Exhibition Status: Available

Front Row Center: Icons of Rock, Blues and Soul

Front Row Center: Icons of Rock, Blues, and Soul

“The job, as I see it, is to create a final image that portrays equally the public spectacle of the show and the private style and passion of the musician.”

-Larry Hulst

Front Row Center charts photographer Larry Hulst’s extraordinary path through the pulsing heart of the most exciting live music of the twentieth century, showcasing a unique visual anthology of rock, blues and soul music from 1970-1999. From Janis Joplin and Jimi Hendrix to David Bowie and Lauryn Hill, this exhibition brings together over 70 images of legendary musicians, many of which have been featured on album art and Rolling Stone spreads. Front Row Center grants viewers an all-access pass to some of the most memorable performances in popular music history.

This traveling exhibition is an adaptation of Thirty Years of Rock & Roll: Photography by Larry Hulst, curated by the Colorado Springs Pioneers Museum and later presented at the Colorado Springs Fine Art Center as Front Row Center: Icons of Rock, Blues and Soul.

Please contact TravelingExhibitions@ArtsandArtists.org for more information.

Global Language of Headwear: Cultural Identity, Rites of Passage, and Spirituality

The Global Language of Headwear: Cultural Identity, Rites of Passage, and Spirituality

The Global Language of Headwear: Cultural Identity, Rites of Passage, and Spirituality explores the vital role of ceremonial headwear throughout diverse cultural customs, beliefs, and rituals. Featuring approximately 89 hats and headdresses from 43 different countries spanning five continents, and organized into five distinct categories—Cultural Identity; Power, Prestige, and Status; Ceremonies and Celebrations; Spiritual Beliefs; and Protection—this exhibition showcases these mutual themes amid a range of traditions.

Each section draws compelling parallels across a global spectrum of regions and ethnicities represented in the exhibition. The beliefs and rituals of these many cultures, and the ceremonial objects that accompany them, ultimately unite an international community. Comparatively, both the Plains Indian feathered war bonnet and the Congolese Misango MaPende crown—though from vastly different regions and civilizations—represent a position of leadership and status, and only those who have earned the right to wear one may do so. The Global Language of Headwear colorfully demonstrates that each distinct society can be viewed through a similar lens of rites of passage, heritage, and identity.

Please contact TravelingExhibitions@ArtsandArtists.org for more information.

Ubuhle Women: Beadwork and the Art of Independence

Ubuhle Women: Beadwork and the Art of Independence

Ubuhle Women: Beadwork and the Art of Independence showcases a new form of bead art, the ndwango, developed by a community of women living and working together in rural KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. The six artists featured in the exhibition call their paintings in beads ndwangos, which translates as “cloth” or “rag.” The black fabric on which the Ubuhle women work is reminiscent of the Xhosa headscarves and skirts which many of them grew up wearing. By stretching this textile like a canvas, the artists transform the flat cloth into a contemporary art form colored with Czech glass beads.

Using skills handed down through generations, and working in their own unique style “directly from the soul,” according to artist Ntombephi Ntobela, the women create abstract as well as figurative subjects for their ndwangos.

Ubuhle means “beauty” in the Xhosa and Zulu languages and it describes the shimmering quality of light on glass that for the Xhosa people has a particular spiritual significance. From a distance each panel seems to be formed from a continuous surface, but as each tiny individual bead catches the light the viewer becomes aware of the meticulous skill that went into each work and the scale of ambition: a single panel can take more than 10 months to complete.

Please contact TravelingExhibitions@ArtsandArtists.org for more information.