Looking Forward/Looking Back – Chris Watts

In honor of the community-wide celebration of Romare Bearden’s 100th birthday, the Van Every/Smith Galleries are proud to present the work of acclaimed sculptor Kendall Buster, selected artist for the major commission for Romare Bearden Park, and emerging mixed-media artist Chris Watts.

A native of North Carolina, emerging artist Chris Watts grew up with his grandparents in the racially progressive city of San Diego, California. He later returned to Charlotte, North Carolina, to study art, where he continues to live and work. Watts remixes imagery from vintage popular culture magazines (Jet, Ebony, LIFE) with paint and collage to comment on the peculiar nature of his present-day social reality in the American south––a sharp contrast to the deeply rooted cultural integration of his west coast upbringing.

Davidson College is proud to be a collaborative partner with The Mint Museum of Art during Romare Bearden: Southern Recollections, the fall 2011 exhibition of Romare Bearden’s works. Other partners include the Romare Bearden Society, Davidson College Friends of the Arts, the Davidson College Art Department, and The Mint Museum of Art Education Department. Since July 2010, these groups have met to plan activities and programs in conjunction with the exhibition, which opens on September 2, 2011, the centennial of Bearden’s birth. Wachovia Wells Fargo has generously funded this collaboration.

For a full list of community-wide arts and culture events, please visit: http://www.charlottecultureguide.com/feature.php?id=32

All events of the Van Every/Smith Galleries are FREE and all are welcome.