Nasher Museum Celebrates Summer with Art, Dance, Music, Food

This summer, the Nasher Museum of Art at Duke University will present four new exhibitions and a series of free programs, including gallery talks, craft and drawing sessions, contemporary dance, guest chefs in the café, live music, book discussions and more.

“Our summer exhibitions, from old masters to young emerging artists, offer something exciting for every visitor,” said Sarah Schroth, interim director and Nancy Hanks Senior Curator of the Nasher Museum. “We are proud to present programs -- our widest variety ever -- that encourage people with many interests to come visit us.”

The museum’s original traveling exhibition, “Wangechi Mutu: A Fantastic Journey,” is on view through July 21. The accompanying catalogue is now available at the Nasher Museum Store. The 176-page book includes many images that highlight the most important and iconic works Mutu has created since the mid-1990s. It also portrays the installation at the Nasher Museum, which includes new collages, a monumental wall drawing, videos and selections from the artist’s sketchbooks. The catalogue includes scholarly essays by Trevor Schoonmaker, Patsy R. and Raymond D. Nasher Curator of Contemporary Art at the Nasher Museum, art historian Kristine Stiles and critic and musician Greg Tate, paired with an illustrated chronology of Mutu’s work.

For the first time, the American Dance Festival (ADF) brings a 2013 season performance to the Nasher Museum with “This Land Is Your Land” by Seattle choreographer and ADF faculty member Mark Haim on June 25 and 26.  The work, which debuted in Paris in January, is set to a country music score and is based on a simple, continuously mutating walking pattern with 14 performers. Tickets are $15 and available from Duke University Box Office online or by phone, 919-684-4444.

More than 70 works of art spanning six centuries are featured in “The Human Position: Old Master Works from the Collection,” opening June 20. The exhibition includes paintings, sculptures and works on paper from the 14th through the 19th centuries, all from the Nasher Museum’s collection and rarely on view. Artists include European old masters, including Italian Renaissance and baroque painters such as Titian’s contemporary Bonifacio de’Pitati, Spanish court painters Vicente Carducho and Francisco Rizi, French neoclassical artists François Gerard and Merry-Joseph Blondel, master printmakers Dürer, Callot and Rembrandt, and many more. “The Human Position” is on view through August 26.

A contemporary installation, “The Cinematic Impulse,” explores the relationships between cinema, visual art and culture. Artists use a variety of visual strategies to recognize the effects of Hollywood, from photography and video art to film. “The Cinematic Impulse” includes works by Isaac Julien, Christian Marclay, Robin Rhode, Cindy Sherman, Xaviera Simmons, Eve Sussman and more, drawn from the museum’s collections. The show opens June 29 and will be on view through Sept. 8.

An intimate group show featuring works by Pedro Lasch, Susan Harbage Page and Yinka Shonibare focuses on the human consequences of the creation and regulation of borders. The show complements the upcoming exhibition “Lines of Control: Partition as a Productive Space” (Sept. 19-Feb. 2, 2014). Page and Lasch examine the experience of crossing the U.S.-Mexico border, documenting in visual terms the effect such journeys have on material objects and, by extension, their human carriers. Shonibare’s installation, “Scramble for Africa,” assembles 14 mannequins around a table with a map of Africa at its center. The work reimagines the Berlin Conference (1884-85) that resulted in a continent separated and parceled out among European powers, creating divisions that led to conflict and bloodshed.

“Summer Days Nasher Nights” continues every Thursday night and some Wednesdays and Sundays with guest chefs in the café, live music, wine tastings, free films and book discussions. Visitors can explore exhibitions through “Summer Make and Take,” hands-on activities on Tuesday mornings and early Thursday evenings.

The Nasher Museum, at 2001 Campus Drive at Anderson Street on the Duke campus, is open 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday and Saturday; 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. on Thursday; and noon to 5 p.m. on Sunday. The museum is closed Mondays. Admission is $5 for adults, $4 for seniors and members of the Duke Alumni Association, $3 for non-Duke students with identification and free for children 15 and younger. Admission is free to all on Thursday nights. Admission is free to Duke students, faculty and staff with Duke Cards. Admission is also free to Nasher Museum members. 

Learn more about Durham, NC at www.durham-nc.com.

The New York Times Spent 36 Hours in Durham

The New York Times regularly runs a piece in their travel section where they write about what a traveler can do with, well, 36 hours in a place.  On Sunday, January 20th, the world will see what they think can happen in Durham in 36 hours.  Heads up, it's a lot!

Like Durham, the article focuses a great deal on great food, music, the arts, and the open and welcoming culture of intellect.  In other words, the article captures Durham right down to the last nuance and lets it shine as the funky, authentic place that it is.

The story is on the paper's website, and will hit the stands on Sunday. There is an accompanying slideshow, as well.

Coverage like this is always appreciated.  Durham is also up for a major accolade from Southern Living Magazine.  Read more about that online and be sure to vote daily for Durham!

Marsalis Honored with The North Carolina Award

Durham resident Branford Marsalis was honored last night with North Carolina's top civilian honor - The North Carolina Award.  The North Carolina Awards ceremony was held at the Museum of History in Raleigh.

Marsalis was honored for his volunteer work and for his accomplishments as a musician.  He is among the world's best known saxaphone players who shot to fame for his work on Sting's Dream of the Blue Turtles album and then went on to be the band leader on NBC's Tonight Show with Jay Leno.

Other recipients were sculptor Vollis Simpson, Charles Hamner Jr. and former U.S. Rep. Martin Lancaster for public service; Dr. Trudy Mackay for science; and Ron Rash for literature.

Marsalis' move to Durham was an effort to live in a genuine and real community - something he's said often.  He teaches at North Carolina Central University and occasionally performs with his students around town without billing - it's not entirely unheard of to be out listening to a live jazz performance and suddenly be watching a world-renowned star join in unannounced. Such instances usually create an instant sensation in local social media channels.  Most recently, such a performance occurred at Whiskey in Downtown Durham.

Experience Duke Performances' Schola Cantorum de Venezuela in Duke Chapel for $5

Durham's cultural diversity yields many benefits for residents and visitors alike.  Performers and artists from around the world come here to share their talents - a fact driven in part by the two universities that call Durham home, Duke and NCCU.  Periodically, those benefits are placed more within reach for everyone.  Just such an occasion is upcoming with Duke Performances presentation of the acclaimed Latin American chorus Schola Cantorum de Venezuela. .

In an effort to bring out the biggest audience for this wonderful and important 40-voice ensemble, Duke Performances is making all tickets to the concert available for only $5. 

The reduction in ticket price comes with the intent to give a broad range of the Triangle community the opportunity to experience world-class singing amidst the soaring Gothic architecture of Duke Chapel.

Schola Cantorum is Latin America's finest choir and one of the most in-demand vocal ensembles in the world. The program for Nov. 9 — Agua Y Fiesta — features music by composers from Venezuela, Brazil, Argentina, Spain, Cuba, Mexico, and the USA — amongst them Eric Whitacre, Osvaldo Golijov, and Astor Piazzolla.  Every Schola Cantorum concert is a vivid cultural and musical experience — the ensemble brings infectious passion to everything they sing.

The show is on Wednesday, November 9, at 8 pm and tickets are available online, or by calling 919-684-4444 or at the Bryan Center Box Office.

Duke Launches New Arts Portal

Those with feet on the ground in Durham know it is the place where great things happen.  Be it visual art, performance, food, or community, Durham plays host to a wide breadth of options to experience and get involved.

Durham's accolades are so numerous that there's a website devoted to them, and the destination continually shows up in articles lauding its quality of life, food and art.  That said, Duke felt a need to highlight not only the community's offerings, but also the university's involvement and enabling of some of the features.  To wit, this site was born.

"The arts scenes at Duke and across Durham have both blossomed over the past several years. Members of the Duke community are deeply involved in Durham concerts, shows, classes and other arts activities. Duke Performances and others at Duke are holding events at venues across town. We developed this site to highlight how this artistic synergy is benefiting both sides," said David Jarmul, Associate Vice President of News and Communications at Duke.

"Duke has certainly helped to pave the way to some great enhancements that make Durham a continually growing visitor destination," said Shelly Green, President and CEO of the Durham Convention & Visitors Bureau.  "This site gives students a great starting point in exploring Durham by providing a type of lens or filter through which they can become introduced."

The site will be used in a variety of ways by Duke, primarily as a way to inform prospects that Duke is part of a significant community of cultural offerings on par with many larger places, and that the university plays a significant role in forming the cultural experience options in Durham.