Feature Articles


March Issue 2000

Robert Creeley's Collaborations at Weatherspoon Art Gallery in Greensboro, NC

An exhibition exploring the rich and productive collaborations of poet Robert Creeley and some leading contemporary artists will be in Gallery 7 at the Weatherspoon Art Gallery at UNC-Greensboro, in Greensboro, NC through Apr. 23.

In Company: Robert Creeley's Collaborations, surveys for the first time, the poet's 40-year history of collaborating with artists such as Francesco Clemente, Alex Katz, Susan Rothenberg, and Donald Sultan and includes prints, drawings, photographs, mixed media works, books, and unbound text pages.

Curated by Elizabeth Licata, former exhibitions curator at the Castellani Art Museum of Niagara University, the exhibition demonstrates connections and influences between contemporary visual art and contemporary writing.

In keeping with its theme, the exhibition provides a rare opportunity for collaboration between visual and literary arts.

The exhibition highlight will take place Wednesday, Mar. 8 at 7:30 pm, when Creeley will be at the Weatherspoon for a poetry reading followed by a reception and book-signing. Creeley's reading is co-sponsored by the Weatherspoon Art Gallery and the UNCG Creative Writing Program.

Creeley is author of more than 60 books of poetry, prose and criticism. A graduate of Black Mountain College in NC and the University of New Mexico, he is considered one of the most important and original voices in contemporary poetry. The Poetry Society of America awarded him the Shelley Memorial Award in 1981, and the Frost Medal in 1987. Creeley is currently Samuel P. Capen Professor of Poetry and the Humanities at State University of New York at Buffalo.

A catalog accompanying the exhibition, co-edited by Licata and Amy Cappellazzo (former curator of exhibitions at the Weatherspoon), features essays by John Yau and Hank Hine, chronological narratives, and excerpts from interviews with visual artists and publishers. The catalog is fully illustrated and includes a CD-ROM containing archival photos, excerpts from letters, videotaped interviews with collaborating artists, and other elements. The University of North Carolina Press is distributing the catalog in soft cover.

"It is truly apt that In Company: Robert Creeley's Collaborations is itself the result of the collaborative efforts of several institutions," writes Weatherspoon director Nancy Doll. "The combined efforts and talents of Elizabeth Licata, Amy Cappellazo and others have made this exhibition a productive experience with splendid results."

The exhibition also is scheduled to travel to the University of South Florida Contemporary Art Museum and Graphics Studio and the Green Library at Stanford University in Stanford, California.

In Company: Robert Creeley's Collaborations is made possible through generous support from the Lannan Foundation, the National Endowment for the Arts, the New York State Council on the Arts, and the Lila Wallace/Reader's Digest Fund, Inc.

Upcoming exhibitions at the Weatherspoon include Falk Visiting Artist Exhibition: Lynda Benglis, Mar. 5 through Apr. 23 and the UNCG Juried Senior Exhibition on view through through Apr. 9.

For more info check our NC Institutional Gallery listings or call 336/334-5770.

[ | March'00 | Feature Articles | Home | ]

Mailing Address: Carolina Arts, P.O. Drawer 427, Bonneau, SC 29431
Telephone, Answering Machine and FAX: 843/825-3408
E-Mail: carolinart@aol.com
Subscriptions are available for $18 a year.

Carolina Arts is published monthly by Shoestring Publishing Company, a subsidiary of PSMG, Inc.
Copyright© 2000 by PSMG, Inc., which published Charleston Arts from July 1987 - Dec. 1994 and South Carolina Arts from Jan. 1995 - Dec. 1996. It also publishes Carolina Arts Online, Copyright© 2000 by PSMG, Inc. All rights reserved by PSMG, Inc. or by the authors of articles. Reproduction or use without written permission is strictly prohibited. Carolina Arts is available throughout North & South Carolina.