Reynolda House Museum of American Art Breaks Attendance Record with ‘George Catlin’s American Buffalo’ Opening Weekend

George Catlin, Buffalo Bull, Grazing on the Prairie,

1832-1833, oil on canvas, Smithsonian American Art

Museum, Gift of Mrs. Joseph Harrison, Jr.

"Reynolda House Museum of American Art set a new museum attendance record for an exhibition opening weekend with its debut of “George Catlin’s American Buffalo”  in North Carolina.

The museum welcomed more than 450 visitors over the Saturday and Sunday of the exhibition’s opening weekend, Feb. 14-15. The previous record was 408 visitors for the first Saturday and Sunday of an exhibition, when the museum opened “American Moderns, 1910-1960: From O’Keeffe to Rockwell” in February 2014.

“The response to this exhibition has been overwhelming,” said Allison Perkins, Reynolda House executive director. “We’ve seen visitors from across the state and across the street, all who know George Catlin, love Western art, and feel a special connection to the stories of Native American life that Catlin tells in these paintings.”

“George Catlin’s American Buffalo” is the first exhibition of Western art hosted by Reynolda House since it opened the Mary and Charlie Babcock Wing 10 years ago. For the exhibition’s opening weekend, Reynolda House offered a ticket package that included admission to the museum, a custom exhibition t-shirt, a 10% coupon for Village Tavern and a photo opportunity at the Museum. Total attendance of 463 visitors over the two days included approximately 200 people who purchased their ticket in advance as part of the package.

The museum employed a marketing campaign for the exhibition inspired by a piece of its own history. Billboards, posters, and advertisements leading up to the exhibition’s opening proclaimed, “The buffalo are coming.” The campaign was inspired by the advertising campaign for the launch of Camel cigarettes, one of the first nationally known brands in the United States. In 1913, R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Company introduced Camel cigarettes to the world, supported by a set of teaser advertisements in popular national magazines and journals with a similar message: “The camels are coming.” Reynolda House is the 1917 country estate of R.J. Reynolds, the founder of R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Company.

“We are always seeking new ways to share and connect the history of Reynolda with those who experience Reynolda today,” said Sarah Smith, director of external relations. “This campaign was a nod to our past.”

The museum is open Tuesday-Saturday, 9:30 a.m.-4:30 p.m., and Sundays 1:30-4:30 p.m. Several programs and events are planned in conjunction with “George Catlin’s American Buffalo,” including gallery talks, a symposium, classes for children and adults, and a free community day. The exhibition is on view through May 3. Information is available online at reynoldahouse.org/reynoldabuffalo.

“George Catlin’s American Buffalo” is organized by the Smithsonian American Art Museum in collaboration with the National Museum of Wildlife Art in Jackson Hole, Wyoming. Generous support for the exhibition has been provided by Mary Anne and Richard W. Cree, and Lynn and Foster Friess. Additional support for the exhibition and the publication was provided by William R. Kenan Jr. Endowment Fund and the Smithsonian Council for American Art. Support for “Treasures to Go,” the Museum’s traveling exhibition program, comes from The C.F. Foundation, Atlanta, Georgia.

Reynolda House is grateful for the generous support of the exhibition from Major Sponsor First Tennessee Bank. Additional support is provided by Major Sponsor the Charles H. Babcock, Jr. Arts and Community Initiative Endowment; Lead Sponsors Phoenix Packaging | Pam & Tom Skinner; Contributing Sponsors Mr. & Mrs. Bruce M. Babcock and Telos Furniture | Michael & Elizabeth Felsen; Exhibition Partners Teresa & Don Caine and The Ecology Wildlife Foundation; and Program Partners Anna McCoy Smith, Citizen of the Cherokee Nation, and Vernon & Frankie Winters.

Reynolda House Museum of American Art is one of the nation’s premier American art museums, with masterpieces by Mary Cassatt, Frederic Church, Jacob Lawrence, Georgia O’Keeffe and Gilbert Stuart among its collection.  Affiliated with Wake Forest University, Reynolda House features changing exhibitions, concerts, lectures, classes, film screenings and other events.  The museum is located at 2250 Reynolda Rd. in Winston-Salem, North Carolina in the historic 1917 estate of Katharine Smith Reynolds and her husband, Richard Joshua Reynolds, founder of the R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Company. Reynolda House and adjacent Reynolda Gardens and Reynolda Village feature a spectacular public garden, dining, shopping and walking trails. For more information, please visit reynoldahouse.org or call 336.758.5150. Connect at facebook.com/rhmaa and @CurateReynolda."

- A Press Release

GREENHILL ANNOUNCES DANIEL JOHNSTON & HIROSHI SUEYOSHI: SCULPTURAL CLAY EXHIBITION

Daniel Johnston with his large pots in process. ©Daniel Johnston

"Greenhill announces the 2015 Spring exhibition, Daniel Johnston | Hiroshi Sueyoshi: Sculptural Clay, on display May 1 – June 10, 2015. The exhibition brings together two ceramic artists who come from different parts of the state: Daniel Johnston from Seagrove and Hiroshi Sueyoshi from Wilmington. Johnston and Sueyoshi are nationally recognized ceramic artists with distinctive styles.

In Daniel Johnston │ Hiroshi Sueyoshi: Sculptural Clay “visitors will see remarkable examples of wood-fired, wheel-thrown stoneware and hand-built porcelain and clay by nationally recognized ceramic” explains Edie Carpenter, Director, Curatorial and Artistic Programs at Greenhill. Working in distinctive styles, Johnston and Sueyoshi are combining clay traditions from East and West to create works that reference the vessel as a functional object, but are ultimately representational or sculptural forms.

Johnstons’ monumental jars are created from hand-dug local North Carolina clay and ash glazes evoke the tradition and history of the storage vessel. He is one of the newest “large-pot” ceramicists living in the Seagrove clay community to come to the national forefront and will present a site-specific installation for thirty large jars designed for Greenhill’s space. Johnston explains, “Visitors will enter a 60-foot long tunnel to view my jars.  They will experience light playing through the tunnel’s interior and perceive the monumental jars aligned in a series reflecting their production on the wheel. The architecture of the structure is built from the same wood that feeds the crucible where the pots were created— and evokes the design of the groundhog kiln of the American South. At the end of the corridor one last jar, I select, and will be displayed on a pedestal in a seamless cube, resembling a modern gallery space.”

In a separate part of The Gallery at Greenhill, works never before seen of Sueyoshi’s will be on display including his clay “stones”, which are handmade versions of the stones of the “dry landscapes” of 14^th century Japan.  Sueyoshi, who has worked as artist in residence at Cameron Art Museum in Wilmington’s Pancoe Education Center for the past nine years, will present a condensed version of his recent retrospective exhibition there, “Matter of Reverence”,  covering four decades of his production in hand-built porcelain and clay.  The bowl or vessel is reiterated in many different ways by Sueyoshi in works that suggest architectural structures or plant forms, often combining textured exterior walls with smooth interior surfaces washed in saturated colorful glaze.  In an interview in The Living Tradition, North Carolina Artists Speak Sueyoshi states that for the most part his forms always “leave something open so you can see inside” (2009, The NC Pottery Center, p. 165) leaving a visible reference to the vessel. 

The exhibition opens to the public on Friday, May 1, 2015 from 5:30 – 6:30 pm.  The first hour is time reserved for Greenhill members and sponsors to engage with the artists and curator.  Starting at 6:30, the public is welcome to join.  Free and open to the public. For more information on becoming a member of Greenhill, visit www.GreenhillNC.org/Join.

ADDITIONAL ASSOCIATED PROGRAMS

Artist Talk: Wednesday, May 20 from 5:30 - 7:30 PM

Daniel Johnston and Hiroshi Sueyoshi will each speak for 45 minutes and answer questions about their works.  Free and open to the public.  Refreshments

First Friday, June 5 from 6:00  - 9:00 PM

Join us for First Friday and live music by the Diego Hillbillies from 6:30 to 7:30 p.m. The Diego Hillbillies, an Americana band, play a mixture of tunes from many genres played like only hillbillies can! The band features William Hicks on mandolin, Charlie Murphy on bass, and Frank Fratoni on guitar and vocals. First Friday free and open to the public. Cash Bar. 

Adult Workshop | Clay Rattles: Make a Joyful Noise, May 7 from 1:00 – 4:00 pm or 6:00 – 9:00pm

Lynn Sanders-Bustle, Ph. D, Director of Programs at Greenhill, will be instructing this adult workshop. Lynn will share her experiences working with clay and other three-dimensional processes and will present a brief history of clay rattles. Participants will tour The Gallery and learn hand-building techniques and strategies which will be used by participants to create a one-of-a kind rattle. Lynn fondly remembers where her fascination with clay began, Lynn has taught ceramics and other three-dimensional processes to others. Sign up online at www.greenhillnc.org/adult-workshops.

ABOUT THE ARTISTS

Daniel Johnston’s 2010 “Large Jar” project utilized Thai techniques to produce one hundred large 34-40 gallon pots in as many days. The physical experience of forming the hundreds of pounds of clay used in the project took on a heroic dimension comparable to descriptions of Abstract Expressionist painters’ battles with their paint.  Johnston has been recognized by invitations to speak at the Smithsonian Institute’s Freer Gallery and the acquisition of major works by the Mint Museum of Craft and Design, Charlotte.  

A native of Japan, Hiroshi Sueyoshi studied at Tokyo Aeronautical College and served as apprentice to potter Masanao Narui in Mashiko before coming to North Carolina in 1971 to help design and build Humble Mill Pottery in Asheboro where he has worked for more than four decades. On his Eastern heritage Hiroshi has stated:  “Some people say, ‘Oh, your work is very Japanese influenced.’ And sometimes Japanese friends come here and see my pots and say, ‘Very much westernized.’”  (The Living Tradition, p. 161)  In recent years Sueyoshi has looked more closely at his Japanese heritage and his retrospective exhibition included two installations reflecting a restrained Zen esthetic:  "Empty Bowls" a meditation on the Japanese tea ceremony, presented 68 stoneware soup bowls, each marking a year of Sueyoshi's life.  "Rock Garden," featured stoneware "rocks" some resembling natural forms and others figures of the imagination, arranged in a configuration resembling a Japanese Zen garden. Hiroshi Sueyoshi’s works have been exhibited nationally in private, corporate and institutional collections, including the Renwick Gallery in the National Museum of American Art. In 2006 he was honored with the North Carolina Living Treasure award. "

- A Press Release

NEWSBOYS TO HEADLINE SONRISE FESTIVAL COMING TO WHITE OAK AMPHITHEATRE SATURDAY, MAY 9

"Premier Festivals announces its newest addition – SonRise Festival – at the White Oak Amphitheatre at the Greensboro Coliseum Complex on Saturday, May 9. 

The Festival will include Newsboys on their “We Believe … God’s Not Dead” tour, along with Audio Adrenaline and Finding Favour.

Tickets go on sale Friday, Feb. 20 at 10 a.m. and prices begin at $15 for groups of 10 or more and Family 4-Packs.  Please call 336-373-2632 for group sales information.

Advance tickets are $25 each and VIP tickets, which offer closest seating to the stage, are $35 (plus fees).

All advance tickets are general admission. Tickets may be purchased at the Greensboro Coliseum Box Office, all Ticketmaster outlets and by calling 1-800-745-3000.

SonRise Festival is the first annual Christian music event held at White Oak Amphitheatre.

“We are pleased to bring great quality Christian artists to the beautiful White Oak Amphitheatre for the SonRise Festival,” said Richard Young, director of Premier Festivals. “We are looking forward to growing an annual tradition in Greensboro, as we have with other Premier Festivals across the nation and into Canada.”
 
In 2014, Premier Festivals brought top named artists to 10 family-friendly events in amusement parks, beaches and universities across the nation and into Canada, such as Rock the Park and Christian Music Day at Carowinds in Charlotte, NC; KingsFest at Kings Dominion in Richmond, VA; SpiritSong at Kings Island near Cincinnati, OH; Wonder Jam in Canada’s Wonderland, and a New Year’s celebration in Lynchburg, VA called Winterfest. In addition to the new SonRise Festival, Premier is introducing another festival in 2015 at Dollywood in Pigeon Forge, TN called Rock the Smokies."

- A Press Release

Greensboro College Presents Seventh Annual Schleunes Lecture March 2

"Greensboro College presents the Seventh Annual Schleunes Lecture at 7:30 p.m. Monday, March 2, in Hannah Brown Finch Memorial Chapel on campus.

The event is free and open to the public. It originally had been scheduled for Jan. 27 but was postponed.

The speaker will be Debórah Dwork , the Rose Professor of Holocaust History and Director of the Strassler Center for Holocaust and Genocide Studies at Clark University.

Dwork's lecture is titled, "Rescue during the Holocaust: One Person Can Make a Difference."

As founding director of the center, Dwork has given shape to a forum for Holocaust and genocide education and scholarship, dedicated to teaching, research, and public service. She is now considered a leading authority on university education in this field, as well as in her area of scholarship, Holocaust history.

Dwork has been a Guggenheim Fellow, a Fellow at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, and a Fellow of the American Council of Learned Societies.

A member of the U.S. delegation to the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (previously called the International Task Force), Dwork serves on many advisory boards and works with nonprofit organizations and foundations concerned with Holocaust education.

The Schleunes Lecture is presented annually through the generosity of Richard and Jane Levy of Greensboro in honor of the eminent Holocaust scholar Dr. Karl Schleunes of the University of North Carolina at Greensboro.

The series is dedicated to providing opportunities for area residents and students to hear nationally and internationally recognized experts present their research on the Holocaust and on issues related to genocides.

Greensboro College provides a liberal-arts education grounded in the traditions of the United Methodist Church and fosters the intellectual, social, and, spiritual development of all students while supporting their individual needs.

Founded in 1838 and located near downtown Greensboro, the college enrolls about 1,150 students from 26 states, the District of Columbia and 10 nations in its undergraduate liberal-arts program and four master's degree programs. In addition to rigorous academics and a well-supported Honors program, the school features a 17-sport NCAA Division III athletic program and dozens of service and recreational opportunities."

- A Press Release

Kid Rock announces two NC shows with $20 tickets

KID ROCK DOUBLES DOWN

WITH MASSIVE $20 TICKET TOUR THIS SUMMER IN SUPPORT OF NEW ALBUM "FIRST KISS."

Saturday July 11 – Walnut Creek Amphitheatre Raleigh

July 14 – PNC Music Pavilion Charlotte

-- The legendary FOREIGNER to support on all dates!! --

"Kid Rock broke all the rules when he last set out on tour, and now he’s back to break them all again.  The “$20 Best Night Ever” tour set all sorts of attendance records, proving that the combination of top notch entertainment and affordable tickets are a win/win for everyone.  Now with the eminent release of his new album “First Kiss,” (his first on Top Dog/Warner Bros. Records) Kid Rock, along with his trusted Twisted Brown Trucker Band, is announcing a full summer tour with very special guest Foreigner.    The tour kicks off June 24th in Hartford, includes 6 special nights in Detroit, and wraps September 5th in the great state of Washington.  Pre-order the album now on iTunes (iTunes.com/KidRock) or starting today, stream the record in its entirety on iTunes Radio -  iTunesRadio.com/KidRock.

Kid Rock with special guest Foreigner will play Walnut Creek Amphitheatre Raleigh on Saturday July 11 and PNC Music Pavilion Charlotte on July 14. Tickets go on sale to the general public on Tuesday, February 24 at 10AM at livenation.com, the venue box offices, all Ticketmaster outlets or charge by phone 800-745-3000. 

Tickets for this tour, which is again being promoted by Live Nation, will be handled as they were for the last run, with every effort made to keep fees down and scalpers at bay.  Tickets from the 2nd row to the lawn will be $20, plus reduced parking and service fees keeping the total ticket price at about $30 or under.  $20 all-in tickets (including parking) will be offered at the venue box office and from participating Walmart stores.  Everyone who purchases a ticket at Walmart will receive a coupon for $2 off their purchase of “First Kiss.” 1000 tickets from each show will be put on sale via LiveNation.com’s Platinum ticketing program to combat scalping.  The first row of seats for every show will be held back and given as free upgrades for lucky fans, and $20 special food packages will be available during the shows.  And of course, since they were so popular last time around, there will be specially priced draught beers and special $20 tour t-shirts available throughout the amphitheaters.  

On Sunday, February 22nd, Kid Rock will be performing a massive show before the start of the Daytona 500 where “First Kiss” will be debuted live for the first time.  Fans can tune by 12:15 EST to Fox television to make sure they catch the performance.  Following that he’ll be appearing on the Tonight Show on February 23rd, the Today Show on February 24th, talking with Howard Stern on February 25th, and in a first for Kid Rock he’s going to be experimenting with this new technology called “Twitter” on February 19th, when he takes over the iTunes twitter handle at 5 pm EST to answer fans’ questions.  In addition, starting today, fans will be able to stream the record in its entirety via iTunes.  There of course will be more promotional surprises in store.

Tickets for the tour will go on sale the day “First Kiss” is released, February 24th on www.LiveNation.com.  Fan Club members will be able to purchase tickets beginning February 19th, and fans who pre-order the album through www.KidRock.com will be eligible for a special pre-sale beginning on February 20th.   

FLOGGING MOLLY AND GOGOL BORDELLO ANNOUNCE CO-HEADLINING NORTH AMERICAN TOUR

WITH SPECIAL GUEST MARIACHI EL BRONX 

JUNE 15 – UPTOWN AMPHITHEATRE CHARLOTTE

JUNE 16 – RED HAT AMPHITHEATER RALEIGH

- Tickets On Sale Friday, Feb. 20 at LiveNation.com -

"Two of music's most genre-defying artists, Flogging Molly and Gogol Bordello, today announced a co-headlining North American tour. The 12-date tour, promoted by Live Nation, will kick off on Thursday, June 11 in Detroit, Mich. at Meadow Brook Theatre and feature the two indie bands performing at amphitheaters and theatres around the U.S. and Canada including dates in Toronto, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh and Boston. Joining the tour as special guests will be Los Angeles-based Mariachi El Bronx.

Flogging Molly and Gogol Bordello with special guest Mariachi El Bronx will play Uptown Amphitheatre Charlotte on June 15 and Red Hat Amphitheater Raleigh on June 16. A Citi® cardmember pre-sale begins Thursday, Feb. 19 through Citi's Private Pass® Program. For complete pre-sale details, visit www.citiprivatepass.com. Tickets for the general public go on sale Friday, Feb. 20 at www.livenation.com.  Tickets for the Red Hat Amphitheater show in Raleigh will also be available at Walnut Creek Amphitheatre and Duke Energy Center box office.  Tickets for the Uptown Amphitheatre show in Charlotte will also be available at The Fillmore Charlotte box office.

Founded in Los Angeles in 1997 by vocalist/guitarist Dave King, Flogging Molly has always defied categorization. The infectious originality of their songs is a badge of honor and key to the band's creativity, their urgency. They infuse punk rock with Celtic instruments—violin, mandolin and the accordion—and they merge blues progressions with grinding guitars and traditional Irish music, the music of King's youth.  Flogging Molly's fans have always appreciated the social and political awareness driving the music. Swagger, the band's first album, transcended everyone's expectations in 2000, and the track "The Worst Day Since Yesterday" was included in the film Mr. and Mrs. Smith. Drunken Lullabies was released in 2002 and certified Gold. In 2004, the band released Within a Mile of Home, and in 2008, Flogging Molly put out Float, a deeply stirring and personal album recorded in King's native Ireland. No surprise that Float found the band's widest audience yet. Through all of this, Flogging Molly—first, last, and always a live band—was touring, playing raucous and adrenaline-fueled shows in bars, pubs, and nearly every major rock festival in North America, Europe, and Japan

Frontman, Eugene Hutz, founded Gogol Bordello in New York City in 1999, after leaving Ukraine in the aftermath of Chernobyl. In keeping with his vision of creating an international groove, he recruited musicians of all ages, races and cultures, including bassist Thomas Gobena, from Ethiopia, Russian violinist Sergey Ryabtsev from Moscow, percussionist Pedro Erazo-Segovia from Ecuador and backing singer and dancer Elizabeth Sun from Hong Kong by way of Scotland.  The band’s endless touring and critically acclaimed shows have made them international headliners.  Their performances have taken the group throughout the US, Russia, S. America and Europe and include multiple stops at festivals such as Lollapalooza (US, Chile and Brazil), Pinkpop, Bonnaroo, Leeds, Reading and Coachella.  Gogol Bordello’s latest release, Pura Vida Conspiracy, is the band’s sixth studio album released on ATO Records."

- A Press Release