Ackland Events

Arts for All Fair
2023-01-13 18:00 - 21:00 (America/New_York) | Ackland Art Museum, 101 S. Columbia Street, Chapel Hill, NC, 27514, United States
Are you ready to jumpstart an amazing new year? Looking for new inspiration in 2023? Join us for a campus arts fair and discover some of the creative organizations and activities at UNC!

Meet new friends, learn how to become an Ackland member, and enjoy the galleries into the evening. The Ackland is open late, until 9 p.m., every second Friday of the month.

Participating organizations include Arts Everywhere, Carolina Animators Anonymous, Ebony Readers Onyx Theater, and more!

*This event qualifies as a Campus Life Experience*

Tour: Curator's Introduction to Good Object / Bad Object
2023-01-20 15:30 - 16:30, 2023-01-27 15:30 - 16:30 | Ackland Art Museum, 101 S. Columbia Street, Chapel Hill, NC, 27514, United States
Join Deputy Director for Curatorial Affairs Peter Nisbet for a guided look at the Ackland Art Museum’s newest exhibition Good Object / Bad Object (on view January 20 – April 2, 2023). Learn how these “misbehaving” objects flout expectations while continuing a lineage of contemporary sculpture that pushes back against traditional “object-on-a-pedestal” conventions. Artists in the exhibition include Carl Andre, Michael Ashkin, Martin Creed, Urs Fischer, Eero Hiironen, Roni Horn, Mel Kendrick, Annette Lemieux, Senga Nengudi, Amalia Pica, Sopheap Pich, Do Ho Suh, Stella Waitzkin, Tom Wesselmann, and Aaron Wilcox.
Learn more about Good Object / Bad Object: https://ackland.org/exhibition/good-object-bad-object/.
Space on this tour is limited. Please register for a free ticket below.

Drawing in the Galleries
2023-01-21 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.

Art Adventures (Morning Session)
2023-01-21 10:30 - 12:00, 2023-02-18 10:30 - 12:00 | 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
2023-01-21 10:30 - 12:00, 2023-02-18 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 (Afternoon Session)
2023-01-21 13:00 - 14:30 | Ackland Art Museum, 101 S. Columbia Street, Chapel Hill, NC, 27514, United States

Ackland Film Forum: Beasts of the Southern Wild (early screening)
2023-01-24 19:30 - 21:00 | Varsity Theatre, 123 E. Franklin Street, Chapel Hill, NC, 27514, United States
Join us for the first screening in the Ackland Film Forum’s Spring 2023 series “Do Something: Responding to Climate Change” presented by UNC Film Studies Program and the Ackland Art Museum.
Beasts of the Southern Wild (Behn Zeitlin, 2012)
Varsity Theatre, 123 E. Franklin Street | 7:30 p.m. (early screening)
FREE TICKET REQUIRED (below)
Introduction by Dr. Martin L. Johnson (English and Comparative Literature, UNC-Chapel Hill)
SYNOPSIS
Nominated for four Academy Awards, Beasts of the Southern Wild was a breakout hit at the Sundance Film Festival and launched the career of actor Quvenzhané Wallis, who plays the lead character, Hushpuppy. In this film, Hushpuppy and her father live in a close knit bayou community they call the “Bathtub,” protected by the levees that shape the Mississippi Delta. When a storm arrives, their lives are turned upside down, reminding us of the fragility and importance of community. Behn Zeitlin’s directorial debut is a stunning and immersive film that captures the trauma of natural disaster, and its connection to events that are far bigger than ourselves.
TICKETS
Free tickets are required, as space is limited. Click below to get a free ticket for the 7:30 p.m. early screening. Free tickets are also available for the 9:15 p.m. late screening.
ABOUT THE SERIES
Do Something: Responding to Climate Change
Ackland Film Forum | Spring 2023
We are living in the age of the Anthropocene, a geological epoch shaped by human activity. And yet, we, as individuals, and as a society, have difficulty addressing the climate change that we helped create. In this series, we’ll consider films in which humans respond to climate change. We’ll see people who escape floodwaters, fight off mining companies, care for plants, launch protests, and simply take a walk in the woods. Instead of proposing a single way to address climate change, these films will offer us ways to contemplate the relationship between ourselves, the world we live in, and the world we want it to be.
Presented in connection with Ghost of a Dream: Aligned by the Sun (through the revolution) on view at the Ackland Art Museum through May 28, 2023.

Ackland Film Forum: Beasts of the Southern Wild (late screening)
2023-01-24 21:15 - 22:30 | Varsity Theatre, 123 E. Franklin Street, Chapel Hill, NC, 27514, United States
Join us for the first screening in the Ackland Film Forum’s Spring 2023 series “Do Something: Responding to Climate Change” presented by UNC Film Studies Program and the Ackland Art Museum.
Beasts of the Southern Wild (Behn Zeitlin, 2012)
Varsity Theatre, 123 E. Franklin Street | 9:15 p.m. (late screening)
FREE TICKET REQUIRED (below)
Introduction by Dr. Martin L. Johnson (English and Comparative Literature, UNC-Chapel Hill)
SYNOPSIS
Nominated for four Academy Awards, Beasts of the Southern Wild was a breakout hit at the Sundance Film Festival and launched the career of actor Quvenzhané Wallis, who plays the lead character, Hushpuppy. In this film, Hushpuppy and her father live in a close knit bayou community they call the “Bathtub,” protected by the levees that shape the Mississippi Delta. When a storm arrives, their lives are turned upside down, reminding us of the fragility and importance of community. Behn Zeitlin’s directorial debut is a stunning and immersive film that captures the trauma of natural disaster, and its connection to events that are far bigger than ourselves.
TICKETS
Free tickets are required, as space is limited. Click below to get a free ticket for the 9:15 p.m. late screening. Free tickets are also available for the 7:30 p.m. early screening.
ABOUT THE SERIES
Do Something: Responding to Climate Change
Ackland Film Forum | Spring 2023
We are living in the age of the Anthropocene, a geological epoch shaped by human activity. And yet, we, as individuals, and as a society, have difficulty addressing the climate change that we helped create. In this series, we’ll consider films in which humans respond to climate change. We’ll see people who escape floodwaters, fight off mining companies, care for plants, launch protests, and simply take a walk in the woods. Instead of proposing a single way to address climate change, these films will offer us ways to contemplate the relationship between ourselves, the world we live in, and the world we want it to be.
Presented in connection with Ghost of a Dream: Aligned by the Sun (through the revolution) on view at the Ackland Art Museum through May 28, 2023.

Tour: One Work Wednesday
2023-01-25 13:30 - 14:00, 2023-02-01 13:30 - 14:00, 2023-02-08 13:30 - 14:00, 2023-02-15 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. On Wednesday afternoons, we’ll look in-depth at a single work of art.
Find the full schedule of tours and topics here.
Register for a free ticket to the tour below.

Tour: Thematic Thursday
2023-01-26 13:30 - 14:00, 2023-02-09 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. On Thursday afternoons, we’ll look at a handful of objects that are linked by one theme.
Find the full schedule of tours and topics here.
Register for a free ticket to the tour below.

Tour: Friday Favorites
2023-01-27 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. On Friday afternoons, we’ll look at a selection of our guide’s favorite works on view. This Friday we will explore the special exhibition Good Object / Bad Object.

Find the full schedule of tours and topics here.
Register for a free ticket to the tour below.

Tour: Thematic Thursday
2023-02-02 13:30 - 14:00, 2023-02-16 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. On Thursday afternoons, we’ll look at a handful of objects that are linked by one theme. Today’s tour will include works in our current exhibition Good Object / Bad Object.
Find the full schedule of tours and topics here.
Register for a free ticket to the tour below.

Artist Workshop with Sheila Gallagher
2023-02-03 13:00 - 17:00 | Ackland Art Museum, 101 S. Columbia Street, Chapel Hill, NC, 27514, United States
ART-MAKING WORKSHOP
This hands-on art-making workshop will be led by Boston-based artist Sheila Gallagher. Gallagher will lead participants in a collective hands-on art-making project that uses some of the processes of her plastic landscape paintings like her work Plastic Lila (right), which is currently on view at the Ackland. We’ll create pieces of a plastic landscape based on North Carolina native flora selected by the North Carolina Botanical Gardens.
No experience necessary! Drop in and make art with us!
PLASTIC COLLECTION
Help us collect plastic materials to use in the workshop between now and February 3. Please drop off the following materials to the Ackland Lobby, Wilson Library Lobby, the Campus Y Lobby, or Morrison Art Lab on South Campus. We need:
• Plastic containers such as yogurt containers, sour cream cups, diaper genies, shampoo bottles, pretty bottle caps, moisturizer tubes (MUST BE RINSED OUT)
• Small plastic objects like dead plastic pens and markers, old credit cards, recycled plastic plates and recyclable containers, plastic laundry baskets, plastic bread tabs, etc. Look for unusual colors or images (look for #PP also #HDPE)
• Reusable water bottles. (Not regular plastic ones in vending machine. Please no plastic drink bottles, Gatorade etc.)
• Some medical components and dental items (plastic picks, dental floss holders, old toothbrushes)
• Various toys (birthday party junk, old Lego, etc.), perler beads
The event is presented in partnership with Arts Everywhere, the North Carolina Botanical Gardens, the Campus Y, and UNC Library and made possible by a grant from Art Bridges.

Tour: Friday Favorites
2023-02-03 13:30 - 14:00, 2023-02-17 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. On Friday afternoons, we’ll look at a selection of our guide’s favorite works on view.
Find the full schedule of tours and topics here.
Register for a free ticket to the tour below.

Ackland Film Forum: Short Films by Ghost of a Dream
2023-02-07 19:30 - 21:00 | Varsity Theatre, 123 E. Franklin Street, Chapel Hill, NC, 27514, United States
Join us for the second screening in the Ackland Film Forum’s Spring 2023 series Do Something: Responding to Climate Change presented by UNC Film Studies Program and the Ackland Art Museum.
Short Films by Ghost of a Dream and More
Varsity Theatre, 123 E. Franklin Street | 7:30 p.m.
Free Tickets at the Varsity Theatre
Join the artist collective known as Ghost of a Dream – Lauren Was and Adam Eckstrom – as they present an evening of their own short films and select films by fellow artists, including a collection made for the Little Sun Foundation. Ghost of a Dream will introduce their selections and hold an artist Q&A following the films.
TICKETS
Free tickets are available the evening of the screening at the Varsity Theatre.
ABOUT THE SERIES
Do Something: Responding to Climate Change
Ackland Film Forum | Spring 2023
We are living in the age of the Anthropocene, a geological epoch shaped by human activity. And yet, we, as individuals, and as a society, have difficulty addressing the climate change that we helped create. In this series, we’ll consider films in which humans respond to climate change. We’ll see people who escape floodwaters, fight off mining companies, care for plants, launch protests, and simply take a walk in the woods. Instead of proposing a single way to address climate change, these films will offer us ways to contemplate the relationship between ourselves, the world we live in, and the world we want it to be.
Presented in connection with Ghost of a Dream: Aligned by the Sun (through the revolution) on view at the Ackland Art Museum through May 28, 2023.

Tour: Friday Favorites
2023-02-10 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. On Friday afternoons, we’ll look at a selection of our guide’s favorite works on view. Today’s tour will include works in our current exhibition Good Object / Bad Object.

Find the full schedule of tours and topics here.
Register for a free ticket to the tour below.

2nd Friday ArtWalk
2023-02-10 17:00 - 21:00 | Ackland Art Museum, 101 S. Columbia Street, Chapel Hill, NC, 27514, United States
Join us for this month’s 2nd Friday ArtWalk evening hours as we explore two new exhibitions at the Ackland: Good Object / Bad Object and Laurel Nakadate: Ten Performances from 365 Days: A Catalogue of Tears.
The evening will feature:
– the debut of a three-day sound installation by Lee Weisert, Both Man and Beast and the Creeping Thing, presented in connected with Good Object / Bad Object (on view Feb 10-12)
– mini-tours of Laurel Nakadate: Ten Performances from 365 Days: A Catalogue of Tears led by Lauren Turner, Associate Curator for Contemporary Art and Special Projects, at 5:30, 6:30, and 7:30 p.m.
– a premiere of a behind-the-scenes video on how Good Object / Bad Object was put together will be shown on the hour at 6, 7, and 8 p.m.

"Both Man and Beast and the Creeping Thing" by Lee Weisert
2023-02-10 17:00 - 21:00, 2023-02-11 10:00 - 17:00, 2023-02-12 13:00 - 17:00 | Ackland Art Museum, 101 S. Columbia Street, Chapel Hill, NC, 27514, United States
Experience a three day sound installation by composer and UNC composition professor Lee Weisert. Weisert’s Both Man and Beast and the Creeping Thing will be on view in the Ackland’s ART& space February 10-12, 2023 in connection with Good Object / Bad Object. In this new exhibition, the Ackland examines how contemporary sculpture might employ unexpected placement, language, reflectivity, accumulation, and other strategies to subvert our understanding of how “good objects” might “behave badly.” Both Man and Beast and the Creeping Thing will likewise challenge the observer to question exactly how sculptures are “supposed to behave” in a museum setting.
A large suspended sphere of slowly melting ice drips into a metal receptacle. A contact microphone mounted to the bottom of the receptacle tracks the rhythms of the falling drops, triggering a computer-controlled speech sampler. Speech fragments from the Book of Genesis (The Flood) are played in order, on a loop. Both Man and Beast and the Creeping Thing was premiered at the Elsewhere Museum in Greensboro, NC, and was on long term view at Western Carolina University in 2014.
Lee Weisert is a composer of instrumental and electronic music and an associate professor in the Music Department at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, where he teaches courses in composition, electronic music, and musicianship. He has degrees in music composition from the University of Colorado, California Institute of the Arts, and Northwestern University. Weisert’s recent music has incorporated increasingly disparate elements such as orchestral instruments, found sounds, field recordings, digital synthesis, and analog circuitry, in an attempt to find, “through experimentation, tinkering, and unconventional approaches, a ritualistic and deeply expressive world of sound” (Dan Lippel, New Focus Recordings). His instrumental music has been commissioned and performed by nationally recognized performers and ensembles including Stephen Drury, the Callithumpian Consort, ICE, JACK Quartet, Spektral Quartet, Yarn/Wire, Wild Rumpus, Matthew McClure, Clara Yang, and Joann Cho.

Ackland Film Forum: "Pushed Up the Mountain" (Julia Haslett, 2020)
2023-02-16 17:45 - 19:30 | Nelson Mandela Auditorium, FedEx Global Ed Center, 301 Pittsboro St., Chapel Hill, NC, 27514, United States
Join the Carolina Asia Center and the UNC Department of Communication for a screening of the feature-length documentary Pushed Up the Mountain, directed by UNC’s own Prof. Julia Haslett.
Pushed Up the Mountain (Julia Haslett, 2020)
FedEx Global Education Center, UNC-Chapel Hill | 5:45 p.m.
Free, no tickets required.
Doors open at 5:30pm, with the screening starting at 5:45pm. At 7pm, there will be a Q&A with Prof. Julia Haslett.
SYNOPSIS
Pushed Up the Mountain is a poetic and personal film about plants and the people who care for them. Through the tale of the migrating rhododendron, now endangered in its native China, the film reveals how high the stakes are for all living organisms in this time of unprecedented destruction of the natural world. Beginning in the Scottish Highlands, the film travels between conservationists in Scotland and China who devote their lives to the rhododendron’s survival. Patiently observed footage of conservationists at work combines with centuries-old landscape paintings and the filmmaker’s speculative voice to create a thought-provoking film about human efforts to protect nature for and from ourselves.
Doors open at 5:30pm, with the screening starting at 5:45pm. At 7pm, we will have a Q&A with Prof. Julia Haslett.
More info: https://carolinaasiacenter.unc.edu/event/pushed-up-the-mountain/
TICKETS
No tickets are required for this event.
ABOUT THE SERIES
Do Something: Responding to Climate Change
Ackland Film Forum | Spring 2023
We are living in the age of the Anthropocene, a geological epoch shaped by human activity. And yet, we, as individuals, and as a society, have difficulty addressing the climate change that we helped create. In this series, we’ll consider films in which humans respond to climate change. We’ll see people who escape floodwaters, fight off mining companies, care for plants, launch protests, and simply take a walk in the woods. Instead of proposing a single way to address climate change, these films will offer us ways to contemplate the relationship between ourselves, the world we live in, and the world we want it to be.
Presented in connection with Ghost of a Dream: Aligned by the Sun (through the revolution) on view at the Ackland Art Museum through May 28, 2023.
