PANELISTS | Lindsay Adams (Artist, PATRON and Sean Kelly; Commissioned Artist, Obama Presidential Center), Danny Dunson (Director of Curatorial Affairs and Arts Education, The DuSable Black History Museum and Education Center),
Amanda Williams (Artist). Moderated by Galina Mardilovich, PhD (Curator, Smart Museum of Art).
On the occasion of Alma Thomas’s solo exhibition at the Smart Museum of Art, this panel brings together artists and curators to reflect on her enduring impact on colorful abstraction and Black cultural production. Grounded in the context of the Smart’s presentation, the conversation will consider Thomas’s formal innovations, her late-career breakthrough, and the institutional histories that have shaped her reception. Panelists will explore how her work continues to resonate with contemporary artists and how museums today are recontextualizing her legacy within broader narratives of American modernism. Presented in partnership with the Smart Museum of Art at the University of Chicago.
Please note that this program requires a paid Thursday (single day) or weekend (three-day) ticket to EXPO Chicago. For more information, visit https://www.expochicago.com/tickets. EXPO offers discounted senior and student tickets.
IMAGE:
Alma Thomas, Light Blue Nursery, 1966, acrylic on canvas, 49 x 47 7⁄8 in. (124.4 x 121.5 cm), Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of the artist, 1970.324