Beverly McIver featured in Forbes:
‘What Comes Up, Comes Out’ In Beverly McIver Paintings

Beverly McIver’s Full Circle is now open at
the Gibbes Museum of Art in Charleston, SC.

STATEMENT

I try to face whatever is going on in my life, joyful or painful, through my paintings. I express myself with brushstrokes.  It’s how I process my happiness or grief, and how I communicate with the world.

Passage tells stories from my life and celebrates the people who have nurtured and loved me over the past 50 years.  These paintings tell my story over time.  I try to live with intent, examining everything both good and bad—the human condition—and to share my experience honestly.

Some of the newest paintings in Passage explore my grief surrounding the death of my father earlier this year.  I try to pour my soul into the canvas, not the page, so writing about these paintings is hard, like ripping a bandage off a wound that is fresh and deep.

My dad is dead and there’s no going back. I don’t have regrets. I simply wish I had more time to love him and feel the love he showed me in the last years of his life. Caregiving in the last six months of his life was overwhelming; washing, changing diapers, cooking and cleaning.  He died shortly before my career retrospective, Full Circle, opened. I heard God whisper that it was time for him to go. I had learned the lesson that brought us together as a family. I fell in love with him, and he gave me permission to love him. He was 95 and lived a good life, he was ready to go. Still, I grieve. And I paint.

I’ve had a lot of help from family, friends, and mentors. Collectors have stepped in at crucial times to allow my journey to continue.  I can’t thank everyone here, but I am so grateful for those who helped me through these pivotal moments. In turn I’ve tried to reach back to help or bring others to the table.

Passage shows a long journey, and I feel blessed. These paintings remind me of where I’ve been—and, more importantly, what I still want to say.

Life is not easy, nor fair. It’s a journey that requires flexibility and courage. It requires nurturing.  You must learn to feel worthy and be confident in your authentic self and know that it is enough.  Art is a celebration of our struggles and differences.  Art gives me hope.

ABOUT BEVERLY MCIVER

Beverly McIver is widely acknowledged as a significant presence in contemporary American art and has charted a new direction as a Black female artist.

She has accumulated more awards and honors than many artists receive in a lifetime, which she pays forward by teaching younger generations about the power of art and the hard work it takes to make it a career. There are numerous artists today who credit McIver for their professional achievements.

McIver grew up in Greensboro, North Carolina, as one of three daughters—including her sister, Renee, who has developmental disabilities—of a single mother who worked multiple domestic jobs to make ends meet. The artist’s paintings are reminders to herself and her audience of the journey she endured in order to understand the many aspects that collectively shape her identity. The images are also powerful statements about larger issues that affect and challenge everyone, including stereotypes, self-acceptance, family, otherness, illness, death and, ultimately, freedom to express one’s individuality.

A retrospective exhibition of McIver’s work, entitled Full Circle, which began at the Scottsdale Museum of Contemporary Art, shows at the Southeastern Center for Contemporary Art (SECCA)  from December 8^th through March 26^rd.

McIver’s work can be found in the collections of the National Portrait Gallery at the Smithsonian, the North Carolina Museum of Art, the Weatherspoon Art Museum, the Baltimore Museum of Art, the Nelson Fine Arts Center Art Museum at Arizona State University, and the Mint Museum, to name a few. McIver is Professor of the Practice in Studio Arts at Duke University, and prior to this appointment, taught at Arizona State University for 12 years. Recent honors include a yearlong residency at the American Academy in Rome, where she was featured in Beverly McIver e il colore nero, a documentary for Italian television.  In 2017, she received the lifetime achievement award from the Anyone Can Fly Foundation in a ceremony hosted by Faith Ringgold. McIver was named one of the “Top Ten in Painting” in Art in America in 2011.

Raising Renee—a feature-length documentary film produced in association with HBO by Academy Award-nominated and award-winning filmmakers Steven Ascher and Jeanne Jordan—tells the story of McIver’s promise to care for Renee when their mother dies. The film played in festivals around the country, was nominated for an Emmy® for Outstanding Arts and Culture Programming and is now available on Amazon Prime.

ARTIST TALK & BOOK SIGNING

Wednesday, February 15th
Reception: 6 pm, Talk 6:30 pm

Join artist Beverly McIver as she discusses her work with Liza Roberts, author of the new book Art of the State: Celebrating the Visual Art of North Carolina.  Signed copies of Roberts’ book and Beverly McIver: Full Circle will be availble!

Painter Beverly McIver’s art is not safe, by Paul Wachter, The Undefeated, February 10, 2022

Beverly McIver gets a shoutout in
NEW YORK MAGAZINE
from collector Billie Tsien, the architect who co-founded Tod Williams Billie Tsien Architects with her husband.

TWBTA is currently working on the Obama Presidential Center and is best known for the LeFrak Center at Lakeside, the Barnes Foundation, and the American Folk Art Museum (RIP).

BEVERLY McIVER: PAINTINGS OF MY FATHER
REMEMBERING CARDREW DAVIS
March 26, 1926 – January 22, 2022

A statement from Beverly:

I’m feeling pretty numb about my dad. I can’t believe he’s no longer here. I can’t wait for hospice to collect their oxygen tanks and other apparatus. I need to paint the room and change the furniture so that I’m not constantly thinking this is where I found my father’s lifeless body lying with his eyes open. He lay there most of the day on Sunday because of the snowstorm and no funeral home had four-wheel drive. Hospice was great with calling local funeral homes; finally, Clements braved the weather to collect my dad’s body. I am grateful to them.

What brings me great peace is I know for sure that my dad knew he was loved.

He was 95 years old and independent–until the fall six months ago.  He first went to a rehab center, but three months ago, I was able to move him to my home. It was a challenge to care for him, as he was unable to walk and needed to be fed. I learned more about him in that three-month period than in all the time before put together.  His dentures (top and bottom) no longer fit because he had lost so much weight.  He was tall, 6’1”, and most of his life weighed well over 250 pounds; at the end he weighed 114.  My challenge was to purée foods that were tasty and familiar.  Soup, mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, grilled cheese, and ice cream sandwiches became staples.

My dad was the last of his five siblings and his friends. He felt alone and had difficulty letting anyone in. He thought that giving and receiving money was a marker for love (he would give me $20.00 as a teenager, when I visited him).

During our time together, I was able to show him love by caring for him. Trusting and allowing yourself to love another became a new sign of love. I think he hadn’t experienced that in his life.  No one ever got close enough to love him.

We spent our final days loving each other. We both learned that it was okay to be vulnerable and lean on others for support. I know he felt loved. I was reassured that he loved me too.

Beverly McIver and Cardrew Davis

Beverly McIver was first introduced to Cardrew Davis, the man she now knows to be her father, at the age of seventeen. Despite warnings from her mother that “he will disappoint you, just as he disappointed me”, McIver clung to some hope that her mother was wrong about him. This hope fueled her desire to pursue a relationship with her father after her mother’s death in 2004.

She came to know her father intimately over the years, sharing meals, visits, and especially capturing moments of his life—resting, eating, or simply gazing back at her—in paint.  McIver’s portraits of Cardrew Davis have become among her most iconic works; her 2018 portrait Taxi Driver, is held in the permanent collection of the Cameron Museum of Art in Wilmington, North Carolina.

In November of 2021, Beverly moved her father into her home. She made the difficult decision to take him out of the rehab center he was admitted to after suffering a serious fall a few months prior. Caring for him was demanding, as he could not walk and needed to be fed. Despite the challenges, McIver says she is glad they were able to spend their final days loving each other.

BEVERLY McIVER
THE LIGHT WITHIN

BEVERLY McIVER
THE LIGHT WITHIN

Through April 3rd 2021

A nationally known artist who has been named Top Ten in Painting by Art News, Beverly McIver was working nonstop, teaching classes at Duke, leading workshops all over the country, caregiving for her family, and painting when she could. When Covid hit, along with all of 2020’s racial and political turbulence, McIver’s life changed dramatically. McIver faced the chaos and isolation the only way she knew how—through paint.

It was an intensely productive time.  “I painted daily. It was both thrilling and terrifying; all this energy poured into two dozen new paintings,” says McIver.  Through a series of self-portraits and paintings of family and friends, McIver confronted her feelings and fears.   She created portraits of her sister and her 94-year-old father as a means of remaining intimate even as they all struggled with loneliness and isolation. A colorful silk scarf draped over her head became a mask or a blindfold. Light filtering through blinds in her home beautifully contours her face, yet also suggest prison bars.  A heavy black rope figures prominently in many of the new works. “Black friends interpreted the rope wrapped around my head as a noose and white people saw the rope as my dreadlocked hair blowing in the wind. The interpretations of the two worlds I straddle daily, collided.”

“My voice felt loud and unapologetic. I felt power in speaking my truth. I hadn’t been loud enough, and I needed to scream it,“ says McIver. “These new works do just that. I have never felt the need to be so bold about constraints and restrictions. This is the time to be brave.”

A career survey of the artist’s work begins at the Scottsdale Museum of Contemporary Art in 2022, before touring the country.  McIver is curating a show of contemporary African American artists working in North Carolina for Craven Allen Gallery in 2022.

Read a wonderful interview with Bevelry McIver about the show on Art & Object!

BEVERLY McIVER
THE LIGHT WITHIN

Statement

When Covid-19 entered my life in mid-March of 2020, I felt somehow responsible for the deadly plague. I had been praying all year for life to slow down and allow me the time to catch my breath. I felt like I was on a Ferris wheel going around and around with no way to exit; if I wanted to stop, I would have to jump off. I thought that if I got into a car wreck, I would at least have the luxury of resting in a hospital bed in peace, with few visitors.

Then Covid arrived and the world locked down. No classes to teach, no flying around the world giving lectures or teaching workshops; everything came to a screeching halt.  It was time to reinvent myself–to redefine my purpose in life. I was scared and hopeful and open to a newness. I had no expectations except to be flexible and open; I have learned that is the only way to survive change. I knew I would grow, that growing pains are real, and that the more you grow, the more pain you must endure. I allowed myself to be sad, even depressed for several days.

But the lockdown gave me the opportunity to just paint, to discover and experiment. I gladly accepted the challenge and began painting daily. I wanted to respond to the chaos in the world in a meaningful way.

Family ties remained strong.  As a caregiver to my sister and 94-year old-father, I had to be especially careful. The lockdown made our get-togethers more difficult and strained. My sister Renee tells me often that she is lonely. My father especially doesn’t really understand Covid: he tells me he doesn’t have any germs and hates all the precautions.  I continue to paint my family as a way of expressing my love and care.

Two new series came to dominate my work, and further my exploration of masks and identity. I draped a beautiful silk scarf, given to me by an artist friend, on my face.  Sometimes I couldn’t see, sometimes I couldn’t breathe.  Blindly, I snapped a few selfies, standing in front of the window, with sunlight pouring in through the blinds. It created its own pattern on top of the brilliant colors. The paintings with the scarf surprised me with their strange beauty.  They were disconcerting, yes, but also, somehow, comforting. The scarf became my new mask, my way of remaining in the shadows.

My painting mind was overflowing with ideas; I got a length of black twisted rope, unsure what to do with it.  Again, I stood in front of my sunny window and wound the weighty rope across my face and neck.  My vision was obstructed, a helpless feeling.  I snapped a few shots. I moved slowly, noticing how the sunlight hit the rope and my brown skin that prickled through. After a few minutes, I removed the rope, as it was scratchy and heavy; the burden of history.  I cannot describe what I was feeling in words—I just had to paint it. Intuitively it felt on point; I felt I was clearly acknowledging something significant deep inside me.  It was exhilarating.

Black friends interpreted the rope wrapped around my head as a noose and white people saw the rope as my dreadlocked hair blowing in the wind.  The interpretations of the two worlds I straddle daily, collided.

I kept the dialogue going by enticing family members and friends to wrap themselves with the rope. I painted daily– it was both thrilling and terrifying; all this energy poured into two dozen new paintings.  My voice felt loud and unapologetic. I felt power in speaking my truth. I hadn’t been loud enough, and I needed to scream it. These new works do just that. I have never felt the need to be so bold about constraints and restrictions. This is the time to be brave.

I am never going back.   I am not interested in returning to the way things were.  It is the time to create something new, something inclusive of all mankind. Black Lives Matter. We must as humans care about each other.

This quote by Sonya Renee Taylor says it best:

We will not go back to normal.  Normal never was.  Our pre-corona existence was never normal, other than normalized greed, inequity, exhaustion, depletion, extraction, disconnection, confusion, rage, hoarding, hate and lack.

 We should not long to return, my friends.  We are being given the opportunity to stitch a new garment. One that fits all of humanity and nature.

Here are other works available by Beverly McIver; visit Craven Allen Gallery in person to see special works not found online.

EYES WIDE SHUT exhibition at Craven Allen Gallery, November 2018-January 2019

New Paintings from the American Academy in Rome

As a winner of the Rome Prize, nationally known painter Beverly McIver was able to leave her hectic schedule of teaching at Duke University and the burden of caregiving for her family to spend a year painting, a true luxury for the artist.  “Italy–outwardly spectacular, with its mysterious quality of light–gave me the gift of being able to hear my inner voice loud and clear.”

The artist noticed a peculiarity in the works she created during this intensely creative time. “In most of the portraits I created, my subject’s eyes are either closed or covered by sunglasses.  But I realized the closed eyes were not a refusal to see, but a turning inward, an experience of centeredness.  I felt like my time at the academy was introspective and sometimes, as a person of color, in the historic heart of Western Civilization, I felt invisible.   But this was also freeing.  I couldn’t remember the last time it was this quiet in my head.”

Since returning from Rome, McIver has been “… fascinated with those who courageously share their authentic selves with the world. I continue to create portraits of white males in blackface, black women in body paint, and men who dress in drag. I remain intrigued by mask, dress-up, and how we as humans choose to define ourselves… I hope these new paintings inspire others who may need permission to be their authentic self. “

McIver recently received the Anyone Can Fly Foundation Lifetime Achievement Award in a ceremony hosted by Faith Ringgold.  While in Rome, she appeared in a short documentary on Italian television, Beverly McIver e il colore nero.  Her work is in major museums and collections across the country. She is the Ebenshade Professor of the Practice of Visual Arts at Duke Univesity.

STATEMENT

It is natural to be afraid of where your journey will take you, and who you might encounter along the way. The challenge is to remain open, both spiritually and mentally, as you follow your path–to be fully present.

A yearlong fellowship at the American Academy in Rome gave me the chance to rediscover myself as an artist.  For the first time since inheriting the responsibility of caring for my mentally disabled sister Renee, I was free of the burden.  Who was I when I wasn’t a caregiver to Renee and my 92-year-old dad, or a teacher of students, or an artist living under the weight of the history of the American South?  Who was I when I was only responsible for myself?

I felt many emotions simultaneously and was keenly aware of the intensity of being alive. I was learning, as if for the first time, what I liked and disliked.  Mostly, I was able to paint.  I painted daily at the academy, a creative outpouring of work inconceivable in my life at home.

I was able to silence all the voices in my head that tell me what to do or what might sell. I allowed my intuition to guide my choices of who and what to paint. In most of the portraits I created, my subject’s eyes are either closed or covered by sunglasses.  But I realized the closed eyes were not a refusal to see, but a turning inward, an experience of centeredness.  I felt like my time at the academy was introspective and sometimes, as a person of color, in the historic heart of Western Civilization, I felt invisible.   But this was also freeing.  I couldn’t remember the last time it was this quiet in my head.

My quest for identifying my true self was heightened by an important portrait commission. I had spent most of my formative years wanting to be white clown, with blonde hair; I often paint myself in white or blackface and in costume.  One white client courageously asked for a portrait in blackface and red stiletto heels, an expression of his inner life.  Working on the painting affected me profoundly. Although our reasons differed, I realized we are both humans in search of our truth.

Since I returned from Rome, I’ve been fascinated with those who courageously share their authentic selves with the world. I continue to create portraits of white males in blackface, black women in body paint, and men who dress in drag. I remain intrigued by masks, dress-up, and how we as humans choose to define ourselves.

Italy–outwardly spectacular, with its mysterious quality of light–gave me the gift of being able to hear my inner voice loud and clear. I discovered a sense of peace with who I am at this moment.  I hope these new paintings inspire others who may need permission to be their authentic self.

A DISCUSSION from October 9, 2019:

LARRY WHEELER with
DAMIAN STAMER and
BEVERLY MCIVER

PAINTING LARRY

Two of the Triangle’s most exciting artists took on the challenge of painting Larry Wheeler, director of the North Carolina Museum of Art, on the occasion of his retirement. Now you can join Larry Wheeler, Damian Stamer and Beverly McIver as they use these paintings as a springboard for a discussion about art from the vantage point of both artist and collector.  View artist talk on facebook live:

PAST SHOWS:

Beverly McIver: The Ties That Bind – February 20th, 2016

Durham- The exhibitions THE TIES THAT BIND: NEW PAINTINGS BY BEVERLY MCIVER and DUKE UNIVERSITY ADVANCED PAINTING STUDENTS: NEW WORK open at Craven Allen Gallery on Saturday, February 20th with a reception presenting the artists from 5 to 7 pm.  Beverly McIver is a nationally recognized artist and the Ebenshade Professor of the Practice in Studio Arts at Duke University. Tori Bilas, Rachel Gallegos, Alexandra Gordon, Sylvia Herbold, Nicole Payne and Michaela Walker study painting with McIver.

Ten percent of sales from the opening reception will benefit The Lucy Daniels Center, a non-profit whose mission is to help children lead emotionally healthy lives.  McIver was the featured artist at the recent Expressions gala to benefit the center, and has a personal interest in the goals of the organization. Her challenges of balancing a career in painting with her legal guardianship of her mentally disabled sister Renee was the subject of the HBO documentary, Raising Renee.

McIver’s latest work continues her exploration of family.  Her subjects include her sister, friends, the artist herself, and most particularly McIver’s new relationship with her father. The Ties That Bind documents “ . . . the beginning of a love story,” in which she seeks to capture and discover her father, Cardrew Davis, through paint.  The artist was shocked to learn the identity of her biological father at the age of 17, and it was only after her mother’s death in 2004 that she began to have a relationship with him.  Mr. Davis is shown in many different contexts, but perhaps none more vulnerable than while sleeping, in a work called “Arrangement in Blue and Black No. 1”   Many images reference the passage of time:  clocks, calendars, letters, and childhood toys with McIver’s vibrant palette and luscious textures featured prominently.

 

STATEMENT

Learning to Love Cardrew Davis

One day when I was seventeen, my mother informed me that I had a different father than the man listed on my birth certificate. Her words were shocking to me, and I turned toward the screen door to find a large framed man standing at the doorway. My mother introduced him as my father. I could hardly breathe; I stood in silence and confusion. Cardrew smiled at me and extended his hand. I couldn’t move.

My dad handed me a twenty dollar bill.  I would learn over the next several years that the gift of a twenty dollar bill would be his way of showing love.

My mother continued her anger toward my dad, never forgiving him for not rescuing her from a bad marriage. She often told me, “he will disappoint you, just as he disappointed me.”  I didn’t want to believe her, but she was right–unlike my dad, my mom was present, and raised me and my two sisters.

It was not until my mother’s death in 2004 that I decided to have a relationship with my father. I realized that it had not been realistic for my mom to expect my dad to rescue her.  Cardrew is not capable of rescuing anyone. He’s a simple man, and lacks the ability to extend himself, or take risks. Perhaps his parents didn’t teach him to love fully, or how to express those kinds of feelings—except with a twenty dollar bill.

My current work is about my relationship with Cardrew.  I’m searching for who Cardrew is as a man, as a father, and even who he was as a youngster. Through painting, I hope to capture the many faces of my dad. I see him as being steadfast and proud; sometimes he is frail and child-like. I’ve witnessed his large frame–that once weighed over 300 pounds–slim down to 150 pounds. He’s eighty-nine years old and in good health. My dad lights up when I call him. Often he accuses me of waiting until he goes to the bathroom to call. He sits comfortably on the toilet and talks to me for about thirty minutes. (I’d love to make that image into a painting.)

After years of not knowing what a father’s love felt like, I now know. He’s a simple man that still values the gift of exchanging money. Mostly, I give to him and his response is “I love you for what you do”. His favorite foods are BBQ ribs, cream potatoes with gravy, cornbread and pinto beans, which I buy at a local soul food restaurant in Greensboro. In addition, I buy a bundle of antacids, NyQuil for sleeping and Gavascon for gas to make that southern comfort food digest properly. I believe that I have fallen in love with my dad.  Even though he did not meet my mom’s expectations, I know why she found him attractive. I hope I have several years to continue to know him. I hope that this is just the beginning of a love story.

 BEVERLY MCIVER IN THE NEWS:  LINKS

Beverly McIver: A Life That Is ‘Good and Scary and Joyous” in Duke Today.

Beverly McIver “Giving voice to those who have none” in Walter Magazine.

Beverly McIver featured in “The Female Gaze: Women Artists Making Their World”  at The Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Art. Click here to view the catalogue.

Beverly McIver ‘Commended Artist’ in Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery competition.

At Home with the Artist Beverly McIver in the New York Times.

Beverly McIver interviewed by Priscilla Frank for the Huffington Post.

A documentary about McIver, Raising Renee, is currently on Amazon Prime.

ARTINFO.COM – February 22, 2012: “Painter Beverly McIver Balances Art and Family, Barely, in the HBO Documentary ‘Raising Renee” by Sarah Kricheff

NYPRESS.COM – February 22, 2012: “Raising Renee: A Sit Down With the Subject of the Powerful New Documentary” by Noah Wunsch

MOVIEBUZZERS.COM – February 22, 2012: 8 out of 10 star review by Melissa Hanson

Education

2007 Honorary Doctorate, North Carolina Central University, Durham, NC.

1992 MFA, Painting and Drawing, Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA.

1987 BA in Painting and Drawing, North Carolina Central University, Durham, NC.

Professional Experience

2014-present       Professor of the Practice of Visual Arts, Duke University, Durham, NC.

2007-2014 SunTrust Endowed Professor of Art, North Carolina Central University, Durham, NC.

1996-2007 Professor, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ.

2005-present       Workshop Leader, Creative Capital, Professional Development for Artists, New York, NY.

Selected Awards

2017 Joseph H. Hazen Rome Prize, American Academy, Rome, Italy.

2017 Lifetime Achievement Award, Anyone Can Fly Foundation, Englewood, NJ.

2017 Purchase Award, Hassam, Spiecher, Betts and Symons Fund, American Academy of Arts and Letters, New York, NY.

2012 The Marie Walsh Sharpe Foundation Studio Program, one-year free studio space, Brooklyn, NY.

2010 Distinguished Alumni Fellow, Pennsylvania State University, State College, PA.

2004 Artist of the Year Award, Scottsdale Cultural Council, Scottsdale, AZ.

2003 Louis Comfort Tiffany Award, New York, NY.

2003 Distinguished Alumni Award, Penn State University, State College, PA.

2003 Marie Walsh Sharpe Foundation, Studio Space for one year, Tribeca, NYC, NY.

2002 Radcliffe Fellow, Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA.

2002 Creative Capital, Project Grant, New York, NY.

2001 John Simon Guggenheim Fellowship, New York, NY.

2000 Anonymous Was a Woman Grant, New York, NY.

Selected Collections

National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institute, Washington D.C.

21c Museum Hotels, United States

High Museum of Art, Atlanta, GA

North Carolina Museum of Art, Raleigh, NC

Mint Museum, Charlotte, NC

Nasher Art Museum, Duke University, Durham, NC

Duke University, Durham, NC

Weatherspoon Art Museum, Greensboro, NC

The David C. Driskell Center for the Study of the Visual Arts and Culture of African Americans and the African Diaspora, University of Maryland, College Park, MD

Arizona State University Art Museum, Tempe, AZ

Ashville Museum of Art, Ashville, NC

Baltimore Museum of Art, Baltimore, MD

Cameron Art Museum, Wilmington, NC

Crocker Art Museum, Sacramento, CA

Glaxo Pharmaceutical Company, Morrisville, NC

Mesa Contemporary Arts Museum, Mesa, AZ

Nelson Fine Art Center, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ

Philadelphia Academy of Art, Philadelphia, PA

Scottsdale Museum of Contemporary Art, Scottsdale, AZ

Residencies

2017-18, American Academy in Rome, Rome, Italy.

2016 YADDO, Saratoga Springs, NY.

2014 McColl Center, Knight Fellow, Charlotte, NC.

2008  Pilchuck Glass School, Seattle, WA.

2007  YADDO, Saratoga Springs, NY.

2000 YADDO, Saratoga Springs, NY.

2000 Djerassi Artist Colony, Woodside, CA.

1995 The Headlands Center for the Arts. Sausalito, CA.

1994 The Atlantic Center for the Arts. Workshop conducted by Artist, Alex Katz. New Smyrna, FL.

1992 The Atlantic Center for the Arts. The African American Experience (Assistant to Faith Ringgold, Scholarship), New Smyrna, FL.

Selected Solo Exhibitions

2022  Full Circle, The Scottsdale Museum for Contemporary Art, Scottsdale, AZ, the Southeastern Center for Contemporary Art, Winston-Salem, NC and the Gibbes Museum of Art, Charleston, SC.

2021 The Light Within, Craven Allen Gallery, Durham, NC.

2021 Beverly McIver, C. Grimaldis Gallery, Baltimore, MD.

2020 Beverly McIver:  New Work, Betty Cuningham Gallery, New York, NY.

2017 12 x 12: Beverly McIver, Southeastern Center for Contemporary Art, Winston-Salem, NC.

2017 Beverly McIver, Village Smith Gallery, Winston-Salem, NC.

2016 Objects of Affection, Betty Cuningham Gallery, New York, NY.

2016 The Ties That Bind, Craven Allen Art Gallery, Durham, NC.

2013 Solo Exhibition by Beverly McIver, Betty Cuningham Gallery, New York, NY.

2013 New York Stories by Beverly McIver, Craven Allen Art Gallery, Durham, NC.

2012 Reflections, Paintings by Beverly McIver, Mint Museum, Charlotte, NC.

2012 Reflections, Paintings by Beverly McIver, North Carolina Museum of Art, Raleigh, NC.

2012 Small Works by Beverly McIver, Craven Allen Art Gallery, Durham, NC.

2011 Beverly McIver, Betty Cuningham Gallery, Durham, NC.

2011 ART/FILM/LIFE:  Raising Renee, Craven Allen Art Gallery, Durham, NC.

2010 Beverly McIver’s Paintings, Boulder Museum of Contemporary Art, Boulder, CO.

2009 Coming Home: Beverly McIver, Walter E. Terhume Galery, Owens Community College, Toledo, OH.

2008 Facing South, Portraits by Beverly McIver, Greenhill Art Center, Greensboro, NC.

2007 New Paintings by Beverly McIver, Grimaldis Gallery, Baltimore, MD.

2006 Raising Renee and Other Themes, NCCU Art Museum, Durham, NC.

2006 Paintings by Beverly McIver, Tyndall Galleries, Chapel Hill, NC.

2006 Invisible Me, Kent Gallery, New York, NY.

2005 Raising Renee, Addison Art Gallery, Andover, MA.

2005 Raising Renee, G-2 Gallery, Scottsdale, AZ.

2005 New Paintings, Pacini Lubel Gallery, Seattle, WA.

2005 Beverly McIver, Tyndall Galleries, Chapel Hill, NC.

2005 Raising Renee, LewAllen Contemporary Art Gallery, Santa Fe, NM.

2005 The Many Faces of Beverly McIver, 40 Acres Art Gallery, Sacramento, CA.

2004 New Works, Weatherspoon Museum of Art, Greensboro, NC.

2003 New Paintings, Kent Gallery, New York, NY.

2003 Inventing Ourselves, Radcliffe Institute of Advanced Studies, Cambridge, MA.

2003 Mammy How I Love You, Grimaldis Gallery, Baltimore, MD.

2003 Ten Years of Painting, Marshall Arts Gallery, Scottsdale, AZ.

2001 Faces in Phoenix, Shemer Art Center, Phoenix, AZ.

2001 Stand Still, LewAllen Contemporary, Santa Fe, NM.

2000 Loving in Black and White, Green Hill Center for the Arts, Greensboro, NC.

2000 Life is Good, Joseph Gross Gallery, Tucson, AZ.

1999 Dance with Me, Chandler Center for the Arts, Chandler, AZ.

1998 All of Me, Scottsdale Museum of Contemporary Art, Scottsdale, AZ.

Selected Group Exhibitions

2021 Parallels and Peripheries, New York Academy of Art, NY.

2021 We Art Almost Free, Bernice Steinbaum Gallery, Miami, FL.

2021 Palm Beach Modern + Contemporary Art, Art, C. Grimaldis Gallery, Palm Beach, FL.

2021 Silent Streets, Mint Museum, Charlotte, NC

2020 Alien Nation, Coral Gables, Art Museum, Miami, FL.

2020 She Persists, Cameron Art Museum, Wilmington, NC.

2020 La Familiar, David Klein Gallery, Detroit Gallery, MI.

2018 Black Value, Fondazione Biagiotti Progetto Arte, Florence, Italy.

2018 Cinque Mostre 2018: The Tesseract, American Academy in Rome, Rome, Italy.

2018 12×12 Collective, Southeastern Center for Contemporary Art, Winston-Salem, NC.

2017 Invitational Exhibition of Visual Arts, American Academy of Arts and Letters, New York, NY. Purchase Award.

2017 Shifting: African American Women and the Power of Their Gaze, David C. Driskell Center for the Study of the Visual Arts and Culture of African Americans and the African Diaspora, University of Maryland, College Park, MD.

2017 A Human Condition, Kent Fine Art, New York, NY.

2017 Art New York 2017, C. Grimaldis Gallery Booth, New York, NY.

2017 Summer ’17, C. Grimaldis Gallery, Baltimore, MD.

2016 Dress Up, Speak Up, 21c Museum Hotel, Durham, NC.

2016 Remix: Themes and Variations in African American Art, Columbia Museum of Art, Columbia, SC.

2016 Introspective, Bravin Lee Gallery, New York, NY.

2016 Clothesline Musings: Art Inspired by the Clothesline, Cary Arts Center, Cary, NC.

2015-16, Face Facts or Head Space, New York Studio School, NY.

2014 Women Choose Women, Selected by Faith Ringgold, NJ.

2013 Juried Annual Portrait Competition, National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian, Washington DC.

2012 The Female Gaze, Philadelphia Academy of Art, Philadelphia, PA.

2011 A Selection of Women Artists from the Nasher Museums Collection, Nasher Museum of Art, Durham, NC.

2009 Invitational Group Exhibit, American Academy of Arts and Letters, New York, NY. Purchase Award.

2007 The “F” Word, Cynthia Broan Gallery, New York, NY.

2005 Summer Exhibit, C. Grimaldis Gallery, Baltiimore, MD.

2004-06, The Nature of Craft and the Penland Experience, (traveling) Mint Museum of Art, Charlotte, NC.

2003-06, Hair Stories, commissioned work, Scottsdale Museum of Contemporary Art, Scottsdale, AZ.

2003 Fifth Anniversary Celebration, Judish Fine Arts, Denver, CO.

2003 American Dream, Ronald Feldman Gallery, New York, NY.

2002 Free Lemonade, Robert Miller Gallery, New York, NY.

2002 The Relevance of Making, Penland Gallery, Penland, NC.

2000 Go Figure, Invitational LewAllen Contemporary, Santa Fe, NM.

2000 Yaddo Writers and Visual Artist, An Invitational, Art in General, NYC.

Selected Bibliography

2020 Moriarty, Jim, “The Light Within: In Darkness, Beverly McIver sees and paints by the light and voice of truth—and amazing grace,” O. Henry , October 2020.

2020 Letts, K.A., “Familiar,” Detroit Art Review, October 2020.

2020 Clune, Kathy, “Beverly McIver is Painting Politics,”, Duke Arts, 2020.

2018 Russo, Richard, et al. It Occurs to Me That I Am America: New Stories and Art. Edited by Jonathan Santlofer, Simon & Schuster, 2018.

2017 Felder, Lynn, “Acclaimed artist opening exhibition at SECCA,” Winston-Salem Journal, The Arts, January 15, 2017, ppD1, D5.

2017 “What’s up this week in Charlotte’s visual arts?” The Charlotte Observer, Local Arts, January 11, 2017.

2017 Yang, Wendy, “The 14 artworks every Charlottean needs to see,” The Charlotte Observer, Local Arts, January 25, 2017.

2017 Sronce, Joel, “Artist Beverly McIver discovers a common peace,” The NC Triad, February 1, 2017.

2016 “Studio Tour: Beverly McIver, Durham,” by Susan Stafford Kelly, Our State, Travel & Culture, August 2016, p64.

2016 “Feel the Paint and the Emotion,” by Cliff Hocker, The International Review of African American Art Plus, iraa.museum.hamptonu.edu, May 30, 2016.

2016 “In Dress Up, Speak Up at 21c, Artists Unravel Clothing and Ornament into Identity Politics,” by Chris Vitiello, INDY Week, September 28, 2016.

2015 “Prof. Bev McIver on Painting, Family and Fragility,” Duke Chronicle, June 15, 2015.

2014 “A Life that is ‘Good and Scary and Joyous’,” Duke Today, September 16, 2014.

2013 “Being Beverly McIver,” by Chris Vitiello, INDY Weekly, Durham, NC, October 29, 2013.

2013 “Painter Beverly McIver Talks Clowns, Cindy Sherman and Breast Reduction Surgery,” by Priscilla Frank, Huffington Post, New York, NY, July 31, 2013.

2012 “Painting on a New Canvas,” by Penelope Green, New York Times, Home Section, New York, NY.

2011 “Top Ten Painters for 2011,” by Raphael Rubenstein, Art in America.

2011 “Painting and Parenting, Durham Artist Beverly McIver Lifts Curtain on Her life in Raising Renee,” by Chris Vitiello, Independent Weekly. Cover image.

2009 “The Postmodern Modernist: Robert Colescott (1925-2009),” Art in America.

2006 Beverly McIver: Invisible Me, Kent Gallery, New York, NY, 2006.

2006 Irving Sandler, Beverly McIver and Photo-Expressionism, Kent Gallery, New York, NY 2006.

2005 “Beverly McIver-Raising Renee,” By Kathryn M. Davis, The Magazine, Santa Fe, NM, April.

2005 “Her Clowning Glory,” by Michael Koster, Pastiempo Magazine, New Mexico, March 4-10.

2005 “A Painter Puts on A Mask to Reveal Herself,” by Michele Natale, The News and Observer, NC, Sunday, Visual Arts Section.

2005 “Artist-at-Large,” by Louis St. Lewis, Metromagazine, February.

2005 Seeing the Unspeakable, The Art of Kara Walker. By Gwendolyn Dubois Shaw, Referencing McIver art on Pg. 35, Image Plate 4.

2004 “Face to Face,” The Sacramento Bee, Sacramento, CA, October 8, Scene Section.

2004 “Class Clown,” Sacramento News and Entertainment Weekly, Sacramento CA, October 7.

2003 “Facing Up to Disturbing Racial Stereotypes, Beverly McIver uses Blackface in her Art to Transform the ‘Mammy’ Myth,” The Sun, Baltimore, MD, March 9, Arts & Society.

2002 “Report From Arizona, Not a Mirage,” Art in America, December.

2002 “A Vivid, Painful Look into the Past of African Americans,” Asheville Citizen-Times, Asheville, NC, December 15, Arts Section.

2002 “Gallery does right thing in hanging ‘brave work’,” By Roberta Burnett, The Arizona Republic, Phoenix, AZ, June 21, Scottsdale Section.

2001 “ASU art professor honored with Guggenheim Fellowship,” By John Carlos Villani, The Arizona Republic, Phoenix, AZ, May 5. Arts section.

Videography

2018 Beverly McIver e il colore nero, RAI (Italian television network), Rome, Italy, 2018.

2012 Jordan, Jeane and Steven Asher, directors. Raising Renee: A Promise is a Promise. West City Films, 2011. HBO Documentaries: 2012-2015. Emmy nomination: Outstanding Arts and Culture Programming, 2013. Amazon Prime: 2017-currently streaming.

Selected Professional Activities

2020 Juror, “Women XX,”, University of NC Wilmington Art Gallery, Wilmington, NC.

2020 Juror, Bennesson Prize for Student, Duke University, Durham, NC.

2017 Juror, Adolf and Esther Gottlieb Foundation Grant, New York, NY.

2016 Juror, Art Prize: Pitch Night 2016, Durham, NC. Durham Pitch Night winner, Stacey Kirby, won Grand Prize, Art Prize, Grand Rapids, MI.

2015-17, Director, Marie Sharpe Walentas Studio Program Board of Directors, New York, NY.

2009 Panelist, 10 Year Celebration, Radcliffe Institute of Advanced Studies, Harvard Univ., Cambridge, MA.

2006 Panelist, “Portrait of a People”, Phillips Academy, Andover, MA.

2006-20, The Corporation of YADDO Board of Directors, Saratoga Springs, NY.

2005 Panelist, “Hair Stories” 40 Acres Art Gallery, Sacramento, CA.

2003-08, Director, Penland School of Arts and Crafts Board of Directors, Penland, NC.

2003 Training through Creative Capital Inc. to teach workshops to artists, specifically marketing and public relations, January, March and April.

2002 Juror, Contemporary Forum Material Grants, Phoenix Art Museum, Phoenix, AZ.

2000 Panelist, Arizona Arts Commission Visual Arts, Phoenix, AZ.

Selected Lectures

2021 Juror, AXA Art Prize, New York Academy of Art, NY.

2021 Juror and Guest Speaker, Margaret Stonewall Wooldridge Hamblet Award in Studio Art, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN.

2021 Keynote Speaker, Tennessee Arts Academy, Nashville, TN.

2021 Panelist, Lowe Art Museum, University of Miami, Miami, FL.

2021 Lecture, Wake Forest University, Winston Salem, NC.

2021 Guest Speaker, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ.

2020 Lecture, Wake Forest University, Winston Salem, NC.

2020 Lecture, Palmer Art Museum, Pennsylvania State University.

2020 Lecture, MIT faculty, Cambridge, MA.

2020 Lecture, Lesley School of Art and Design, Boston, MA.

2020 Lecture, North Carolina Art Museum, Raleigh, NC.

2020 Lecture, Cameron Art Museum, Wilmington, NC.

2018 Lecture, La Murate, Florence, Italy.

2017 Guest Speaker, Durham Academy, Durham, NC.

2017 Lecture, American Academy, Rome, Italy.

2017 Lecture, Rhode Island School of Design in Rome, Rome, Italy.

2016 Guest Speaker, 21c Museum Hotel, Durham, NC.

2016 Keynote Speaker, Teacher Workshop, Nasher Museum of Art at Duke University, Durham, NC.

2015 Speaker at CAA Annual Conference: “Tips on Professional Development.”

2014 Commencement Speaker, College of Art and Architecture, Pennsylvania State University.

2014 Keynote Speaker, Medical Conference, Planetree, Chicago, IL.

2012 Keynote Speaker, SEC, UNC-Greensboro, NC.

2012 Lecture at Montclair Museum of Art, Montclair, NJ.

2012 Lecture at Westmoreland College, Greensburg, PA.

2012 Lecture at Harvard Club, New York, NY.

2011 Lecture at Utah Valley University, Oren, UT.

2010 Lecture at Boulder Museum of Contemporary Art, Boulder, CO.

2010 Lecture at American University, Washington, DC.

2009 Lecture at Owens Community College, Toledo, OH.

2009 Lecture at UNC-Chapel Hill, NC.

2008 Guest Speaker, Women’s Art Institute, Minneapolis, MN.

2008 Lecture at NC State University, Raleigh, NC.

2008 Lecture at Greenhill Art Center, Greensboro, NC.

2008 Lecture at University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX.

2007 Lecture at Minneapolis College of Arts and Design, Minneapolis, MN.

2007 Lecture at Reginald Lewis Museum, Baltimore, MD.

2007 Lecture at University of Wisconsin Stout. Stout WI.

2006 Lecture at Memphis College of Art, Memphis, TN.

2006 Lecture at Phillips Academy, Andover, MA.

2005 Lecture at 40 Acres Art Gallery, Sacramento, CA.

2004 Lecture at Weatherspoon Museum of Art, Greensboro, NC.

2003 Lecture at SUNY-Purchase, Purchase, NY.

2003 Lecture in Baltimore, MD at the Baltimore Museum of Art, MD.

2003 Lecture at The Radcliffe Institute of Advanced Studies in Cambridge, MA.

2003 Lecture at The Harvard Club, New York, NY.