Ackland Events

TOUR: A Closer Look at "Reform to Restoration"
2023-09-29 13:00 - 13:30, 2023-09-22 13:00 - 13:30, 2023-09-15 13:00 - 13:30 (America/New_York) | Ackland Art Museum, 101 S. Columbia Street, Chapel Hill, NC, 27514, United States
Join Ackland educators for a lively half-hour look at two works of art. These engaging conversational tours offer a closer look at and new perspectives on works on view in Reform to Restoration: French Drawings from Louis XVI to Louis XVIII (1770-1830).
Free. No ticket needed!

Ackland Film Forum: "Magnolia" (Paul Thomas Anderson, 1999)
2023-09-26 19:30 | Varsity Theatre, 123 E. Franklin Street, Chapel Hill, NC, 27514, United States
Magnolia
Dir. Paul Thomas Anderson, 1999
Introduced by Aspect: Journal of Film & Screen Media
Everything uncannily intersects in Magnolia: the past, the present, emotional traumas, diseases, network television, crimes, false representations, family disasters, geography of the San Fernando Valley, Biblical plagues, whirling camera movements, and more. P.T. Anderson’s operatic melodrama is one of the quirkiest and most audacious entries in 1990s American cinema, with throwbacks to 1970s-era work by Sidney Lumet and Robert Altman. The star-studded ensemble cast includes Tom Cruise, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Julianne Moore, John C. Reilly, and other faces you will recognize. Along with Eyes Wide Shut from the same year, Magnolia is one of the most curious and unsettling performances by Cruise, who, at least in 1999, embraced vulnerability and self-critique.
This Fall’s Ackland Film Forum series, Nineties Flashback, is presented by the Ackland Art Museum and the UNC Film Studies Program, part of the UNC-Chapel Hill Department of English and Comparative Literature.
Reserve your FREE TICKET below!
For UNC Students: All Ackland Film Forum screenings are part of UNC-Chapel Hill’s Campus Life Experience program. Scan the QR code at the event for CLE credit.

F.A.M. Fun in the Galleries
2023-09-24 13:00 - 17:00 | Ackland Art Museum, 101 S. Columbia Street, Chapel Hill, NC, 27514, United States
Drawing activities for the whole family inspired by the Ackland’s current exhibition Reform to Restoration.
No ticket needed; drop in all afternoon!
ABOUT THE EXHIBITION
Reform to Restoration: French Drawings from Louis XVI to Louis XVIII (1770-1830) presents over eighty master drawings from The Horvitz Collection, the preeminent private collection of French art in the United States, and showcases some of the most well-known artists of the period, including Jacques-Louis David, Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres, and Pierre-Paul Prud’hon. Working in a time of tremendous political and social upheaval in France, artists looked to the art, architecture, and literature of ancient Greece and Rome for inspiration and used stories from antique history and mythology as well as current events and contemporary theater to convey moral and civic values during a period of great uncertainty. Arranged in thematic groupings devoted to the concepts of patriotism, love, honor, conflict, and despair, the works on display demonstrate the intellectual curiosity of late eighteenth- and early nineteenth-century French artists as well as the expressive versatility and powerful immediacy of drawings.
Image credit: Jean-François-Pierre PEYRON (1744-1814), Standing Draped Man and Child, ND, Pen with black ink and brush with gray wash, heightened with white gouache, on blue wove paper, 380 x 275 mm. (Framed: 23 x 17 ½ x 1 ½ ), L2023.6.39

Artist Talk: Amalia Pica
2023-09-21 18:00 - 19:00 | Ackland Art Museum, 101 S. Columbia Street, Chapel Hill, NC, 27514, United States
Join us for an artist talk with Amalia Pica, internationally renowned London-based Argentinian artist whose major commissioned installation Drawn to Explain has just been completed at the Craige Parking Deck on UNC’s campus. Pica will discuss how this very large-scale, multifaceted work fits within her broader body of work, which often explores systems of communication and human understanding in a playful, engaging way.
Space is limited; please register for a free ticket below.
This talk has been made possible by a generous gift from Carol Cole Levin.
UNC Students attending this talk can receive Campus Life Experience (CLE) credit by scanning the QR code at the event.
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ABOUT DRAWN TO EXPLAIN
Drawn to Explain is a large-scale mixed media art installation at the Craige Parking Deck on the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill’s campus. The work uses powder-coated aluminum elements and paint on concrete to reflect diagrams from different disciplines and departments across the University, conveying the sense of discovery at Carolina.

Public Celebration: Amalia Pica's "Drawn to Explain"
2023-09-20 11:00 - 12:00 | Craige Deck, Manning Drive, Chapel Hill, NC, 27514, United States
Internationally renowned artist Amalia Pica comes to Chapel Hill to celebrate the completion of a large-scale mixed media art installation, Drawn to Explain, on the exterior of Craige Parking Deck on the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill’s campus. The work uses powder-coated aluminum elements and paint on concrete to reflect diagrams from different disciplines and departments across the University, conveying the sense of discovery at Carolina. Pica will be the featured speaker at the event. She will also give an artist talk the following evening, Thursday, September 21, at 6 p.m.
The celebration will take place at Craige Deck, at the corner of Paul Hardin and Manning Drives. Free. No ticket needed!

Music in the Galleries: Music of the Chevalier de Saint-Georges
2023-09-17 14:00 | Ackland Art Museum, 101 S. Columbia Street, Chapel Hill, NC, 27514, United States
This event is now SOLD OUT. To be added to a waitlist, please email acklandRSVP@unc.edu.
Join members of the UNC Baroque Ensemble, under the direction of Brent Wissick, for an intimate art-inspired concert of French classical music by Joseph Boulogne, also known as the Chevalier de Saint-Georges. A tour for concert-goers led by Dana Cowen, exhibition curator and Sheldon Peck Curator for European and American Art before 1950, will follow the performance.
This event is now SOLD OUT. To be added to a waitlist, please email acklandRSVP@unc.edu.
ABOUT THE EXHIBITION
Reform to Restoration: French Drawings from Louis XVI to Louis XVIII (1770-1830) presents over eighty master drawings from The Horvitz Collection, the preeminent private collection of French art in the United States, and showcases some of the most well-known artists of the period, including Jacques-Louis David, Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres, and Pierre-Paul Prud’hon. Working in a time of tremendous political and social upheaval in France, artists looked to the art, architecture, and literature of ancient Greece and Rome for inspiration and used stories from antique history and mythology as well as current events and contemporary theater to convey moral and civic values during a period of great uncertainty. Arranged in thematic groupings devoted to the concepts of patriotism, love, honor, conflict, and despair, the works on display demonstrate the intellectual curiosity of late eighteenth- and early nineteenth-century French artists as well as the expressive versatility and powerful immediacy of drawings.
Image credit: Jean-Jacques-François Le Barbier, called Le Barbier L’AÎNÉ (1738-1826), Minerva Presenting the the Chevalier Desilles to Henri IV in the Elysian Fields, ND, Pen with black ink and brush with brown wash on off-white laid paper, 240 x 355 mm. (Framed: 23 x 17 ½ x 1 ½ ), L2023.6.10

TOUR: A Closer Look at the Collection
2023-09-17 13:00 - 13:30 | Ackland Art Museum, 101 S. Columbia Street, Chapel Hill, NC, 27514, United States
Join Ackland educators for a lively half-hour look at two works of art. These engaging conversational tours offer a closer look at and new perspectives on works on view from the Ackland’s collection.

Art Adventures (Afternoon Session)
2023-09-16 13:00 - 14:30, 2023-08-12 13:00 - 14:30, 2023-07-08 13:00 - 14:30 | Ackland Art Museum, 101 S. Columbia Street, Chapel Hill, NC, 27514, United States
In this art-inspired, hands-on art-making class for six- to nine-year-olds, participants will create their own masterpieces inspired by works of art at the Ackland. Classes are led by instructor Allison Tierney.
Cost: $5; Free for Ackland Members at the Household Level and above. Register below. Each session limited to ten participants.

Drawing for Tweens
2023-09-16 10:30 - 12:00, 2023-07-08 10:30 - 12:00 | Ackland Art Museum, 101 S. Columbia Street, Chapel Hill, NC, 27514, United States
This program invites ten- to thirteen-year-olds to look at selected works in the Ackland’s collection and identify techniques that the artists used to make them. Gallery teacher Daniel Hammer demonstrates and teaches participants technical skills, which they can then apply to their own artistic creations. A mix of drawing from works on display and creating one’s own original works is offered in each session. Materials are provided.
Cost: $5; free to Ackland Members at the Household Level and above. Register below. Class sessions will be limited to 10 participants.

Art Adventures (Morning Session)
2023-09-16 10:30 - 12:00, 2023-08-12 10:30 - 12:00, 2023-07-08 10:30 - 12:00 | Ackland Art Museum, 101 S. Columbia Street, Chapel Hill, NC, 27514, United States

Drawing in the Galleries
2023-09-16 10:00 - 12:00 | Ackland Art Museum, 101 S. Columbia Street, Chapel Hill, NC, 27514, United States
Join us for our popular Drawing in the Galleries program this month during Studio Saturday! Amanda Hughes leads participants in a creative exploration of a particular object in the Ackland’s collection. Participants all draw from one object using their own gallery-safe materials (paper/notebooks and dry media like crayons and pencils), then discuss what they’ve noticed through the process of drawing. All levels are welcome.

The 9th Annual Symposium of the Art Student Graduate Organization - “The Ways We Attach Ourselves”: Affect, Agency, and Emotion in the Visual Arts
2023-09-15 17:30 - 2023-09-16 16:00 | Ackland Art Museum, 101 S. Columbia Street, Chapel Hill, NC, 27514, United States
Please reserve your space at the event here.
The symposium will be held in-person at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill on
Friday, September 15th at 5:30 – 7:30 PM and Saturday, September 16th from 9:00 AM-
4:00 PM. Presentations will be followed by a Q&A session and are open to a general audience.
Affect theory in art highlights the power of art to evoke intense emotions and bodily sensations
influenced by social, cultural, and historical factors. It recognizes that our bodies actively
participate in the affective encounter with art, generating physical responses that contribute to the
experience. This approach explores how art can transform emotions, challenge interpretations,
and provoke new perspectives, examining the aesthetic strategies artists employ to evoke
affective responses in viewers.
Drawing inspiration from the insightful work of Lauren Berlant and Sarah Ahmed, this year’s
symposium delves into the captivating realm of affect, agency, and emotion within the visual
arts. Our objective is to embrace an affective approach that illuminates the emotional and sensory
dimensions of art, showcasing the profound transformative potential inherent in encounters with
artworks. ASGO cordially invites you to immerse yourself in art on a deeply visceral and embodied
level, transcending mere intellectual analysis and embarking on an exploration of the boundless
affective possibilities offered by artistic experiences.
Please reserve your space at the event here.

Ackland Film Forum: "Thelma and Louise" (Ridley Scott, 1991)
2023-09-12 19:30 | Varsity Theatre, 123 E. Franklin Street, Chapel Hill, NC, 27514, United States
Thelma & Louise
Dir. Ridley Scott, 1991
Introduced by Kino Corner
This gorgeously shot film is a rarity in Hollywood: a written-by-a-woman (Callie Khouri) action thriller/road movie with richly drawn female bonding at its center. Controversial in its day for its sensational depiction of violence, Thelma & Louise has become a cult classic with a large fan base, which includes members of the LGBTQ community who, already in the 1990s, saw in this narrative a quasi-lesbian romance that takes dead aim at patriarchy. Starring Geena Davis and Susan Sarandon, this is also the film that made a young Brad Pitt famous, despite his limited screen time. The closing shot is among the most famous and memorable of the decade.
This Fall’s Ackland Film Forum series, Nineties Flashback, is presented by the Ackland Art Museum and the UNC Film Studies Program, part of the UNC-Chapel Hill Department of English and Comparative Literature.
All Ackland Film Forum screenings are part of UNC-Chapel Hill’s Campus Life Experience program. Scan the QR code at the event for CLE credit.

2nd Friday ArtWalk: Student Edition!
2023-09-08 17:00 - 21:00 | Ackland Art Museum, 101 S. Columbia Street, Chapel Hill, NC, 27514, United States
Curious about what your campus art museum offers? Join the Ackland for an evening highlighting the ways students at UNC-Chapel Hill can get involved at the Museum.
The Ackland will be open until 9 p.m. for tonight’s 2nd Friday ArtWalk. With information on the various resources available to students at the Ackland, an opportunity to sign up for our free student membership, a button-making station, and guided gallery tours led by the Ackland Student Guides, there are many ways to engage! Visitors are also encouraged to explore the Ackland’s special exhibition, Reform to Restoration: French Drawings from Louis XVI to Louis XVIII (1770-1830).

Take Two Tour: Two Perspectives on "Reform to Restoration"
2023-09-08 14:00 | Ackland Art Museum, 101 S. Columbia Street, Chapel Hill, NC, 27514, United States
Carolyn Allmendinger (Director of Education and Interpretation, Ackland Art Museum) and Max Owre (Carolina Public Humanities Executive Director and French History scholar) will tour Reform to Restoration with attendees, highlighting select pieces from their different professional points of view. There will be insights, tidbits, and possible (friendly) debate. Space is limited; free ticket required.
ABOUT THE EXHIBITION
Reform to Restoration: French Drawings from Louis XVI to Louis XVIII (1770-1830) presents over eighty master drawings from The Horvitz Collection, the preeminent private collection of French art in the United States, and showcases some of the most well-known artists of the period, including Jacques-Louis David, Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres, and Pierre-Paul Prud’hon. Working in a time of tremendous political and social upheaval in France, artists looked to the art, architecture, and literature of ancient Greece and Rome for inspiration and used stories from antique history and mythology as well as current events and contemporary theater to convey moral and civic values during a period of great uncertainty. Arranged in thematic groupings devoted to the concepts of patriotism, love, honor, conflict, and despair, the works on display demonstrate the intellectual curiosity of late eighteenth- and early nineteenth-century French artists as well as the expressive versatility and powerful immediacy of drawings.
Image credit: Anicet-Charles-Gabriel Lemonnier (1743-1814), Seated Roman Senators in Debate, ND, Black, red, and white chalk on light tan wove heightened with white chalk on light tan wove paper, squared in graphite, 356 x 393 mm. (Framed, approx. 24 x26 x 1 ½ ), L2023.6.26

WOW Sip 'n' Vision
2023-08-21 17:30 - 20:30 | Ackland Art Museum, 101 S. Columbia Street, Chapel Hill, NC, 27514, United States
Join UNC WOW for an immersive exploration of Ackland Art Museum after-hours, exclusive to UNC students. Create your own art with friends and discover campus performance groups while exploring this campus treasure, and the treasures found within.
There will be materials for memory boxes and friendship bracelets, as well as music and refreshments. The Ackland will also have resources for touring the art collection and information about their student membership program.
RSVP with Heel Life here!

CANCELED: Drawing for Tweens
2023-08-12 10:30 - 12:00 | Ackland Art Museum, 101 S. Columbia Street, Chapel Hill, NC, 27514, United States
This session has been canceled due to unforeseen circumstances. Please join us next month!
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This program invites ten- to thirteen-year-olds to look at selected works in the Ackland’s collection and identify techniques that the artists used to make them. Gallery teacher Daniel Hammer demonstrates and teaches participants technical skills, which they can then apply to their own artistic creations. A mix of drawing from works on display and creating one’s own original works is offered in each session. Materials are provided.
Cost: $5; free to Ackland Members at the Household Level and above. Class sessions will be limited to 10 participants.

Drawing in the Galleries
2023-08-12 10:00 - 12:00 | Ackland Art Museum, 101 S. Columbia Street, Chapel Hill, NC, 27514, United States
Join us as we resume our popular Drawing in the Galleries program this month during Studio Saturday! Amanda Hughes leads participants in a creative exploration of a particular object in the Ackland’s collection. Participants all draw from one object using their own gallery-safe materials (paper/notebooks and dry media like crayons and pencils), then discuss what they’ve noticed through the process of drawing. All levels are welcome.

2nd Friday ArtWalk: Georgie Nakima Installation Reception
2023-08-11 18:00 - 21:00 | Ackland Art Museum, 101 S. Columbia Street, Chapel Hill, NC, 27514, United States
Join the Ackland in celebrating Georgie Nakima’s new installation, Pantheress, in our ART& space.
Georgie Nakima is a North Carolina-based multi-disciplinary artist with a focus on public art and the relationship between 2D and 3D space. Georgie’s formal background in life sciences and research inspires her to bridge the network of ecosystems into her work both literally and figuratively, reminding us of the intersectionality of our shared world. This work is rooted in Afrofuturism as an offering to affirm the intergenerational connection and testimony of the Black Diaspora.
During tonight’s 2nd Friday ArtWalk, we will be celebrating with colorful summer drinks, and an assortment of playful popcorn flavors from The Mad Popper. Nakima will be onsite at 7 p.m. to meet and greet.
Join us for a fun and vibrant evening honoring Georgie Nakima and welcoming the the installation to our community.
RSVP is required. Each person RSVPing may claim a drink ticket (non-alcoholic or alcoholic); ID will be checked at the bar.

Curator’s Introductory Tour of "Reform to Restoration"
2023-07-22 11:00 | Ackland Art Museum, 101 S. Columbia Street, Chapel Hill, NC, 27514, United States
*This tour is now SOLD OUT. To be added to the waitlist, please email acklandRSVP@unc.edu.
A guided tour of Reform to Restoration led by Dana Cowen, Sheldon Peck Curator for European and American Art before 1950. Space is limited; free ticket required.

ABOUT THE EXHIBITION
Reform to Restoration: French Drawings from Louis XVI to Louis XVIII (1770-1830) presents over eighty master drawings from The Horvitz Collection, the preeminent private collection of French art in the United States, and showcases some of the most well-known artists of the period, including Jacques-Louis David, Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres, and Pierre-Paul Prud’hon. Working in a time of tremendous political and social upheaval in France, artists looked to the art, architecture, and literature of ancient Greece and Rome for inspiration and used stories from antique history and mythology as well as current events and contemporary theater to convey moral and civic values during a period of great uncertainty. Arranged in thematic groupings devoted to the concepts of patriotism, love, honor, conflict, and despair, the works on display demonstrate the intellectual curiosity of late eighteenth- and early nineteenth-century French artists as well as the expressive versatility and powerful immediacy of drawings.
Image credit: Jean-François-Pierre Peyron, French, 1744-1814, Académie: Seated Male Nude, 1780, black chalk on off-white laid paper, 14 3/8 x 20 7/8 in., (36 x 53 cm). The Horvitz Collection, Wilmington. L2023.6.83

2nd Friday ArtWalk: The Lemonade Stand and Uproar Festival
2023-07-14 18:00 - 20:00 | Ackland Art Museum, 101 S. Columbia Street, Chapel Hill, NC, 27514, United States
This 2nd Friday, the Ackland joins in the opening night celebrations of Uproar, a festival of public art taking place throughout Orange County from July 14 – August 12 with sixty artists displaying work across Chapel Hill, Carrboro, and Hillsborough. In the event of rain, the Ackland’s offerings will be held indoors!
The Lemonade Stand by Allison Coleman | 6-8 p.m.
In the spirit of the festival, artist Allison Coleman will present her Lemonade Stand Project, a mobile art-making, story-telling, and recipe gathering receptacle in the guise of a traditional lemonade stand. This public art project seeks to activate nontraditional spaces with art and community dialogue. As part of the Lemonade Stand Project, visitors of all ages can share recipes and art that will be displayed during the evening in and around the interactive sculpture pARC by The Urban Conga on the Ackland’s Terrace. In the event of rain, the event will be held indoors!
Galleries Open until 9 p.m.
The Ackland will stay open until 9 p.m. Visitors can pick up Uproar festival maps and guides and, of course, check out what’s on view at the Ackland! Be sure to visit our newly-opened installations of Asian and Islamic Art, as well as paintings on loan to the Ackland from the Terra Foundation for American Art.

Tour: Unsettled Things: Art from an African American South
2023-06-29 13:30 - 14:00 | Ackland Art Museum, 101 S. Columbia Street, Chapel Hill, NC, 27514, United States
Participate in a 30-minute guided conversational tour as we look closely at works on view at the Ackland. Today’s tour will include works in our current exhibition Unsettled Things: Art from an African American South.
Find the full schedule of tours and topics here.
Register for a free ticket to the tour below.

F.A.M. Fun in the Galleries: Exploring "Unsettled Things"
2023-06-25 13:00 - 17:00 | Ackland Art Museum, 101 S. Columbia Street, Chapel Hill, NC, 27514, United States
This Sunday, families are invited to explore Unsettled Things: Art from an African American South at a very special afternoon of art-filled activities. Throughout the afternoon, pick up a F.A.M. activity kit with materials to make your own art inspired by quilts on view in the exhibition. Pick up the F.A.M. Zine for more ways to explore the Museum.
TICKETS NOW AVAILABLE: From 1:30-3:00 p.m., families can register to participate in a quilt-making workshop with local quilter Kimberley Cartwright.
This program is supported by the Orange County Arts Commission and by the North Carolina Arts Council, a division of the Department of Natural and Cultural Resources.
