the amazing life of the centenarian industrial designer Eva Zeisel. The film follows Zeisel’s life from her birth in Hungary in 1906 through her career as she moved from Berlin to the Soviet Union (where she was imprisoned for a time) to New York City in the 1950s.

3). Cameron Art Museum presents a lecture: “Art and Architecture: A Conversation with Dr. Ned Rifkin and James Demetrion” on Sunday, April 26 at 3:00 p.m. Dr. Ned Rifkin is the former undersecretary of Art for the Smithsonian Institution. He has held several museum directorships, including the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Center of the Smithsonian; the Menil Collection in Houston; the High Museum in Atlanta, and the New Museum of Contemporary Art in New York. Program admission: CAM and AIA Members: $5.00, Public: $10.00.

4). Joel Lane Museum House: The Joel Lane Museum House is proud to host a lecture by Jim Jones on “Comitia Americana Medals” on April 23, 2009 at 7 p.m. in the Visitors Center at 160 S. St. Mary’s Street in Raleigh. Admission for the general public is $15 per lecture and for members of the Joel Lane Historical Society, $10. Reservations are required due to limited seating. Refreshments will be served. Mr. Jones returns to the Joel Lane Museum House by popular demand after his engaging lectures on Colonial Currency given in 2007 and 2008.

5). Reynolda House Museum of American Art: Reynolda House Museum of American Art will display sculpture from the museum’s collection in a small, focused exhibition titled “Figures in Bronze: Sculpture at Reynolda.” The exhibition opens April 14 and continues through August 30, 2009 in the West Bedroom Gallery of the historic house. Reynolda’s collection of early 20th century bronze sculptures presents an exciting diversity of styles and subject matter.

6). Fort Dobbs State Historic Site: Recall the bloody struggle of the 1754-1763 French and Indian War at Fort Dobbs State Historic Site on Saturday, April 18, and Sunday, April 19, during the fifth annual “War for Empire” program. From 10 a.m.- 4 p.m. daily, visitors can thrill to battle reenactments, military drills and artillery demonstrations; 18th-century “doctoring” presentations; period music and dances; blacksmithing; colonial cuisine; and much more. The event will even feature a re-created Cherokee attack on Fort Dobbs at 1:30 p.m. each day. This program is free and open to the public.

7). Kings Mountain Historical Museum invites everyone to visit our current exhibit, “The History of Cleveland County: What You Need to Know.” The exhibit features the early years of the county’s development, agriculture, natural resources, education and the textile mills. The Museum is excited about borrowing objects from the Cleveland County Museum collection in cooperation with Destination Cleveland County.

8). Tobacco Farm Life Museum: Heritage Preservation announces that the Tobacco Farm Life Museum has been chosen to participate in the 2009 Conservation Assessment Program (CAP). The Tobacco Farm Life Museum joins 2,400 museums that have participated in CAP since the program began in 1990. Heritage Preservation's CAP is supported through a cooperative agreement with the federal Institute of Museum and Library Services.

9). N.C. Maritime Museum will offer a “Marine Life Collecting Cruise” aboard a Duke Marine Lab Research Vessel, Tuesday, April 14. Maritime Museum Associate Curator and educator Allison Besch will discuss sea creatures, their life cycles and foods. Participants will see trawling, to collect fish or shrimp, and dredging, for benthic organisms on the ocean bottom such as sea urchins or crab and shells. The R/V Susan Hudson is fully equipped for light duty oceanographic research.

10). Port Discover: How do plants and flowers suddenly appear when the weather gets warm? Toddlers will learn how seeds sprout, acorns grow and bulbs turn into beautiful flowers at Port Discover’s Toddler Time, “Plant a Bulb, Grow a Flower,” Thursday, April 16. Each child will plant a bulb to take home and watch grow. The program fee is $5 per family and reservations are required. Program is for 3 – 5 year-olds and parents or guardians must accompany the child.

11). Hickory Museum of Art: The Hickory Museum of Art unveils its latest exhibition, “The Imagination of Henryk Fantazos,” on Saturday, April 18. A reception will be held that evening from 6 to 8 p.m. in the Coe Gallery. Attendees can meet the artist, enjoy refreshments and watch actors bring a few of his paintings to life in tableaux vivants (living pictures).

Monday, April 06, 2009

1). High Point Museum presents “Blacksmithing Demonstration in the Historical Park” on Saturday, April 11, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Come watch our costumed blacksmith in action as he crafts various iron pieces. All ages welcome; free.

2). Asheville Art Museum: The Asheville Art Museum invites you to enjoy Music @ the Museum at the Pianoforte Concert featuring John Cobb and Deborah Belcher on Sunday, April 19, 2009 at 3:00 p.m. in the Museum’s intimate Gallery 6. John Cobb and Deborah Belcher have selected some of their favorite light music and miniatures, including novelty pieces, for this exciting concert.

3). Cameron Art Museum presents a performance: “Theatre, Culture, and Community” on Thursday, April 16, at 7:00 p.m. UNCW theatre students, who are studying the relationship between dramatic performance and the many communities that surround them, will present an original work that turn their perceptions into an artistically engaging performance with song, dance, and drama. Suggested donation: $5.00.

4). Museum of the Cape Fear: The Museum of the Cape Fear Historical Complex invites you to experience “Thoroughly Modern Mischief: A Poe House Scavenger Hunt” from Tuesday-Sunday, April 14-19. Join us for this special guided tour, where we’ll search for the 21st-century misfits and compare them to their early 20th century counterparts. This is a perfect tour for kids and a fun activity during spring break. These free guided tours will be offered on the hour Tuesday-Saturday from 10 a.m. - 4 p.m. and Sunday from 1-4 p.m.

5). Reynolda House Museum of American Art will present a lecture by H. Barbara Weinberg, Alice Pratt Brown Curator of American Paintings and Sculpture at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, on Tuesday, April 14, at 5:30 p.m. The lecture is titled “American Impressionists and Realists: Master Multitaskers.” Admission is $5, free to members and students. The lecture is one of a series of events held in conjunction with the museum’s current exhibition, “American Impressions: Selections from the National Academy Museum,” on view through June 28. Reynolda House is the only venue for this exhibition outside of New York.

6). Gregg Museum of Art and Design will have a new exhibit on display starting April 16th, 2009. “Silver of the Stars” is a collection of contemporary Scottish silver made by some of Scotland’s finest artists and created in collaboration with 10 of the most glittering names from the worlds of film, fashion, theatre, music and literature. The exhibit will open with a reception on April 16 from 6-8 p.m. and will run until July 3, 2009.

7). Port Discover: Look “Inside a Fish” at Port Discover’s Second Saturday Science, April 11. Leading the program will be Dr. Maurice Crawford, assistant professor of biology at Elizabeth City State University and a specialist in fish ecology. Children will follow food through the digestive system of a fish, identify the organs of fish, and more. “Inside a Fish” is offered at 9:30 a.m. and 11:00 a.m.

8). Ackland Art Museum: The Ackland Art Museum at The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill presents Learning from the Legacy, an afternoon-long symposium celebrating the life and contributions of esteemed Asian art historian Sherman Emery Lee, at the Hanes Art Center Auditorium, April 18, 2:00 - 6:30 p.m. This event is held in connection with the ongoing exhibition “Sage in the Bamboo Grove: The Legacy of Sherman E. Lee” (February 28 - September 20, 2009), a multi-gallery exhibition of treasures from the Museum's Asian art collection.