With the collapse of the stock market in 1929 and the Great Depression that followed, America saw more than 45 million citizens cast into abject poverty. In the midst of staggering hardship, the Great Depression also generated a tremendous outburst of creative energy in America's photographic community. At the center of the photographers documenting rural conditions, migrant workers, suffering families, and ravaged landscapes was Dorothea Lange, whose photographs from this era have become icons in American cultural history. This remarkable exhibition examines Lange's strikingly empathetic photographs along with the work of other important socially conscious photographers of the...
Past Exhibitions
Friday, February 10, 2012 - Saturday, June 16, 2012
Constant exploration, questioning, and the search for meaning and transcendence are part of what defines the human experience. Metempsychosis (the title taken from James Joyce's literary masterpiece Ulysses) invites us to look beyond the obvious and search for deeper meaning. By juxtaposing stylistically dissimilar images from different cultural contexts, this exhibit challenges us to look more deeply and draw new conclusions in the world around us.
Friday, March 2, 2012 - Saturday, June 9, 2012
In the 1920s, during a time of growing tensions between the U.S. and Japan, an American educator and missionary was moved by an idea: to promote peace between the two countries by working through their children. The response to his idea was enormous, resulting in a campaign that sent a gift of 12,739 Friendship Dolls from American children in celebration of the Japanese Hina Matsuri (Doll Festival) in 1927. The Japanese children responded in kind by sending 58 ornate highly crafted dolls of their own to the U.S. Today, this exhibit seeks to reunite these "Friendship Dolls" from both countries, reminding us of the power of a single idea—and the spirit of children—to act as an...
Friday, February 10, 2012 - Sunday, May 6, 2012
Vestiges of the Berlin Wall, remains of Holocaust sites, boundary lines, past battlefields, meteor impact craters, ruins of fortresses and abandoned colonial buildings come to life in this exhibit. Cohen has documented “the earth of our past as a record of memory, not as an act of witness” with over 100 starkly moving, almost poetic photographs.
Organized by the Gregg Museum of Art & Design, North Carolina State University.
Friday, February 10, 2012 - Sunday, April 1, 2012
Perhaps best know for his "Foamhenge" creation in Natural Bridge and other vibrant and whimsical roadside attractions, local artist Marc Cline unleashes his larger-than-life imagination upon the Taubman. With outrageous installations accompanied by original illustrations, concept drawings, and photographs that offer insight into the artist's unique creative process, this is an exhibition that's sure to be fun for the entire family. Disclaimer: no actual dinosaurs or monsters were harmed in the staging of this exhibition.
Friday, September 16, 2011 - Sunday, March 4, 2012
Celebrating Photography in the 125th Year of The Roanoke Times
Liberated from archives, pulled from the pages of recent publications and websites, the works on view are not meant to trace a thorough, historical timeline of the Roanoke Valley. Rather, the selection was based on photographic excellence. While the photographs on view were meant to be accompanied by text, be it in an article, caption, or interview, they essentially stand alone as a product of the intersection of art and journalism.
In presenting these works in the museum, we blur the distinction between photojournalism and the fine art of photography and ultimately change how we appreciate...
Friday, December 2, 2011 - Saturday, February 25, 2012
WATCH IT! is a vibrant showcase of contemporary video art that is an
international cross section and celebration of 50 years of video art
production. If you’ve never seen video art (Laurie Anderson, William
Wegman and Nam June Paik are some of its pioneers), you must see this
exhibit.
Video artists selected for WATCH IT! include Moreshin
Allahyari, Youngsuk L. Altieri, Laura Hyunjhee Kim, Joseph Kraemer,
David Mills, Eleen Mueller, Edward Ramsay-Morin, Leyla Rodriguez &
Cristian Straub, S/N Coalition, Arie Syarifuddin, Jeff Thompson, Ellen
Wetmore, Brooke White, and Pinar Yoldas.
WATCH IT! is produced
in association with the New Media...
Friday, September 16, 2011 - Friday, December 30, 2011
In an exhibit that the New York Times labeled "must be seen to be believed," dancer and visual artist Nick Cave (not to be confused with the musician of the same name) debuts his hand-sewn collection of Soundsuits. The outfits are wearable art that draws on elements as diverse as African ceremonial garb and runway haute couture, and their aesthetics alone are worth a gander; but it's once the suits start to move that the real magic happens. Cave's design expertise, combined with his penchant for found materials, results in suits that, when worn, produce sounds both ethereal and spooky.
Nick Cave: Meet Me at the...
Friday, September 16, 2011 - Sunday, November 20, 2011
Nest is a new media installation that plays with the notions of home, technology and the natural world—a world that is all too often only experienced through the intervention of media. This exhibit will combine “nest” sculptures with animated projections and a background soundtrack to create an intimate environment.
Friday, September 16, 2011 - Sunday, October 30, 2011
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The privately held Becker Collection, now digitally archived at Boston College, contains approximately 650 previously unexhibited drawings by mid-19th-century American artist-reporters Joseph Becker and colleagues.
On assignment for Frank Leslie's Illustrated Weekly, the era's leading illustrated periodical, a group of so-called Special Artists accompanied Union troops during the Civil War to produce firsthand drawings for publication, giving a glimpse into the life of an artist embedded within the armed forces.
Civil War Drawings from the Becker Collection is curated by Judith Bookbinder and Sheila Gallagher and the traveling...
