Charlotte Department Of Art & Art History Celebrates 60th Anniversary
On Thursday, Oct. 10, the Department of Art & Art History welcomed Chancellor Shannon L. Gaber and a multitude of alumni, current and legacy faculty and staff, students and members of the local arts community to celebrate the department’s 60th anniversary.
The momentous occasion took place in Rowe Arts, where “Generations: 60 Years – 21 Conversations,” an exhibition curated by Associate Professor of Art History Jim Frakes, remains on view through Nov. 8. Eighty-five artworks, meticulously organized across all three galleries in Rowe, tell the story of the visual arts at UNC Charlotte through a range of disciplines and mediums. Frakes spent years of research on this project, diving deep into the history of the school and reconnecting with generations of faculty and alumni through interviews.
“I know it looks back 60 years, but in my heart of hearts, it looks forward,” Frakes said.
The history of the visual arts program at UNC Charlotte begins with Maud Gatewood, who’s piece “Drive-In” (on loan from Atkins Library) is displayed at the top of the stairs overlooking Rowe’s lobby. It is one of Gatewood’s 16 works that the University owns. In 1964, Gatewood was hand-picked by Bonnie Cone to develop an academic arts program and spearhead the design of an arts building .
One of North Carolina’s most significant artists, Gatewood graduated from UNC Greensboro and received a Fulbright grant to study art in Austria prior to connecting with Cone and Charlotte. Gatewood spent summers at Black Mountain College near Asheville, home to an interdisciplinary collection of world-renowned artists. And the college influenced, in part, the design of the Rowe Building — a Bauhaus-style, interdisciplinary studio. Frakes noted that the early days of UNC Charlotte were like the Wild West, a time of rapid unchecked growth, which allowed Gatewood to craft a unique curriculum at the college.
Gatewood left Charlotte in 1973 and worked as an independent artist for the rest of her life. She would return for a semester in 1982 as a visiting artist. During this time, she met and mentored UNC Charlotte student Ann Carter ’82.
Across the hallway from Gatewood’s “Drive-In” is a painting Carter created specifically for the “Generations” exhibition. The abstract piece, Frakes explains, pays homage to her mentor in a new style. Throughout the exhibition, specially selected works by Charlotte arts alumni are displayed in tandem with pieces created by their mentors in a cross-generational array that tells the story of the department’s growth.
“The show is about alumni — the sense of connection, possibility and accomplishment, but also that they belong to something worth remembering and that continues with future students,” Frakes said. “We need to support that continuity. We can’t forget it.”