RALEIGH – LeRae S. Umfleet will discuss the 1898 Wilmington Race Riot and sign copies of her new book, “A Day of Blood: The 1898 Wilmington Race Riot,” on Wednesday, Nov. 18, at 7:30 p.m. She will be introduced by Dr. Jeffrey Crow, deputy secretary of the N.C. Department of Cultural Resources at Quail Ridge Books in Raleigh’s Ridgewood Shopping Center.
“On Nov. 10, 1898, white rioters in Wilmington murdered blacks in broad daylight and overthrew
a legitimately elected Republican government without public opposition or intervention by the authorities,” said Umfleet. Over the next quarter of a century, in a series of similar race riots throughout the country, Wilmington’s violence led to ever-tightening controls on blacks as they lost their rights and, in many instances, their lives.
The only known coup d’état in American history, the riot was the result of a series of events planned by white businessmen to regain control of government on both local and state levels. State Democratic Party strategists thrust Wilmington into the spotlight as an example of Republican corruption and bad government because of the participation of African Americans in local politics. The change in government that day fully ended black participation in local government until the advent of the civil rights era 60 years later.
In “A Day of Blood: The 1898 Wilmington Race Riot,” Umfleet examines the actions that precipitated the riot; the details of what happened in Wilmington on Nov. 10, 1898; and the long-term impact of that day in North Carolina and across the nation.
Umfleet is chief of collections management for the N.C. Department of Cultural Resources. She holds a bachelor’s degree in history from the UNC-Chapel Hill and a master’s degree in history from East Carolina University. In 2007 she received the American Association for State and Local History’s Award of Merit and WOW Award for her work on the 1898 Wilmington Race Riot Report.
“A Day of Blood: The 1898 Wilmington Race Riot,” by LeRae Umfleet, is published by the Historical Publications Section of the N.C. Office of Archives and History and the African American Heritage Commission. Historical Publications is administered by the Office of Archives and History, which is part of the N.C. Department of Cultural Resources.
Mix together a Fraser fir with holiday lights. Add music, memories and children’s faces all aglow, and you’ve got the recipe for December programs at the N.C. Museum of History in Raleigh. Capture magical moments during the Capitol Tree-Lighting ceremony, and enjoy performances by the Triangle Youth Jazz Ensemble and the band Mappamundi.
Drop by for a lunchtime lecture about Christmas in the 1940s, and wind up the year at First Night Raleigh. All programs are free except First Night Raleigh. Parking is free on weekends.
*Time for Tots: Seasonal Symbols
Tuesday, Dec. 1 or Dec. 8
10-10:45 a.m.
Ages 3-5 with adult
To register, call 919-807-7992.
From menorahs to Moravian stars, find out what different symbols of winter holidays mean. Make your own stenciled place mat to take home.
*History Corner: Christmas Trees
Thursday, Dec. 3
10-11 a.m.
Ages 5-9 with adult
To register, call 919-807-7992.
Growing trees for the holiday season is one of North Carolina’s biggest industries. Find out how trees became a holiday symbol and create a decoration for your own tree. This program is presented with Cameron Village Regional Library.
Triangle Youth Jazz Ensemble
Sunday, Dec. 6
3-4 p.m.
Get into a seasonal mood with some cool jazz. With saxophones, trumpets, trombones, bass and other instruments, this group of talented young musicians from local high schools will perform a variety of holiday classics. John V. Brown Jr., director of jazz ensembles and jazz studies at Duke University, leads the Triangle Youth Jazz Ensemble.
History à la Carte: Christmas in the 1940s
Wednesday, Dec. 9
12:10-1 p.m.
Bring your lunch; beverages provided.
Sandy Webbere, Associate Curator
During World War II, Christmas brought dreams of peace and wishes for normalcy in the midst of rationing and personal sacrifice. Learn about this memorable period in North Carolina’s past.
*Capitol Tree Lighting
Thursday, Dec. 10
5-7:30 p.m. (museum open)
6 p.m. (tree-lighting ceremony on the Capitol grounds)
A Fraser fir from North Carolina’s mountains will be a new addition to this annual event. Watch it light up the Capitol grounds during this special occasion. Listen to seasonal music performed by groups who will stroll through the Capitol grounds and Bicentennial Plaza, directly in front of the museum. Come to the museum to make paper chains to add to your tree!
*Music of the Carolinas: Mappamundi
Sunday, Dec. 13
3-4 p.m.
A food drive will take place in conjunction with the event.
Mappamundi (“map of the world”) performs acoustic music from Europe, the British Isles, colonial America, and Latin America. The band features strong harmony vocals and plays a wide range of instruments. PineCone co-sponsors the performance.
Help others in need during the holiday season. Bring canned goods to the performance to contribute to the Food Bank of Central and Eastern North Carolina. A collection bin will be placed in the auditorium for donations. The food drive will take place all day Sunday.
*First Night Raleigh 2010
Thursday, Dec. 31
2-6 p.m. (children’s celebration)
7-11 p.m. (nighttime events)
First Night button required for entry.
The Museum of History will be at the heart of the children’s celebration at this annual New Year’s Eve festival of the arts. With a First Night pin or button, receive a $1 discount all day to the exhibit Knights of the Black Flag, which explores the legacy of pirates. The exhibit will be open until 10 p.m. For information, call Artsplosure at 919-990-1158 or visit artsplosure.org.
For more information, call 919-807-7900 or access ncmuseumofhistory.org.
* marks program of interest to children or families
The N.C. Museum of History’s hours are Monday through Saturday, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., and Sunday, noon to 5 p.m. Admission is free. The museum is part of the Division of State History Museums, Office of Archives and History, an agency of the N.C. Department of Cultural Resources. The department’s Web site is www.ncculture.com.
The N.C. Museum of History is accepting entries for the 2010 Fourth Annual Student Essay Contest for undergraduate and graduate students. A prize of $200 will be awarded for the best research paper about North Carolina history. Judging will be based on historical accuracy, quality of written communication, and contribution to the field of local history. The winning essayist must be willing to present a lecture at noon on May 12, 2010, during History à la Carte, an informal lunchtime program held each month.
All contest submissions (including cover page) must be e-mailed as a Word or PDF attachment. Send submissions to contest coordinator, Rachel Dickens, at rachel.dickens@ncdcr.gov, by midnight on Thursday, Jan. 21.
All papers must be 15 to 20 double-spaced pages (including footnotes and bibliography), prepared with 1-inch margins and typed in 12-point font. A cover page with the following information must be attached to the submission: title, student’s name, abstract of 100 to 150 words, college affiliation, educational status (undergraduate class year or graduate level), mailing address, phone number and e-mail address. The student’s name should not appear on the paper, as the essays will be judged through a double-blind review process by a panel of three judges in the history and public history fields.
For additional details, call Dickens at 919-807-7969. For more information about the N.C. Museum of History, call 919-807-7900 or access ncmuseumofhistory.org.
The N.C. Museum of History’s hours are Monday through Saturday, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., and Sunday, noon to 5 p.m. Admission is free. The museum is part of the Division of State History Museums, Office of Archives and History, an agency of the N.C. Department of Cultural Resources. The department’s Web site is www.ncculture.com.
NEW BERN, NC -Tryon Palace is pleased to present this lecture as part of the 2009 African-American lecture series. The guest speaker, Dr. Robert S. Smith, will begin by discussing the role law has played in shaping race relationships and racism in the United States, as early as the era of slavery and moving into the 20th century. He will then discuss the ways African Americans used the law to challenge social injustices, paying particular attention to movements for job equality. He will also discuss contemporary legal developments impacting African Americans and workplace equality.
Dr. Smith is an Associate Professor of Africana Studies and History at University of North Carolina - Charlotte. Dr. Smith specializes in legal history and African-American history, with research interests that explore the connections between race and law in the United States. He is the author of Race, Labor and Civil Rights: Griggs v. Duke Power and the Struggle for Equal Employment Opportunity (2008). Dr. Smith received his B.A. from Purdue University, his M.A. from Central Michigan University and his Ph.D. from Bowling Green State University.
This free lecture will be held in the Palace Visitors Center auditorium on the corner of George and Pollock Street in New Bern, NC.
Tryon Palace Historic Sites & Gardens’ mission is to engage present and future generations in the history of North Carolina from early settlement and development of statehood through the mid-twentieth century by collecting, interpreting and preserving objects, buildings, landscapes and events that enrich understanding of the making of our state and nation. The North Carolina History Education Center complements and enhances this mission. For more information on this FREE lecture call: 1-800767-1560 or 252-514-4900.
Tryon Palace Historic Sites & Gardens, located in New Bern, N.C., is part of the Office of Archives and History, an agency of the N.C. Department of Cultural Resources. The Department of Cultural Resources is a state agency dedicated to the promotion and protection of North Carolina’s arts, history, and culture. For more information, visit www.ncculture.com.
Buildings currently open to the public include the reconstructed Palace, the John Wright Stanly House, the George W. Dixon House, and the Robert Hay House. Hours are 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Saturday, 1 p.m. to 5 p.m, Sunday and the last tours of the day begin at 4 p.m. The New Bern Academy Museum is open from 1 p.m. until 5 p.m. Monday through Saturday. Tickets and tour information are available at the Visitor Center located at the corner of George and Pollock streets. The Visitor Center and the first floor of the Palace are accessible to visitors with disabilities. The exciting new North Carolina History Education Center is under construction and is scheduled to open in July 2010.
For directions and further information about special events, programs or group tours, phone (800) 767-1560 or (252) 514-4900 or visit our web site: www.tryonpalace.org.
As an “American Idol” semifinalist in 2004, Charly Lowry of Pembroke sang her heart out before millions of viewers. She appeared as one of the 32 semifinalists during season three of the wildly popular program.
Today, Lowry, a Lumbee tribe member, sings lead vocals and plays acoustic guitar with the band Dark Water Rising. The group will perform during the 14th Annual American Indian Heritage Celebration at the N.C. Museum of History in Raleigh on Saturday, Nov. 21. The event takes place from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m., and Dark Water Rising will appear on stage from 11 to 11:40 a.m. Admission and parking are free.
The name Dark Water Rising originates from the home county of its six members. It refers to dark swamplands and waters of the Lumber River in Robeson County, which is known for its rich Lumbee culture.
Lowry and Aaron Locklear (a college friend and producer) formed Dark Water Rising to express a sound and free spirit that embraces several genres of music, including soul, blues, country, hip-hop, gospel and rock. In 2006, prior to creating the band, they developed the small independent label GreenSky Records, and Lowry gained local and regional success with the release of the single “BrownSkin.” After touring, she realized she needed the full expression of a live band.
“Our music has never fit into any one category alone,” says Lowry. “We don’t quite fit the mold of most other bands along the East Coast.”
Reminiscent of 1970s and 1980s bands, such as Fleetwood Mac and Heart, Dark Water Rising features a talented female lead singer. Lyrically, the band explores all themes of life, while expressing its sentiment on the recognition of the Lumbee people.
Don’t miss this opportunity to hear Dark Water Rising on Nov. 21. Stay and enjoy all the activities at the American Indian Heritage Celebration. This lively festival features musicians, dancers, artists and storytellers from North Carolina’s eight state-recognized tribes.* The event is the perfect way to celebrate American Indian Heritage Month. For a complete schedule or more information, go to ncmuseumofhistory.org or call 919-807-7900.
The American Indian Heritage Celebration is supported by the N.C. Commission of Indian Affairs; Museum of History Associates; and United Arts Council of Raleigh and Wake County, with funds from the United Arts campaign, the N.C. Arts Council and the National Endowment for the Arts, which believes a great nation deserves great art. Additional funding is provided by Food Lion and IBM.
* The eight state-recognized tribes are Coharie, Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians, Haliwa-Saponi, Lumbee, Meherrin, Occaneechi Band of the Saponi Nation, Sappony, and Waccamaw-Siouan. For more information about the tribes, go to http://www.doa.state.nc.us/CIA/.
The N.C. Museum of History’s hours are Monday through Saturday, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., and Sunday, noon to 5 p.m. Admission is free. The museum is part of the Division of State History Museums, Office of Archives and History, an agency of the N.C. Department of Cultural Resources. The department’s Web site is www.ncculture.com.
Before all the stress of having to find that perfect Thanksgiving turkey begins, join the Town Creek Indian Mound staff on Saturday, Nov. 14, at 6 p.m., as they look up to the skies for this year’s Leonid Meteor Shower. The program is free, although registration is required. Contact the site at (910) 439-6802 or at towncreek@ncmail.net to register.
People interested in attending the event are encouraged to bring chairs or blankets to view the night sky and are reminded to dress for the weather. Personal binoculars and telescopes are also fine to bring. The Leonids, which are associated with the comet Tempel-Tuttle, are one of the better meteor showers to observe, producing an average of 40 meteors per hour at their peak. They get their name because they appear to radiate from the constellation Leo, the Lion. Around this time of year, the Earth moves through the meteoroid stream of the particles left from the comet’s passage.
The shower itself has a cyclic peak year every 33 years where hundreds of meteors can be seen each hour. The last of these occurred in 2001. Astronomers are predicting a strong showing this year with up to 500 meteors per hour. The shower peaks on the morning of Nov. 17, but meteors can usually be seen from Nov. 13-20. A nearly moonless night will also make this year’s show even better.
For more than a thousand years, American Indians farmed lands later known as North Carolina. Around 1000 A.D., a new cultural tradition arrived in the Pee Dee River Valley. Throughout Georgia, South Carolina, eastern Tennessee, and western and southern Piedmont North Carolina, the Mississippian tradition spawned complex societies. Inhabitants built earthen mounds for their leaders, engaged in widespread trade, supported craftspeople and celebrated a new form of religion.
In 1937, excavations began at Town Creek Indian Mound. Key features of the site were reconstructed, including the mound, two temple structures, a burial hut and surrounding stockade. Archaeologists’ excavations revealed that the mound at Town Creek was constructed over an early rectangular structure known as an “earth lodge.”
The mission of Town Creek Indian Mound is to interpret the history of the American Indians who once lived here. The visitor center features interpretive exhibits, as well as audiovisual displays. A national historic landmark, Town Creek Indian Mound State Historic Site is North Carolina’s only state historic site dedicated to American Indian heritage. Tour groups are welcome and encouraged. The site is open Tuesday through Saturday, 9 a.m.-5 p.m., and Sunday, 1-5 p.m. It is closed to the public Mondays and most major holidays.
The historic site is located on Town Creek Mound Road approximately five miles east of Mt. Gilead, in southern Montgomery County between NC 73 and NC 731. For more information on Town Creek, visit www.towncreek.nchistoricsites.org/.
Administered by the Division of State Historic Sites, Town Creek Indian Mound is part of the N.C. Department of Cultural Resources, the state agency dedicated to the promotion and protection of North Carolina’s arts, history, and culture. The Department’s vision is to be the leader in using the state’s cultural resources to build the social, cultural and economic future of North Carolina. Information is available 24/7 at www.ncculture.com.
KURE BEACH –The CSS Appomattox went down in flames in 1862 as her Confederate crew set her ablaze while fleeing Union forces. A team of volunteer divers has located the Civil War shipwreck and its identity has been confirmed by the Underwater Archaeology Branch, N.C. Office of Archives and History in the North Carolina Department of Cultural Resources.
A silver-plated spoon inscribed with “J Skerritt” discovered by the divers was critical to establishing the identity of the wreck. The volunteer divers knew that the Appomattox crew was on loan from the Confederate ironclad Virginia. Upon searching the Virginia’s crew list, reference was found to sailor James Skerritt. The divers turned the research over to the state’s underwater archaeologists along with the spoon.
“We were searching for about 10 years,” recalls Philip Madre, who led the team that located the wreck in the Pasquotank River. “In August 2007, we found the boat and the James Skerritt spoon.” Madre had heard of the shipwreck when growing up in the area. His team included his son, Jason Madre, Jason Forbes and Eddie Congleton. They had worked on seven other boats earlier only to learn from Underwater Archaeology Branch experts that none of them was the Appomattox. “When we found this one with the screw propeller and shaft, we felt this one could be it,” Madre said.
CSS Appomattox was part of what was known as the Mosquito Fleet — a collection of small, armed steamers that defended the northeastern North Carolina sounds. It was escaping Federal gunboats after the Battle of Elizabeth City. When it proved too large to get through the locks of the Dismal Swamp Canal, the Confederates torched the steamer rather than have it captured by the Union Navy. Madre says not many artifacts were found among the charred wood, and the Army Corps of Engineers may have removed the front of the vessel while clearing the river in the 1890s.
Volunteer divers can make important contributions to documenting the state’s history and to the state’s collections. By law, all recovered artifacts belong to the state, and divers must obtain permits from the Underwater Archaeology Branch to work in the state’s waters. The spoon and other artifacts recovered from the shipwreck are the property of the N.C. Department of Cultural Resources (www.ncculture.com). Eventually they may be exhibited at the Museum of the Albemarle in Elizabeth City.
The Underwater Archaeology Branch, within the Office of Archives and History, is an agency of the N.C. Department of Cultural Resources. The agency’s vision is to be the leader in using the state’s cultural resources to build the social, cultural and economic future of North Carolina. It is now podcasting 24/7 with information about the Department of Cultural Resources, all available at www.ncculture.com.
Project includes new building and landscape design, major growth in collection
The North Carolina Museum of Art (NCMA)—one of the most important and distinguished museums in the South—is in the final stage of a three-year expansion and will reopen to the public in April 2010, following a seven-month closure. The completed expansion will dramatically transform the visitor experience of the Museum, which, sited in a 164-acre park in Raleigh, offers a unique blend of art, architecture, and nature.
The centerpiece of the expansion initiative is a new 127,000-square-foot, light-filled building designed by New York-based architects Thomas Phifer and Partners. The single-story structure, surrounded by gardens and courtyards, was created specifically to showcase the Museum’s encyclopedic collection. Established in 1947, this was the first major art-museum collection in the country to be formed by state legislation and funding—an extraordinary example of public support for the arts. Since that time, it has been immeasurably enriched by acquisitions that include many generous gifts, and today spans more than 5,000 years of history. Particular strengths include European painting, Egyptian funerary art, ancient Greek and Roman sculpture and vase painting, American art of the 18th through 20th centuries, international contemporary art, and Jewish ceremonial objects.
On the occasion of the expansion, the Museum has acquired many additional works, some commissioned and others donated. These encompass important examples by both contemporary and historical artists from around the world, and will be installed in the new building and the surrounding landscape. Highlights include work by such internationally acclaimed artists as Roxy Paine and Ursula von Rydingsvard, to be sited in the landscape, and El Anatsui, Jaume Plensa, Jackie Ferrara, Ellsworth Kelly, David Park, and others, to be installed in the new building.
NCMA Director Lawrence J. Wheeler states, “The North Carolina Museum of Art is thrilled to be nearing completion of its expansion. With a glorious new building, many important new works of art, and an enhanced landscape, this project is in many ways a paradigm of 21st-century values: It has been undertaken with great environmental sensitivity; it embraces new forms of creativity; and, throughout it all, the Museum and Museum Park remain admission-free, enabling universal access. Moreover, the Museum’s new building has been entirely paid for with public funds—a truly inspiring example of enlightened government, one that ensures that the NCMA really is the people’s museum.”
In addition to creating a significantly larger home for the Museum’s collection, the West Building also contains a new restaurant, retail store, and other visitor amenities. The expansion project will also enable the NCMA’s 1983 East Building, designed by the eminent architect Edward Durell Stone (1902–78), to become a dynamic center dedicated to temporary exhibitions, education and public programs, and public events, as well as a place for collections management and other administrative functions.
The two Museum buildings are located on a campus of softly rolling hills edged by pine woods. Major works of sculpture and artist-conceived environmental projects are sited throughout this landscape, which also includes an outdoor amphitheater created in collaboration with artist Barbara Kruger, as well as trails for walking and biking.
The New Building
The low rectangular volume of the new building blends seamlessly into the NCMA’s reconfigured arrangement of architecture, gardens, and uncultivated landscape. Indeed, approached via a serpentine road that leads from a nearby highway into the Museum campus, the building—clad in anodized aluminum panels with large areas of glass—appears to dematerialize into soft reflections of the surrounding landscape and sky. The structure’s distinctive roofline is defined by a rhythmic series of curves that expresses a system of vaults and coffers that bring daylight into the building through glass-enclosed oculi.
Mr. Phifer states, “We had three important goals in designing the new NCMA building: to design a space in which the art in the Museum’s permanent collection could be seen anew and to best effect; to ensure an intimate relationship between the building and the surrounding landscape; and to foster a sense of belonging on the part of Museum visitors. We determined that a single-story building with great expanses of glass, soft natural light, and a plan that invites exploration, both within its walls and between the building and the outdoors, was the best way to make all of this possible.”
While—unusually—there are six doors into the new building, enabling visitors in the gardens to enter spontaneously, many people will be drawn to the main entrance by an allée of trees sited in a new entry-garden. This is part of a new 5,650-square-foot plaza that links the new and existing architecture with the landmark 1997 amphitheater. Upon entering the building, visitors will find themselves in a capacious sculpture hall, immediately engaged with art, rather than in the more typical museum lobby, which divides the outdoor environment from the works of art inside.
Oriented on an east-west axis, the sculpture hall serves as the spine around which 40 exhibition galleries are organized. It will contain examples of classical sculpture, and will culminate at its west end with an installation of more than 30 works by Auguste Rodin, part of a major gift from the Iris and B. Gerald Cantor Foundation. In just one of the many points at which the architecture seems to blend with its outdoor surroundings, a glass window-wall behind the Rodin works will offer vistas of, and access to, a courtyard containing additional sculptures by the artist, as well as a reflecting pool and views of the unfolding landscape beyond.
All together, there are five such courtyards, each of which seems to enter the building, breaching the perimeter of what would otherwise be a rectangular structure. All are visible through glass walls, and all but one are accessible directly from the sculpture hall, as well as from the outdoors. In addition to the Rodin courtyard, these include a landscaped courtyard on the north side of the building that will house a three-part sculpture by Ronald Bladen and a reflecting pool; a rock garden on the south façade containing 14 large granite boulders from western North Carolina; a courtyard next to the main entrance, also on the building’s south side, that will serve as an outdoor seating area; and a reflecting pool—approximately 100 feet long and 25 feet wide—that appears to enter the east end of the building.
The new facility, which has white oak floors and white interior walls, provides more than 65,000 square feet of exhibition space. The galleries will house examples from the Museum’s collections of antiquities, Renaissance art, European painting and sculpture, 18th- and 19th-century American art, African art, pre-Columbian art, Jewish ceremonial objects, and modern and contemporary art. Rather than being organized into a set pathway, the galleries contain entry and exit points throughout, inviting personal exploration and encouraging visitors to make their own connections among the works on view.
The quantity of natural light that enters the building may be controlled by the Museum as needed. Removable scrims in the ceiling oculi are calibrated to meet the lighting requirements for particular kinds of artwork, while fabric curtains on the glass walls are of three different densities, ranging from nearly opaque to diaphanous, depending on the type of work to be protected. In addition, roll-down shades enable a complete black-out. All window coverings are in shades of white.
Changes to Existing Building
Until now, the Edward Durell Stone-designed East Building has housed both special exhibitions and long-term installations drawn from the NCMA’s permanent collection. Upon completion of its renovation, more than 12,000 square feet of gallery space formerly devoted to the collection will have been transformed into galleries for special exhibitions—an increase of more than 40 percent.
The East Building will include an expanded box office and renovated lobby that will visually connect it to the West Building. It will also be the site of the NCMA’s popular family and public programs, its administrative offices, and new art-storage facilities.
Key Project Professionals
The NCMA has assembled an exceptional team for the expansion and renovation. In addition to Thomas Phifer and Partners, this includes the architect of record for the new building, Pierce Brinkley Cease + Lee Architects, Raleigh, N.C., and landscape architects Lappas + Havener, PA, in Durham, N.C. Natural and artificial lighting design has been created in a collaboration between Fisher Marantz Stone, in New York City, and Ove Arup, in London and New York City.
Project Funding
The State of North Carolina, Wake County, and the City of Raleigh have provided $67 million for the construction of the new gallery building to house the NCMA’s distinguished permanent collection, as well as a $6 million commitment for the repair and renovation of the existing building, bringing the public commitment to the project to $73 million. This confident governmental investment demonstrates North Carolina’s belief that the arts are important to the character of the state and its people.
North Carolina Museum of Art
The North Carolina Museum of Art houses the art collections of the State of North Carolina. The State’s initial 1947 appropriation of $1 million was used to purchase 139 European and American paintings and sculptures. In 1960, the Museum’s collection was immeasurably enriched with the gift of 75 works of art from the Samuel H. Kress Foundation, making the NCMA the country’s second-largest repository of Kress gifts, exceeded only by the National Gallery of Art, in Washington, D.C.
Today, in addition to presenting selections from its encyclopedic collection, the Museum organizes and hosts a diversity of special exhibitions and offers a rich complement of education and public programs.
The North Carolina Museum of Art first opened to the public in April 1956, in a renovated state office building in downtown Raleigh, the state capital. It launched the present Edward Durell Stone-designed facility on April 5, 1983. In 1997, as part of the Museum’s 50th-anniversary celebration, it opened its performing arts and film venue, the Joseph M. Bryan, Jr., Theater, in Museum Park. With its present expansion and renewal, the Museum is poised to become one of the nation’s most vital cultural destinations.
The North Carolina Museum of Art’s permanent collection spans more than 5,000 years, from ancient Egypt to the present, making the institution one of the premier art museums in the Southeast. The Museum’s collection provides educational, aesthetic, intellectual, and cultural experiences for the citizens of North Carolina and beyond. The 164-acre Museum Park showcases the connection between art and nature through monumental works of environmental art. The Museum offers changing national touring exhibitions, classes, lectures, family activities, films, and concerts.
The Museum is closed through Saturday, April 24, 2010 as preparations are made for opening a new gallery building. The North Carolina Museum of Art, Lawrence J. Wheeler, director, is located at 2110 Blue Ridge Road in Raleigh. It is the art museum of the State of North Carolina, and Beverly Eaves Perdue, governor, and an agency of the Department of Cultural Resources, Linda A. Carlisle, secretary. For information call (919) 839-NCMA, or visit www.ncartmuseum.org.
RALEIGH, N.C. – The North Carolina Symphony today announced the release of its internationally distributed recording featuring pianist Yevgeny Sudbin, the second of two compact discs with renowned Scandinavian classical music label BIS Records.
Recorded in Meymandi Concert Hall at the Progress Energy Center for the Performing Arts in downtown Raleigh, the CD features works by Russian composers Sergei Rachmaninoff and Nikolai Medtner.
“We are delighted to present the eagerly-awaited release of this Rachmaninoff/Medtner SACD,” says BIS Records Artists and Repertoire Director Rob Suff. “Yevgeny Sudbin is one of the leading artists of his generation and we are particularly pleased that he has been joined in this project by the North Carolina Symphony under the direction of Grant Llewellyn, whose first recording for the label was rapturously received by critics worldwide.”
The recording, Sudbin’s second concerto disc, celebrates the close relationship between these two great composers. An avowed Medtner champion, Sudbin performs the composer’s Piano Concerto No. 2 in C minor. “Why this concerto is not performed more often remains a mystery and is nothing short of scandalous, “ he says. “It offers everything a pianist, or a conductor, can wish for.”
“To have found a brilliant, young, sensitive Russian pianist, on the cusp of a major career, is great good luck,” says Symphony Music Director Grant Llewellyn. “To then match his pianistic flair with two of the greatest Russian pianist/composers ever is fortunate planning. But to have discovered two concertos, each dedicated to the other’s composer, containing such richness of detail and depth of expression, and then find that one has never been fully recorded in its original version, is pure serendipity. I hope that the music world will truly appreciate the revelations that are herein displayed.”
The disc’s Rachmaninoff selections include the original version of the Piano Concerto No. 4 in G minor, Op. 40 and Floods of Spring from Twelve Songs, Op. 14, transcribed for piano solo by Sudbin himself.
Sudbin, who plays with a spine-tingling brilliance that has been compared to that of a young Vladimir Horowitz, is garnering lavish praise from critics and audiences around the world. The Daily Telegraph (London) calls him “potentially one of the greatest pianists of the 21st century,” and his first concerto recording received a number of distinctions, including a 2007 Gramophone Award nomination.
“We are extremely pleased with the quality, depth, and polish of this disc,” says Symphony president and CEO David Chambless Worters. “Yevgeny Sudbin is a consummate musician and a great partner for our orchestra. The result is a recording that audiences far beyond North Carolina will enjoy. Together with the first disc, American Spectrum, the North Carolina Symphony has made a significant contribution to the world of music.”
About BIS
Founded in 1973 and located in near Stockholm, Sweden, BIS is well-known in the music industry for its uncanny ability to find musical niches to fill. The label focuses on classical music, both contemporary and early, and explores undeservedly neglected or previously unknown repertoire. BIS is currently working with only two American orchestras; its other U.S. project is a cycle of Beethoven symphonies with the Minnesota Orchestra and its music director Ösmö Vänskä.
About the North Carolina Symphony:
The North Carolina Symphony is a full-time, professional orchestra with 68 members. With its home in Raleigh, North Carolina’s spectacular Meymandi Concert Hall, the symphony performs about 175 concerts in nearly 40 communities annually across North Carolina.
Editor’s note: Stories on Blackbeard’s November ties are welcome now. This event is for the media only. It will review work on artifact investigation from the presumed Queen Anne’s Revenge shipwreck, Blackbeard’s flagship.
GREENVILLE – November was a big month for the pirate Blackbeard. He captured the vessel La Concorde in November 1717, and renamed her Queen Anne’s Revenge. He died in a battle against Lt. Robert Maynard with the British Royal Navy in November 1718. The wreck of the purported Queen Anne’s Revenge was found near Beaufort in November 1996. On Nov. 20, 2009, researchers will show how they are bringing Blackbeard back to life at the QAR Conservation Lab in Greenville.
The 11 a.m. media presentation will include remarks on the progress of the QAR project, and discussion of the essential role of conservation to recover, study and exhibit the wreck’s rich archaeological remains. Conservators will outline work on cannons in various stages of conservation, showcase mystery items revealed through x-ray, such as two mug-like objects possibly used to test black powder, copper cuff links, and other artifacts to be exhibited at the N.C. Maritime Museum in Beaufort. The exceptional artifact recovered this fall, a grapnel anchor, and other objects also will be shown.
Recovering concretion covered cannons and grenades, flecks of gold, or pig bones from a dinner long ago, is just the beginning of the investigation into pirate life and proving the wreck is Blackbeard’s vessel. More than a quarter million artifacts have been recovered by this project. Until January 2010, many of the conserved artifacts will be exhibited in the Knights of the Black Flag exhibit at the N.C. Museum of History in Raleigh.
QAR Project Director Mark Wilde-Ramsing will give a status update and preview 2010 activity. Chief Conservator Sarah Watkins-Kenney will review the types of artifacts and 12-step conservation process. Nautical Archaeologist and Blackbeard expert David Moore will explain how all the evidence marks this shipwreck as the Queen Anne’s Revenge.
This wreck was located in November 1996 by Intersal, Inc., with information provided to Operations Director Mike Daniel by company president Phil Masters. Archaeologists with the Underwater Archaeology Branch and N.C. Maritime Museum in the N.C. Department of Cultural Resources have led research on the wreck for more than 12 years.
For information call Mark Wilde-Ramsing at (910) 458-9042 or Fay Mitchell at (919) 807-7389. The Department of Cultural Resources is the state agency dedicated to the promotion and protection of North Carolina’s arts, history and culture, and podcasting 24/7 with information about the Department of Cultural Resources at www.ncculture.com.
RALEIGH – LeRae S. Umfleet will discuss the 1898 Wilmington Race Riot and sign copies of her new book, “A Day of Blood: The 1898 Wilmington Race Riot,” on Wednesday, Nov. 18, at 7:30 p.m. She will be introduced by Dr. Jeffrey Crow, deputy secretary of the N.C. Department of Cultural Resources at Quail Ridge Books in Raleigh’s Ridgewood Shopping Center.
