UNC-Chapel Hill is fortunate to be welcoming performance-, recording-, and visual artist Lonnie Holley to campus from September 29 through October 3, 2014.
On Tuesday, September 30, the Southern Folklife Collection will provide materials for Mr. Holley to engage participants in an interactive, public art-making event at The Wilson Library from 9:30 AM to Noon and from 3:00 PM to 5:00 PM.
The SFC also pleased to announce that over 1500 slides documenting Lonnie Holley’s art work are now processed and will soon be available for viewing through the finding aid for the Souls Grown Deep Foundation Photographic Collection (20491). The finding aid currently provides access to the digitized images documenting artists Ronald Lockett and Asberry Davis.
Over the last four decades, Lonnie Holley has created countless sculptures, assemblages, and multimedia performances, working primarily with found objects, “scrap,” and recycled materials. Holley is one of several African-American vernacular artists to emerge from the Birmingham-Bessemer area of Alabama in the last quarter of the twentieth century, along with Thornton Dial, Joe Minter, and Ronald Lockett. Although he has recently been featured in the New York Times and the Washington Post, his work has largely lived outside art museums and, therefore, critical reviews.
During his week-long visit to campus, Holley will visit classes in the Departments of Art, Folklore, and American Studies, create new artworks with found and recycled materials, engage in public conversations, and give a musical-spoken word performance.
Public Programs
Monday, 29 September, 10:00 AM – 5:00 PM
Lonnie Holley: The Golden Belt Project
Stop by Room 100 in Building 3 of Golden Belt Studios in Durham and see artist Lonnie Holley making art in collaboration with Golden Belt artists.
The work created will be on view through Friday, 3 October.
Tuesday, 30 September, 9:30 AM – 12:00 PM:
Public art-making with Lonnie Holley in front of Wilson Library, UNC-Chapel Hill
and again from 3:00-5:00 PM, when Holley will complete the project and will be interviewed by Steve Weiss, Curator, Southern Folklife Collection, UNC-Chapel Hill.
Wednesday, 1 October, 5:00-7:30 PM:
Music on the Porch at the Center for the Study of the American South
Lonnie Holley will offer a public musical-spoken word workshop performance, “Thumbs Up For Mother Universe,” on the porch at CSAS. Learn more!
“Thumbs Up for Mother Universe” is made possible by:
UNC-Chapel Hill Southern Studies Fund
North Carolina Arts Council
Department of American Studies
Ackland Art Museum
The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill