Art Speaks: 50 Years Forward

  • Yoga in the Garden
    Yoga in the Garden

    SATURDAYS MAY 11-JUNE 22 (NO CLASS MAY 25)// 10AM // MUSEUM'S SCULPTURE GARDEN

    Energize your chakras with Vinyasa flow, the Five Tibetan Rites, Breathwork, and Chakra meditation. If you would like to boost the energy in your body and balance your emotions, join us for this fun six-week session! All levels are welcome. $60 for all 6 sessions ($50 for BMA members) or $15 to drop-in a class. Click here to learn more and register.

  • Painting Pet Portraits Class
    Painting Pet Portraits Class

    Saturday, June 1 // 10:30AM 

    M Studio for Kids presents a Saturday Studio for kids ages 9-14, Painting Pet Portraits! The Royal Copenhagen Porcelain Manufactory was commissioned to paint hippo portraits on an entire set of china. Bring in a photo of your pet (or favorite animal) and create your own pet portrait with artist Meagan Vucovich! Click here for pricing, to reserve your spot, and to learn more!

  • Robert Edsel Lecture and Book Signing
    Robert Edsel Lecture and Book Signing

    During First Thursday on June 6 // 7PM // Steiner Auditorium

    We are pleased to welcome Robert M. Edsel, author of the nonfiction books Rescuing Da Vinci and The Monuments Men: Allied Heroes, Nazi Thieves and the Greatest Treasure Hunt in History. His newest book, Saving Italy, follows two Monuments Men as they struggle to protect and save some of the world’s greatest treasures located in Italy, including works by Leonardo da Vinci and Michelangelo. Last year, George Clooney announced he would write, direct, and star in the film version of Edsel’s book, The Monuments Men.

    Special thanks to Alabama Booksmith for coordinating this program. Click here to learn more!

  • Collecting the African Diaspora
    Collecting the African Diaspora

    June 9–September 1, 2013 // Bohorfoush Gallery

    The Museum actively acquires African American art for the permanent collection. The Birmingham Museum of Art’s Sankofa Society: Friends of American and African Art support group plays an integral role in supporting the Museum’s mission of building the African American art collection. Sankofa has and continues to help the Museum by acquiring African American art. As a celebration of Sankofa’s contributions to the Museum, this exhibition will highlight the group’s acquisitions and acquisitions made in honor of Sankofa.

  • Etched in Collective History
    Etched in Collective History

    August 18–November 17, 2013 // Jemison Galleries

    Etched in Collective History presents artists who interrogate, depict, and memorialize the Civil Rights Movement. The Movement inspired a number of artists to participate physically, in marches and sit-ins, as well as creatively, through the act of making art. This exhibition acknowledges these artists, the generations that came after, and most importantly the four young girls— Addie Mae Collins, Denise McNair, Carole Robertson, and Cynthia Wesley—who died in the Sixteenth Street Baptist Church bombing.

    The bombing will be situated in relation to the 1950s and 1960s, taking into consideration the events that occurred before and after the tragedy. Additionally, the exhibit will reflect a multi-generational response to both the Civil Rights Movement and the bombing itself. This framework presents a number of voices: multiple viewpoints are needed to understand the impact of racial intolerance and racism against African Americans in this period. These various voices will include male and female artists, as well as local and national artists. With this approach, the audience will learn that there are a number of ways of understanding this period, from a heterogeneous group, thus challenging singular interpretations of history and African Americans.

    Etched in Collective History is presented by Regions Bank; additional support provided by Walter Energy.

  • Dawoud Bey: The Birmingham Project
    Dawoud Bey: The Birmingham Project

    September 8 – December 2, 2013

    Acclaimed portrait photographer Dawoud Bey presents an exhibition that symbolically commemorates the four young girls whose lives were senselessly lost on September 15, 1963, in the bombing of the Sixteenth Street Baptist Church, as well as the two Birmingham boys who lost their lives in the resulting violence that day, Virgil Ware and Johnny Robinson.

    To create the portraits, Bey will photograph girls, women, boys and men who presently live in Birmingham. These girls and boys will be the same ages (11, 13, 14, and 16) as the children who lost their lives that day in 1963, and the women and men will be the ages of those boys and girls if they were still alive today. Without specifically referencing these incidents, the project serves as both a memorial to lives lost, and as a message of hope and promise for the future.

    The Birmingham Project is presented by PNC Bank; the catalogue is sponsored by EBSCO Media.

  • Question Bridge: Black Males

    Hank Willis Thomas, Chris Johnson, Bayete Ross Smith, Kamal Sinclair // October 6 – December 29, 2013

    Question Bridge is a trans-media art project that counters established notions of Black masculinity in the United States. The project presents more than three hours of videotaped interviews with several dozen Black men, who are seen on multiple video screens. As a multi-generational and cross-national project, Question Bridge addresses pressing issues that Black men face in the United States. Men from Birmingham are included in this dialogue that encompasses issues of race, class, sexuality, and economic status, asking questions that are political, humorous, painful, and poignant. Visitors are invited to experience an intimate exchange between subjects of the project. The installation creates a platform for participants to represent and redefine Black male identity in America.