University Galleries to Host Visual Artist Radcliffe Bailey to Discuss Race in Art

EAST GREENSBORO (Nov. 9, 2020) - The University Galleries at North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University will host a virtual program, “The Black Aesthetic: Imagery and Race in Art,” at 6 p.m. Wednesday, Nov. 11. The discussion will feature renowned visual artist Radcliffe Bailey and will delve into the historical, societal and political impact that imagery has on people of African descent. Noted actress and author Angela Ray will moderate the discussion.

The virtual program will complement the University Galleries’ current virtual exhibition, “Black Art Matters.” The virtual exhibit features works from the permanent collection that highlights the diversity and emotion of Black art.

Bailey is a contemporary African American artist known for his mixed-media practice that delves into his heritage and childhood in the South. Employing materials that include paint, traditional African sculpture, tintype photographs of his family, clay and piano keys, the artist conveys the powerful sentiment of a living memory.

Born in Bridgeton, N.J., he grew up in Atlanta where he frequented the High Museum of Art with his mother. She introduced her son to the works of James Van Der Zee and Jacob Lawrence. Bailey received his BFA from the Atlanta College of Art. Today, his works are held in the collections of the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, the Museum of Fine Arts in Houston, the Art Institute of Chicago, and the Smithsonian Museum of American Art in Washington, D.C., among others. He continues to live and work in Atlanta.

The virtual program is registration only and the passcode is 151987.

The University Galleries at A&T are part of the College of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences. The University Galleries play an integral role in supporting its mission of providing cultural exposure to art of the African diaspora. As part of the university and surrounding communities, the University Galleries are committed to increasing cultural competency and intellectual dialogue about the art and culture of people from the African diaspora through the exhibition of art, artifacts, and material culture.