ABOUT SMALL WORKS

Beverly McIver: Small Works, opens with a reception with the artist on February 25th, from 5 to 7 pm. The artist will also give a painting demonstration and gallery talk on March 24 from 5 to 7 pm.

While viewers can see a major retrospective of McIver currently at the North Carolina Museum of Art, Small Works offers a portrait of the artist working in a more intimate scale, mixed media on paper and monoprints, as well as her signature oils on canvas. The exhibition showcases some very personal pieces; text, sewing—a craft she learned from her mother—and collage feature in many of the paintings. Although smaller in size, the artworks in Small Works have the beauty and power of self-revelation so evident in her largest paintings. Also on view will be a recent portrait of the artist by her mentor, Philip Pearlstein. A documentary about McIver, Raising Renee, will be featured in February on HBO.

Beverly McIver was recently named  ”Top Ten in Painting” in Art in America.

The show continues through April 7. Craven Allen Gallery is located at 1106 ½ Broad Street in Durham. Gallery hours are from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday through Friday, and 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Saturday. For more information, please call the gallery at 286-4837 or visit www.CravenAllenGallery.com.

ABOUT BEVERLY MCIVER

Beverly McIver was born in Greensboro, North Carolina in 1962. She is the youngest of three girls born to Ethel McIver. Her oldest sister Renee is mentally disabled. Renee is 48 but has the mindset of a second grader. Beverly is Renee’s legal guardian and they currently reside in Durham, North Carolina.

Beverly is widely acknowledged as a significant presence in contemporary American art in general and has charted a new direction as an African American woman artist. She is committed to producing art that consistently examines racial, gender, social and occupational identity. Her sister Renee is a frequent subject of the artist as well as other family members.

Her work is in the collection of the North Carolina Museum of Art, the Weatherspoon Art Museumin Greensboro, N.C., the Baltimore Museum of Art, the NCCU Museum of Art , the Asheville Museum of Art, The Crocker Art Museum and the Nelson Fine Arts Museum on the campus ofArizona State University.

She is currently the Suntrust Endowed Chair Professor of Art at North Carolina Central University. Prior to this appointment, McIver taught at Arizona State University in Tempe, AZ. for twelve years, Duke University, North Carolina State University and North Carolina Central University. She has also held residencies at many of the nation’s leading artist communities, including YADDO, the Headland Center for the Arts, Djerassi, and Penland School of Crafts. She has served on the board at Penland School of Arts and Crafts and currently serves on the board of directors at YADDO in Saratoga Springs, NY.

McIver’s work has been reviewed in Art News, Art in America The New York Times and a host of local newspapers. She has received numerous grants and awards including the Anonymous Was A Woman Foundation grant, a John Simon Guggenheim Fellowship, a Radcliffe Fellowship from Harvard University, a Marie Walsh Sharpe Foundation award, a distinguished Alumni Award from Pennsylvania State University, a Louis Comfort Tiffany Foundation Award and Creative Capital grant.

Raising Renee, a documentary film by Academy Award-nominated and award-winning filmmakers Steven Ascher and Jeanne Jordan will have its television premiere on HBO in February, 2012. The feature-length documentary follows the artist for six years, documenting the consequences of her promise to take care of her mentally disabled sister Renee after their mother dies.

McIver’s solo exhibition at the North Carolina Museum of Art , Reflections: Portraits by Beverly McIver, continues through June 24, 2012.

McIver earned a bachelor’s degree in art from North Carolina Central University, a master of fine arts degree in painting from Pennsylvania State University and an honorary doctorate from North Carolina Central University.