The fourth annual John Wilmerding Symposium on American Art honors the legacy of David C. Driskell (1931–2020), one of the world’s leading authorities on African American art, who passed away at age 88 from complications of COVID-19 on April 1, 2020. Held in partnership with the David C. Driskell Center for the Study of the Visual Arts and Culture of African Americans and the African Diaspora at the University of Maryland, College Park, and Skowhegan School of Painting & Sculpture, the tribute will honor his contribution as a distinguished university professor emeritus of art, and as an artist, art historian, collector, curator, and philanthropist.

Join us online on September 17th at 6:00pm for introductory remarks by Kaywin Feldman and Lonnie G. Bunch III; a live conversation with artists Lyle Ashton Harris, Curlee Raven Holton, Keith Morrison, Mary Lovelace O’Neal, Jefferson Pinder, Frank Stewart, and Carrie Mae Weems, moderated by Sarah Workneh; and Q&A joined by scholars Valerie Cassel Oliver, Julie L. McGee, and Alvia J. Wardlaw, who prerecorded symposium tributes.For more information about this interactive tribute, please visit https://www.nga.gov/education/adults/tribute-to-david-c-driskell.html

Held in conjunction with the exhibitions Trees by David C. Driskell and David C. Driskell Papers (September 8–November 20, 2020).

Made possible by a grant from the Alice L. Walton Foundation.

Scheduled Presenters

Valerie Cassel Oliver, Sydney and Frances Lewis Family Curator of Modern and Contemporary Art, Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, and David C. Driskell Prize recipient (2011)

Lyle Ashton Harris, artist; professor of art and art education, New York University, and David C. Driskell Prize recipient (2014)

Curlee Raven Holton, artist, art historian, master printmaker, David M. and Linda Roth Professor of Art Emeritus, and director (2012–present), David C. Driskell Center for the Study of the Visual Arts and Culture of African Americans and the African Diaspora at the University of Maryland, College Park

Julie L. McGee, associate professor of Africana studies and art history, and director, Interdisciplinary Humanities Research Center at the University of Delaware; author of David C. Driskell: Artist and Scholar; and curator of David Driskell: Icons of Nature and History (High Museum of Art, February 6–May 9, 2021; Portland Museum of Art, June 19–September 12, 2021; and The Phillips Collection, October 16, 2021–January 9, 2022)

Keith Morrison, artist, art educator, curator, art critic, administrator, and former dean and professor emeritus of painting, Tyler School of Art & Architecture, Temple University

Mary Lovelace O’Neal, artist, and professor emerita, department of art practice, University of California, Berkeley

Jefferson Pinder, artist; professor of sculpture and dean of faculty, School of the Art Institute of Chicago; and Fellowship Recipient in Art from the David C. Driskell Center (2002–2003)

Frank Stewart, artist and senior staff photographer, Jazz at Lincoln Center

Alvia J. Wardlaw, professor of art history, department of visual and performing arts, and curator and director of the University Museum, Texas Southern University

Sarah Workneh, co-director, Skowhegan School of Painting & Sculpture

Carrie Mae Weems, artist, and University Artist in Residence, Syracuse University