Wilmington, DE – On Sunday, November 17, 2019 the Delaware Art Museum will host Picturing Beauty: Celebrating Real Women, an intergenerational event featuring successful female leaders in the arts. The day of layered activities was developed in partnership with Girls Inc. of Delaware, One Village Alliance, and the YWCA and will complement two current Museum exhibitions focusing on gender and gender identity: Posing Beauty in African American Culture, an exhibition curated by Dr. Deborah Willis; and Angela Fraleigh: Sound the Deep Waters. Picturing Beauty is a free event but online registration (delart.org) is required for some activities.
Picturing Beauty includes a full day (11:00 a.m. – 4:00 p.m.) of discussion and creative activities centered on beauty and empowerment, including art-making, portrait photography and drawing, and special performances. At 2:00 p.m. Dr. Tiffany Gill, Associate Professor of Africana Studies and History at UD, will moderate a conversation between exhibiting artist Angela Fraleigh and MacArthur and Guggenheim Fellow Dr. Deborah Willis. The curator of Posing Beauty in African American Culture, Dr. Willis is an artist, professor, and curator whose research focuses on cultural histories envisioning the black body, women, and gender.
Program attendees are also invited to participate in a portrait photography session or sit for portraits drawn by local artists. Portrait drawings from The Beauty Shop Project’s 2017 “Portraits of Wilmington” program will be temporarily displayed in the Museum’s public spaces. Additionally, artwork by local female artists will be available to purchase and local educational and service-oriented organizations will be available to share information.
“We are exposed to so many polarizing images of girls and women that spread unrealistic ideas of beauty,” says Terra L. Harris, Executive Director of Girls Inc. of Delaware. “The arts challenge beauty norms, provide a lens for girls and women to see themselves positively, and build their confidence for the future. This event will provide a platform for girls and women to explore identity and beauty through different perspectives and hopefully empower them to express themselves creatively.”
Picturing Beauty was created by the Museum as part of their wider strategic plan to become a more inclusive creative hub where the community comes together to foster dialogue around art. “Female artists and artists of color are historically underrepresented in museums,” says Saralyn Rosenfield, the Museum’s Director of Learning and Engagement. “As the Museum prioritizes exhibiting and collecting artwork by women and artists of color, we want our diverse community of girls and women to see themselves positively represented here, engage and learn from successful female artists, and use the power of the arts to express their creative voice.”
The Museum expects about 200 local women and girls (especially those between the ages of 6 and 14) to participate in Picturing Beauty.
Picturing Beauty Schedule
10:30 a.m. – 2:00 p.m. & 3:15 p.m. – 4:15 p.m.
Portrait Drawing (registration required for 1 hour timeslots; limited space available)
11:00 a.m. – 2:00 p.m. & 3:00 p.m. – 4:00 p.m.
Portrait Photography (Timeslots are fully booked for this activity)
11:00 a.m. – 4:00 p.m.
Art activities, Portraits of Wilmington, artisans, and college and organization information tables
1:00 p.m. – 1:30 p.m.
Girls Inc. of Delaware performs “What is Beauty?” skit
2:00 p.m. – 3:00 p.m.
Conversation with Dr. Deborah Willis and Angela Fraleigh, moderated by Dr. Tiffany Gill (registration recommended). The discussion introduction and closing will include 2019 MLK Voice 4 Youth Contest Finalists Anya Verucci, Neha Das, and Sana Nangia
Sponsors
This program is presented in partnership with YWCA Delaware, One Village Alliance, Girls Inc. of Delaware, and the University of Delaware. This program is partially funded by a grant from the Delaware Humanities, a state program of the National Endowment for the Humanities. Additional support was provided, in part, by Delmarva Power and a grant from the Delaware Division of the Arts, a state agency, in partnership with the National Endowment for the Arts. The Division promotes Delaware arts events on www.DelawareScene.com.
Posing Beauty in African American Culture is curated by Deborah Willis and organized by Curatorial Assistance Traveling Exhibitions, Pasadena, California.