Ackland Events

Opening Reception: Selected Works by the MFA Class of 2024
2024-04-18 17:30 - 19:30 (America/New_York) | Ackland Art Museum, 101 S. Columbia Street, Chapel Hill, NC, 27514, United States
All are invited to celebrate the opening of A Product of Its Environment: Selected Works by the MFA Class of 2024. Join us for a first look at the exhibition, remarks from the exhibition’s organizers and artists, and festive food and drinks (cash bar is 21+). The celebration is open to all and no tickets are required.
ABOUT THE EXHIBITION
Each year the Ackland presents works by UNC-Chapel Hill’s Master of Fine Arts in Studio Arts candidates in an exhibition selected by rotating curators. This year’s participating artists are Mark Anthony Brown Jr., Molly English, Matthew Troyer, and Vera Weinfield. Selected Works by the MFA Class of 2024 is curated by Lauren Turner, associate curator for contemporary art and special projects at the Ackland. Visit the exhibition site for additional information: https://ackland.org/exhibition/a-product-of-its-environment-selected-works-by-the-mfa-class-of-2024/

Art Adventures (Afternoon Session)
2024-04-13 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 works of art inspired by Molly Murphy Adams’ work Four Horses Running Fast, currently on view at the Ackland in Past Forward: Native American Art from Gilcrease Museum.
Space is limited to twelve participants; please register below!
This program is made possible by a Spark the Arts Grant from the North Carolina Arts Council, a division of the Department of Natural and Cultural Resources.
—
Past Forward: Native American Art from Gilcrease Museum [hyperlink to https://ackland.org/exhibition/past-forward-native-american-art-from-gilcrease-museum/] is co-organized by the American Federation of Arts and Gilcrease Museum.
The Ackland’s presentation of this exhibition has been made possible by the William R. Kenan, Jr. Charitable Trust, the Arthur F. and Alice E. Adams Charitable Foundation, and Jeff and Liesl Wilke ’92 (JD).
Exhibition-related public programs are supported by a Spark the Arts Grant from the North Carolina Arts Council, a division of the Department of Natural and Cultural Resources.
Additional support for the Ackland’s presentation of Past Forward: Native American Art from Gilcrease Museum is provided by Kerry D. Bird & Ken Gahagan

Art Adventures (Morning Session)
2024-04-13 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 works of art inspired by Molly Murphy Adams’ work Four Horses Running Fast, currently on view at the Ackland in Past Forward: Native American Art from Gilcrease Museum.
Space is limited to twelve participants; please register below!
This program is made possible by a Spark the Arts Grant from the North Carolina Arts Council, a division of the Department of Natural and Cultural Resources.

Past Forward: Native American Art from Gilcrease Museum [https://ackland.org/exhibition/past-forward-native-american-art-from-gilcrease-museum/] is co-organized by the American Federation of Arts and Gilcrease Museum.
The Ackland’s presentation of this exhibition has been made possible by the William R. Kenan, Jr. Charitable Trust, the Arthur F. and Alice E. Adams Charitable Foundation, and Jeff and Liesl Wilke ’92 (JD).
Exhibition-related public programs are supported by a Spark the Arts Grant from the North Carolina Arts Council, a division of the Department of Natural and Cultural Resources.
Additional support for the Ackland’s presentation of Past Forward: Native American Art from Gilcrease Museum is provided by Kerry D. Bird & Ken Gahagan

Drawing in the Galleries
2024-04-13 10:00 - 12:00, 2024-03-09 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.

2nd Friday ArtWalk: Caldwell Artists in Conversation
2024-04-12 18:00 - 21:00 | Ackland Art Museum, 101 S. Columbia Street, Chapel Hill, NC, 27514, United States
This program is now FULL. To be added to our WAITLIST, please email acklandRSVP@unc.edu.
Join us for a lively conversation entitled “We Work and Make Beautiful Things” featuring artists Teri Greeves (Kiowa) and Keri Ataumbi (Kiowa), who will discuss their artistic practices, influences that have shaped their work, and recent projects. Curator Jami Powell (Osage) will join the artists for a moderated conversation around themes of intergenerational knowledge transfer and women’s roles in arts and leadership as well as their connections to their own mothers, aunts, and grandmothers.
The talk begins at 6 p.m. and a reception for participants will follow. Registration is required — reserved your free ticket below!
The Ackland will be open before the talk and until 9 p.m. this evening.
This talk has been made possible by the generous support of the Caldwell Family Fund and has been co-organized with UNC-Chapel Hill’s Department of American Studies in honor of Jenny Tone-Pah-Hote (Kiowa).

Past Forward: Native American Art from Gilcrease Museum is co-organized by the American Federation of Arts and Gilcrease Museum.
The Ackland’s presentation of this exhibition has been made possible by the William R. Kenan, Jr. Charitable Trust, the Arthur F. and Alice E. Adams Charitable Foundation, and Jeff and Liesl Wilke ’92 (JD).
Exhibition-related public programs are supported by a Spark the Arts Grant from the North Carolina Arts Council, a division of the Department of Natural and Cultural Resources.
Additional support for the Ackland’s presentation of Past Forward: Native American Art from Gilcrease Museum is provided by Kerry D. Bird & Ken Gahagan.

A Closer Look at "Past Forward"
2024-04-12 13:00 - 13:30, 2024-04-05 13:00 - 13:30, 2024-03-29 13:00 - 13:30, 2024-03-15 13:00 - 13:30, 2024-03-08 13:00 - 13:30, 2024-03-01 13:00 - 13:30, 2024-02-23 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 in Past Forward: Native American Art from Gilcrease Museum.

A Closer Look at the Ackland Collection
2024-04-07 13:00 - 13:30, 2024-04-06 13:00 - 13:30, 2024-03-24 13:00 - 13:30, 2024-03-23 13:00 - 13:30, 2024-03-09 13:00 - 13:30, 2024-03-03 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.

Take Two Tour by Nancy Fields and Amanda Cobb-Greetham
2024-03-23 14:00 - 15:00 | Ackland Art Museum, 101 S. Columbia Street, Chapel Hill, NC, 27514, United States
This program is now FULL. To be added to our WAITLIST, please email acklandRSVP@unc.edu.
—
During this conversational tour, Amanda Cobb-Greetham (Chickasaw; American Studies) and Nancy Strickland Fields (Lumbee; Museum of the Southeast American Indian) will each offer their own perspectives on a handful of works in the Ackland’s current exhibition Past Forward: Native American Art from Gilcrease Museum.
—
Past Forward: Native American Art from Gilcrease Museum is co-organized by the American Federation of Arts and Gilcrease Museum.
The Ackland’s presentation of this exhibition has been made possible by the William R. Kenan, Jr. Charitable Trust, the Arthur F. and Alice E. Adams Charitable Foundation, and Jeff and Liesl Wilke ’92 (JD).
Exhibition-related public programs are supported by a Spark the Arts Grant from the North Carolina Arts Council, a division of the Department of Natural and Cultural Resources.
Additional support for the Ackland’s presentation of Past Forward: Native American Art from Gilcrease Museum is provided by Kerry D. Bird & Ken Gahagan

Art Adventures (Afternoon Session)
2024-03-09 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 works of art inspired by Molly Murphy Adams’ work Four Horses Running Fast, currently on view at the Ackland in Past Forward: Native American Art from Gilcrease Museum.
Space is limited to twelve participants; please register below!
This program is made possible by a Spark the Arts Grant from the North Carolina Arts Council, a division of the Department of Natural and Cultural Resources.
—

Past Forward: Native American Art from Gilcrease Museum [https://ackland.org/exhibition/past-forward-native-american-art-from-gilcrease-museum/] is co-organized by the American Federation of Arts and Gilcrease Museum.
The Ackland’s presentation of this exhibition has been made possible by the William R. Kenan, Jr. Charitable Trust, the Arthur F. and Alice E. Adams Charitable Foundation, and Jeff and Liesl Wilke ’92 (JD).
Exhibition-related public programs are supported by a Spark the Arts Grant from the North Carolina Arts Council, a division of the Department of Natural and Cultural Resources.
Additional support for the Ackland’s presentation of Past Forward: Native American Art from Gilcrease Museum is provided by Kerry D. Bird & Ken Gahagan

Art Adventures (Morning Session)
2024-03-09 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 works of art inspired by Molly Murphy Adams’ work Four Horses Running Fast, currently on view at the Ackland in Past Forward: Native American Art from Gilcrease Museum.
Space is limited to twelve participants; please register below!
This program is made possible by a Spark the Arts Grant from the North Carolina Arts Council, a division of the Department of Natural and Cultural Resources.

Past Forward: Native American Art from Gilcrease Museum [https://ackland.org/exhibition/past-forward-native-american-art-from-gilcrease-museum/] is co-organized by the American Federation of Arts and Gilcrease Museum.
The Ackland’s presentation of this exhibition has been made possible by the William R. Kenan, Jr. Charitable Trust, the Arthur F. and Alice E. Adams Charitable Foundation, and Jeff and Liesl Wilke ’92 (JD).
Exhibition-related public programs are supported by a Spark the Arts Grant from the North Carolina Arts Council, a division of the Department of Natural and Cultural Resources.
Additional support for the Ackland’s presentation of Past Forward: Native American Art from Gilcrease Museum is provided by Kerry D. Bird & Ken Gahagan

Drawing for Tweens
2024-03-09 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 15 participants.

2nd Friday ArtWalk: Game Night!
2024-03-08 17:00 - 21:00 | Ackland Art Museum, 101 S. Columbia Street, Chapel Hill, NC, 27514, United States
Kick off spring break (and the evening before the UNC-Duke game) with a game night at the Ackland for 2nd Friday ArtWalk!
With prompts to help you draw, move, and think about art, questions to help you learn more about yourself and your friends, and a quiz to help you decide which gallery to visit first, there will be many ways to engage. For a little friendly competition, challenge your friends in gallery bingo to win Ackland swag.
Bring your friends and family, and be sure to explore Past Forward: Native American Art from Gilcrease Museum on view at the Ackland through April 28, 2024.
UNC-Chapel Hill students can receive Campus Life Experience credit for participating in this event. Look for and scan the QR code at the event to receive CLE credit.

Guest Lecture: Dr. Shanna Ketchum-Heap of Birds
2024-03-07 17:30 - 18:30 | Ackland Art Museum, 101 S. Columbia Street, Chapel Hill, NC, 27514, United States
Hear from visiting scholar Shanna Ketchum-Heap of Birds (Diné/Navajo), whose research focuses on contemporary Native American/Indigenous art, theater, and performance. The talk is presented at the Ackland as part of the Art History Lecture Series organized by UNC-Chapel Hill’s Department of Art and Art History. This talk is co-sponsored by the Department of American Studies. Space is limited; register below for a free ticket.
ABOUT THE TALK
“Indigenous Performance Politics: An Analysis of Works by Kent Monkman, Spiderwoman Theater Company, Rebecca Belmore and James Luna”
By internationalizing the debate concerning Indigeneity and decolonial thought, as well as examining the basis of North American multiculturalism in the art world, my research foregrounds a complex understanding of gender, sexualities, and race in line with moving away from a heteropatriarchal understanding imposed by colonialist and anthropological thinking. In this talk, I focus on four artists/artists groups to offer new interpretations that question how we understand the colonial past by using images, artworks, and performances in strategic and interventionist ways that constitute acts of decolonization. Following Linda Tuhiwai Smith’s Decolonizing Methodologies (1999), it is my contention that decolonial theories and processes are inherent to the struggles of Indigenous Peoples worldwide and intersect with one another on local, national, and global levels. Therefore, going beyond previous frameworks, such as postmodern and postcolonial theories, implies a renegotiation of the readings and analyses of Native American/First Nation’s artists/artists’ groups, and their works, in ways that problematize Indigenous erasure in favor of Indigenous presence and futurity.
ABOUT THE SPEAKER
Shanna Ketchum-Heap of Birds is a citizen of the Diné/Navajo Nation. In 2022, she completed her PhD at Middlesex University, London, focused on contemporary Native American/Indigenous visual artists and theater and performance studies. Recent essays were published in Artforum International, Wired Italia, and Art Review magazine and in Tony Fisher and Eve Katsouraki (eds.), Beyond Failure: New Essays on the Cultural History of Failure in Theatre and Performance, Routledge, 2018. See her website https://dinehwriter.art. Ketchum-Heap of Birds has lectured at Artists Space in NYC, the Walker Art Center in Minneapolis, Nanyang University in Singapore, and Skype/Zoom lectures for the Barcelona Facultat De Geografia; Història Universitat De Barcelona; Museu D’art Contemporani De Barcelona (MACBA) and Shape: A Virtual Artist Residency sponsored by Vinegar Projects: An Artists-Run Space. Ketchum-Heap of Birds also curated Suffer, Dance, Stand: Native Survival with Edgar Heap of Birds, Douglas Miles, and Warren Realrider in 2022 at OK #1 in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Dr. Ketchum-Heap of Birds currently teaches at the University of Central Oklahoma and is board president of Spiderwoman Theater Company (the longest running Native American feminist theater group in the USA).
ABOUT THE EXHIBITION
Past Forward: Native American Art from Gilcrease Museum is co-organized by the American Federation of Arts and Gilcrease Museum.
The Ackland’s presentation of this exhibition has been made possible by the William R. Kenan, Jr. Charitable Trust, the Arthur F. and Alice E. Adams Charitable Foundation, and Jeff and Liesl Wilke ’92 (JD).
Exhibition-related public programs are supported by a Spark the Arts Grant from the North Carolina Arts Council, a division of the Department of Natural and Cultural Resources.
Additional support for the Ackland’s presentation of Past Forward: Native American Art from Gilcrease Museum is provided by Kerry D. Bird & Ken Gahagan.

Ackland Film Forum: Filmmaker Fox Maxy Conversation and "Gush" Screening
2024-02-29 19:30 - 21:30 | Varsity Theatre, 123 E. Franklin Street, Chapel Hill, NC, 27514, United States
Hear from filmmaker Fox Maxy (Mesa Grande Band of Mission Indians and Payómkawish) in a conversation at the Varsity Theatre and see Maxy’s film Gush (2023). Maxy is a San Diego-based artist and filmmaker whose work has screened at Sundance, MoMA, and Melbourne International Film Festival among others. Her feature film debut Gush, which premiered last year at Sundance Film Festival, is an embodied rumination of both male and female power, healing and haunting, all within an apocalyptic world. A transformation that courses through unknown terror to untamed collective joy.
This screening and discussion is co-organized by the Ackland Film Forum and UNC Film Studies Program and made possible by a Spark the Arts grant from the North Carolina Arts Council, a division of the Department of Natural and Cultural Resources.
UNC-Chapel Hill Students can receive CLE Credit for this event. Look for the QR code sign at the screening!
—
Past Forward: Native American Art from Gilcrease Museum is co-organized by the American Federation of Arts and Gilcrease Museum.
The Ackland’s presentation of this exhibition has been made possible by the William R. Kenan, Jr. Charitable Trust, the Arthur F. and Alice E. Adams Charitable Foundation, and Jeff and Liesl Wilke ’92 (JD).
Exhibition-related public programs are supported by a Spark the Arts Grant from the North Carolina Arts Council, a division of the Department of Natural and Cultural Resources.
Additional support for the Ackland’s presentation of Past Forward: Native American Art from Gilcrease Museum is provided by Kerry D. Bird & Ken Gahagan.

F.A.M. Fun in the Galleries: Exploring "Past Forward"
2024-02-25 13:00 - 17:00 | Ackland Art Museum, 101 S. Columbia Street, Chapel Hill, NC, 27514, United States
Spend an art-filled afternoon at the Ackland with family-friendly events and self-guided activities inspired by our current exhibition Past Forward: Native American Art from Gilcrease Museum. Local storyteller Ryan Dial (Lumbee; American Indian Center) will lead a storytime session for kids and their families at 1:30 and 3:30 p.m. A special close-looking activity sheet will be available for young art-lovers to explore Past Forward. Be sure to take home a F.A.M. kit with everything you need to make a woven artwork inspired by a Split Rivercane Basket featured in Past Forward.
This program is made possible by a Spark the Arts Grant from the North Carolina Arts Council, a division of the Department of Natural and Cultural Resources.
—
Past Forward: Native American Art from Gilcrease Museum is co-organized by the American Federation of Arts and Gilcrease Museum.
The Ackland’s presentation of this exhibition has been made possible by the William R. Kenan, Jr. Charitable Trust, the Arthur F. and Alice E. Adams Charitable Foundation, and Jeff and Liesl Wilke ’92 (JD).
Exhibition-related public programs are supported by a Spark the Arts Grant from the North Carolina Arts Council, a division of the Department of Natural and Cultural Resources.
Additional support for the Ackland’s presentation of Past Forward: Native American Art from Gilcrease Museum is provided by Kerry D. Bird & Ken Gahagan.

A Closer Look at the Ackland's Collection
2024-02-25 13:00 - 13:30 | Ackland Art Museum, 101 S. Columbia Street, Chapel Hill, NC, 27514, United States

A Closer Look at the Ackland's Collection
2024-02-24 13:00 - 13:30 | Ackland Art Museum, 101 S. Columbia Street, Chapel Hill, NC, 27514, United States
Join 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.

Guest Lecture: W. Richard West, Jr., Elder-in-Residence
2024-02-21 16:00 - 18:00 | Ackland Art Museum, 101 S. Columbia Street, Chapel Hill, NC, 27514, United States
This talk is now FULL. To be added to the waitlist, please email acklandRSVP@unc.edu.
—
A free public talk presented by the American Indian Center at the Ackland as part of their Elder-in-Residence program. Dr. W. Richard West, Jr. (Southern Cheyenne) has served as the founding director of the Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of the American Indian and the president and CEO of the Autry Museum of the American West. The talk will be followed by a reception. Space is limited and registration is required.
This talk is sponsored by the American Indian Center at UNC-Chapel Hill as part of their weeklong Elder-in-Residence program and presented in connection with Past Forward: Native American Art from Gilcrease Museum.

Past Forward: Native American Art from Gilcrease Museum is co-organized by the American Federation of Arts and Gilcrease Museum.
The Ackland’s presentation of this exhibition has been made possible by the William R. Kenan, Jr. Charitable Trust, the Arthur F. and Alice E. Adams Charitable Foundation, and Jeff and Liesl Wilke ’92 (JD).
Exhibition-related public programs are supported by a Spark the Arts Grant from the North Carolina Arts Council, a division of the Department of Natural and Cultural Resources.
Additional support for the Ackland’s presentation of Past Forward: Native American Art from Gilcrease Museum is provided by Kerry D. Bird & Ken Gahagan.
