Exhibitions
The Avery Research Center maintains several galleries and public program spaces. Each year, the Avery Research Center develops exhibitions from its rich archival, art, and rare manuscript collections and hosts temporary art exhibitions featuring prominent and burgeoning artists from South Carolina and throughout the African diaspora whose work supports the Center’s mission.
Fall 2022/Winter 2023
Homegoing (open November 28, 2022 through January 29, 2023)
Homegoing: A Juried Art Exhibition is presented as an extension of the MOJA Arts Festival’s NEA Big Read. The Big Read—a partnership between the National Endowment for the Arts and Arts Midwest—broadens our understanding of our world, our neighbors, and ourselves through the power of a shared reading experience. Showcasing a diverse range of themes, voices, and perspectives, the NEA Big Read aims to inspire meaningful conversations, artistic responses, and new discoveries and connections in each community.
Da Wada Brought and Kept Us” Art Exhibition (September 2022-January 2023)
This exhibit, presented in partnership with the Gullah Geechee Cultural Heritage Corridor National Heritage Area, Avery Research Center, and Lowcountry Rice Culture Project, will showcase the works of over 20 different artists that center on Gullah Geechee culture and heritage. The works are a part of Victoria A. Smalls Gullah Geechee Art Collection: Da Wada Brought Us.
The collection features over 20 works of art from emerging and notable artists, whose compositions derive from a broad range of styles and stories of aqua culture and rice culture, conveying the collector’s love of her Gullah Geechee heritage. Featured in the collection are works from renowned artists such as James Denmark, Cassandra Gillens, Jonathan Green, Charles DeSaussure, Synthia Saint James, with pieces from regional and local creatives such as Amiri Farris. The exhibition also includes several sweetgrass baskets by local basket sewers as well as literature created by the Lowcountry Rice Culture Project. This collection has taken more than a decade to acquire. Victoria A. Smalls is a public historian and educator, arts advocate and cultural preservationist, who believes in the value of building sustainable communities through the arts. Within her roles as the Executive Director with the Gullah Geechee Cultural Heritage Corridor and a Maven with the Art of Community-Rural SC, Smalls has gained an appreciation and passion for learning and sharing all she can about the history, art and culture of her people.