Black Art & Abstraction: “Soul of a Nation” Virtual Panel Discussion
On Saturday, August 1, at 3 p.m. join Soul of a Nation artists Melvin Edwards, Fred Eversley, and William T. Williams for a livestream discussion about the ways in which Black artists engaged abstraction from the 1960s to the early 1980s.
“Black Art & Abstraction” is the third of five panel discussions in the Saturday series accompanying the exhibition Soul of a Nation: Art in the Age of Black Power. Moderating the talk is Valerie Cassel Oliver of the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts.
Meet the Panel
Melvin Edwards
The work of Houston-born sculptor Melvin Edwards reflects his engagement with the history of race, labor, and violence, as well as themes of the African Diaspora. Over the course of his five-decade career, Edwards’s work has been widely exhibited internationally.
Fred Eversley
Los Angeles–based sculptor Fred Eversley is known for his flowing geometric creations that usually take the structure of disks, parabolas, helices, and lenses. His work belongs to the collections of 35 museums and has been exhibited in more than 200 venues around the world.
William T. Williams
American painter William T. Williams is known for his explorative approach to the physical boundaries and science of color. He has been a professor of art at Brooklyn College, part of the City University of New York, since the early 1970s. His work is included in the collections of numerous prominent institutions and has been exhibited in more than 100 museums in the United States and abroad.
Valerie Cassel Oliver
Curator of modern and contemporary art at the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, Valerie Cassel Oliver was previously the senior curator at the Contemporary Arts Museum Houston. Cassel Oliver’s career has focused on highlighting artists of diverse social and cultural backgrounds.
► Tune in for the virtual discussion on Saturday, August 1, at 3 p.m. Before or after, experience Soul of a Nation: Art in the Age of Black Power at the MFAH, the final venue for the exhibition’s three-year tour. Plan ahead for your visit.
This virtual lecture series receives generous funding from Humanities Texas, the state affiliate of the National Endowment for the Humanities.
Installation view of Soul of a Nation: Art in the Age of Black Power.
Installation view of Soul of a Nation: Art in the Age of Black Power featuring the work of Melvin Edwards. Clockwise from front: August the Squared Fire, 1965, steel, San Francisco Museum of Modern Art; Some Bright Morning (Lynch Fragment), 1963, welded steel, collection of Melvin Edwards, New York; Afro-Phoenix #2 (Lynch Fragment), 1963, welded steel, courtesy of the artist and Alexander Gray Associates, New York/Stephen Friedman Gallery, London; Mamba (Lynch Fragment), 1965, welded steel, collection of Melvin Edwards, New York. © Melvin Edwards
Installation view of Soul of a Nation: Art in the Age of Black Power: Fred Eversley, Untitled, 1975, polyester resin, Capital Group for Lillian P. Lovelace. © Fred Eversley
Installation view of Soul of a Nation: Art in the Age of Black Power: William T. Williams, Hawk’s Return, 1969–70, acrylic on canvas, courtesy of Michael Rosenfeld Gallery, LLC, New York, NY. © William T. Williams
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