2025-2026 Department of Art & Art History Events
Tucker-Boatwright Festival of Literature & the Arts
Reconstruction
Hosted by the Department of Art & Art History in partnership with The Harnett Museum.
The 2025–2026 Tucker Boatwright festival dissects and expands the idea of Reconstruction to highlight the complex relationship to ongoing cultural movements and revolutions that we study, experience, and manifest through the visual arts. Reconstruction considers the many social, environmental, and political crises that we are experiencing today, and encourages us to look back at the histories that frame the urgent questions of our present for answers towards our future.
The Department of Art & Art History in partnership with The Harnett Museum, has invited two world renowned artists to campus, Cauleen Smith and Abigail DeVille, to interpret this theme through two new immersive installations that engage with local histories to create a space for community dialogue.
Frames of Reference
Annual Program of Artists’ Film & Video
“The series is an annual program that showcases some of the most creative, challenging, thoughtful and visionary artists working in film and video today. The mission is to show media that resists conventions and ideologies of mainstream media and explores creative, innovative approaches to narrative.”
— Jeremy Drummond, associate professor of art
Next Event:
Cauleen Smith
Program 1: Wednesday, Sept. 3, 6 p.m.
Program 2: Thursday, Sept. 4, 6 p.m.
An Apéritif at the Harnett Museum with Kymberly S. Newberry
Inspired by the tradition of a pre-meal apéritif, the event offers a chance to cleanse the mental palate, spark close-looking, and ignite deep thought. Kymberly S. Newberry, professor of art history, pairs an artwork on view with a contemporary artwork from the African Diaspora or African American tradition. These pairings invite the visitors to look again — not just at the artworks, but at the rich potential of juxtaposition. How do these pieces challenge, intersect, and resonate with each other? What new meanings surface when they share the same visual space?
Come ready to think boldly, look closely, and savor the complexity of art in dialogue.
Next Event:
Sept. 10, 3:30 p.m.
Joel and Lila Harnett Museum of Art
Modlin Center for the Arts