The Daily Tar Heel

Serving the students and the University community since 1893

Tuesday March 21st

Ackland Art Museum

The Ackland Art Museum is located on the edge of the University of North Carolina at 101 S. Columbia St. The museum has more than 17,000 works of art in its collection from European masterworks to modern photography. All work is available for students and community members to view.

Other exhibits include European masterworks, twentieth-century and contemporary art, African art and North Carolina pottery. There are between 10 and 12 changing exhibits every year. Originally built in 1958, the building has undergone two major renovations but remains in its original building. 

In addition to exhibits, the Ackland hosts some educational programs such as Art & Literature in the Galleries and drawing classes in the museum. Admission is free. Visit the museum website at ackland.org for more information.



Lena Wegner (right) examines the Andy Warhol photo exhibit at the Ackland Art Museum with Lisa Voss (left) on Thursday night.

Ackland Art Museum capitalizes on Warhol

Andy Warhol is one of the twentieth-century’s best known pop artists — and the Ackland Art Museum is hoping to use his big name to full effect. With parties, film showings and an elaborate gala fundraising event in the works, Warhol serves as a means to make the Ackland more of a social center, not just a gallery.

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Amanda Hughes, director of external affairs, welcomes the crowd Friday at the Ackland Art Museum to the exhibition featuring Andy Warhol Polaroids.

Ackland Art Museum shows Warhol's art

It would have been easy for the Ackland Art Museum to put its new exhibit of Andy Warhol Polaroids at the front of its central hall. But by fixing Warhol’s snapshots as merely the middle portion of a three-part retrospective of portraiture, the Ackland has successfully channeled the energy surrounding Warhol’s big name into a broader analysis of the role of the individual in visual art.

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Mark Dixon of the alternative home-made music project INVISIBLE performs for a crowd at Ackland Art Museum on Thursday night.

Invisible rocks Ackland Art Museum

For an hour on Thursday night, a pair of musical mad scientists held court in the Ackland Art Museum. Amidst a pile of old television monitors, keyboards and wires twisted together on the gallery floor, the alternative music group Invisible brought a decidedly modern flair to the classic art displays in the museum.

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Exhibit merges poetry, prints

Visitors to the Ackland Art Museum Thursday night had the chance to merge art and literature with a program connecting poetry from the Civil War to Jacob Lawrence’s exhibition “The Legend of John Brown.”

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"Escape," by American artist Felrath Hines, is part of an exhibit at the Ackland Art Museum. Courtesy of the Ackland Art Museum.

Ackland showcases two contemporary artists

One exhibit takes you through the life of abolitionist John Brown. The other takes you on a journey through the depths of color and shapes.Works from Jacob Lawrence and Felrath Hines, contemporary artists influential in the black art community in the 20th century, are on display now in the Ackland Art Museum today through May 9. Jacob Lawrence

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Students collaborate on ‘War on All Fronts’ exhibit

When students registered for professor Daniel Sherman’s First Year Seminar, they knew they would be designing a gallery, but they were unsure of how it would all come together. After a semester of research and debate, they created a final layout and saw their project take shape in the Ackland Art Museum.

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A painting by Dickens’ illustrator George Cruikshank titled, “A Brush with Shakespeare.” Courtesy of the Ackland Art Museum

Dickens images now on display

Charles Dickens is known for creating memorable literary characters through his words. But the grouchy-voiced Scrooge that comes to mind may have been created through the influence of performances and illustrations of Dickens’ “A Christmas Carol,” not his original writings.

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Ackland Art Museum staff extends Thursday hours

In an effort to accommodate student and faculty schedules and promote downtown Chapel Hill nightlife, the Ackland Art Museum is extending their Thursday hours.For the first time in the museum’s history, it has added evening hours on Thursdays until 8 p.m.

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New art exhibition arrives at UNC

After the passing of UNC alumnus Sidney Siegel, ’39, art enthusiast Shirley Siegel said she wanted to give something back to the University he loved.“My husband was an amateur sculptor,” she said Sunday. “He loved Chapel Hill and was particularly fond of the Ackland and small museums.”

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Ackland features abstract art in a new exhibit

The Ackland Art Museum will open its doors Saturday to display the treasures of its collection in an exhibit that promises to be a who’s who of abstract expressionism.Centered around the museum’s latest major acquisition, “Sentinel II” by Seymour Lipton, the exhibit is presented in two galleries displaying the avant-garde in one and guardians and heroes in the other.

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Curator Timothy Riggs examines a painting by Bruce Forriest. DTH/Mary-Alice Warren

A closer look

Curator Timothy Riggs has evaluated many interesting works of art in his time — everything from Japanese illustrations to chromolithographs, a form of chemical printing.“Someone brought in a case containing a three-dimensional floral bouquet produced from different colors of human hair,” Riggs remembered.

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Plans to expand Ackland on hold

Plans for what some refer to as Chapel Hill's "best kept secret" are moving in a new direction.Previous drafts for a building expansion for the Ackland Art Museum, now in its 50th year, have been put on hold in lieu of efforts to raise a $10 million endowment.

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Ackland appoints new director

The Ackland Art Museum now has a leader to oversee the expansion that will almost double the museum's size.Emily Kass, who served as the executive director of the Tampa Museum of Art from 1996 to 2005, will become the director of the Ackland beginning Oct. 16.Kass has a background in fundraising - she led a campaign that raised $62 million while at the Tampa Museum of Art. Her experience will be utilized as the Ackland looks to raise $25 million in private funding for its expansion.

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Ackland presents fresh face

Following a six-week makeover, the Ackland Art Museum reopened its doors last week, complete with a new exhibit and a host of plans for the future. The new exhibit, “Three Sides to a Sheet of Paper,” showcases 80 prints from the museum’s extensive gallery of around 8,000 prints.

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