Visual Voices is a lecture series hosted by Mason Exhibitions and the School of Art and Design. We look forward to seeing you in person or online on Thursday, February 20, 4:45pm to 6:30 pm.

Morgan Ashcom's multidisciplinary artworks and books explore the tension between fiction, myth and lived experience in the context of imperialism. Ashcom's work has been exhibited and published across the globe. He has received numerous awards including German Photobook and the Center for Photography at Woodstock Purchase Prize. His work has been featured in Le Monde, The Brooklyn Rail, Jewish Currents, and The British Journal of Photography.

Ashcom is former faculty of Western Connecticut State University, Ithaca College, University of Hartford, Cornell University and the University of Virginia. He is also the Founding Director of Visible Records.

This event will be held at the Harris Theater and RSVP is required to receive the zoom link the day-of the event via email!

Harris Theater is building #27 on the campus map and the nearest paid visitor parking is at the Mason Pond Parking Deck.

Questions and concerns should be emailed to Jeffrey Kenney at jkenney5@gmu.edu.

The Baldwin100, the Cheuse Center and Busboys and Poets present:

Just Love: A Dinner Salon with Jazz & Poetry inspired by James Baldwin
to celebrate the Baldwin100

Venue: Busboys and Poets, 14th and V
Time: 5:30pm
  
The night will open with Martheaus Perkins, who will read his poem dedicated to Baldwin. Then we will have Zeina Azzam and E. Ethelbert Miller perform poems, and chat about love, Baldwin, and their own creativity. The evening’s headliner is Lena Seikaly and her quartet.

In collaboration between the Cheuse International Writer’s Center and the Reston Community Center, the documentary “I Am Not Your Negro” will be screened at the CenterStage on Febuary 5th, 2025. 

Wednesday, February 5, 2025 7:30 PM to 9:30 PM EST
the CenterStage, 2310 Colts Neck Rd, Reston, VA

I Am Not Your Negro, 2016 (94 minutes)

"Using James Baldwin's unfinished final manuscript, Remember This House, this documentary follows the lives and successive assassinations of three of the author's friends, Medgar Evers, Malcolm X and Martin Luther King Jr., delving into the legacy of these iconic figures and narrating historic events using Baldwin's original words and a flood of rich archival material. An up-to-the-minute examination of race in America, this film is a journey into black history that connects the past of the Civil Rights movement to the present of BlackLivesMatter.”

Mason Exhibitions welcomes you to join us for the Opening Reception of Nothing Personal: A Collaboration in Black and White at Mason Exhibitions Arlington on Friday, January 31, 5-8pm.

Dive into the 1964 Atheneum edition of infamous photobook Nothing Personal, featuring an essay by James Baldwin and the portrait photography of Richard Avedon. 

Mason Exhibitions Arlington is located at 3601 Fairfax Drive, Arlington VA. Paid street parking is available, and the Virginia Square metro station is across the street.

Please email Alissa Maru at amaru@gmu.edu with questions about the event.

Visual Voices is a lecture series hosted by Mason Exhibitions and the School of Art and Design. We look forward to seeing you in person or online on Thursday, January 30, 4:45pm to 6:30 pm.

This event will be held at the Center for the Arts Concert Hall on the GMU Fairfax campus and online via Zoom. RSVP is required to receive the Zoom link via email the day-of!

Born in Vega Alta, Puerto Rico, Chemi Rosado-Seijo graduated from the painting department of the Puerto Rico School of Visual Arts in 1997. In 1998, he worked with Michy Marxuach to open a gallery that transformed into a not-for-profit organization presenting resources and exhibitions for contemporary artists in Puerto Rico.

In 2000, Rosado had his first solo show at the Joan Miro Foundation in Barcelona, including interventions on billboards around the city. Since 2002, he has worked with residents of the El Cerro community, a poor neighborhood south of San Juan, to present public art projects, workshops and other community initiatives.

In 2006, he inaugurated La Perla’s Bowl, a sculpture built with residents of San Juan’s La Perla community that functions as both a skateboarding ramp and a pool. Since 2009, Rosado-Seijo has been organizing exhibitions in his apartment in Santurce, creating a center for meeting and exchange in the Puerto Rican contemporary art scene. Rosado-Seijo’s work was included in the Whitney Biennial in 2017.

In 2020, current School of Art faculty, Ben Ashworth, collaborated with Chemi Rosado-Seijo on The Ceremonial Bowl

We look forward to seeing you on Thursday, January 23, 5:30-7:30pm for the opening reception!

Morgan Ashcom presents

THE ABSTRACT LAND & FILING COMPANY

January 21 - February 28, 2025
Gillespie Gallery of Art
Art and Design Building, George Mason University, Fairfax

About the Exhibition
The Abstract Land and Filing Company (ALFC) enlists its archivist Morgan Ashcom to install a two part exhibition at the Gillespie Gallery of Art. The first part, consisting of selections from the ALFC corporate archives, combines industrial remnants and historical ephemera with original works by Ashcom, depicting the years leading up to a worker-led take over of the company. The second half presents an installation of site-specific research, drawing on Ashcom’s experience as a BFA student at George Mason University (2001-2006), concerning the university’s ongoing collaboration with the radical rich of the American far right. 

About the Artist:
Morgan Ashcom (b. Charlottesville, 1982) produces multidisciplinary artworks and books that explore the tension between fiction, myth and lived experience in the context of imperialism. Ashcom's work has been exhibited and published across the globe. He has received numerous awards including the German Photobook and the Center for Photography at Woodstock Purchase Prize. His work has been featured in Le Monde, The Brooklyn Rail, Jewish Currents, and The British Journal of Photography.

Ashcom is a former faculty of Western Connecticut State University, Ithaca College, the University of Hartford, Cornell University, and the University of Virginia. He is also the Founding Director of Visible Records. Ashcom is an alumnus of George Mason University’s School of Art (BFA ‘06). He currently lives and works in Charlottesville, VA.

(Dream) Roads to Home and Peace
Crossing Cultures in Times of Conflict through Art, Music, and Poetry 

Have you ever thought about the power of music during difficult times? How do songs provide comfort, hope or even a voice for change in moments of conflict? What song or poem inspires you to keep going?

Join us on Tuesday, December 3, 5:30-7:30pm for a unique event dedicated to exploring the profound impact of music in times of struggle. Mason Exhibitions and the Korean ArtPop Storytelling Workshop Team invite the International community at Mason for an uplifting event surrounded by the exhibition A Closer Look: Conflicted Art from Ukraine.

We’ll begin with experiencing the Korean art song ‘Dream Road’, performed by the Korean ArtPop Storytelling Workshop Team. Following the music, we’ll engage in an open dialogue in which we encourage you to share pieces of music and poems. As a community, we will collectively build the playlist “Dream Roads to Home and Peace” to carry forward the message of connection.

This event is offered in collaboration with The Narrative Transformation Lab.

Join us at Fenwick Gallery for the opening of the Mason student-curated exhibition, Loving Krishna: Four Centuries of Indian Painting!

Students from the Art History 495/595 Curating an Exhibit course lead by Dr. Robert DeCaroli collaborated with the Smithsonian Museum of Asian Art and Fenwick Library to create Loving Krishna: Four Centuries of Indian Painting. This exhibit presents photographic reproductions of Indian paintings from the sixteenth to nineteenth century that portray forms of divine love between the Hindu deity and his devotees.

Best of Film at George Mason is a showcase of recent notable and award-winning films. This year's program includes student and alumni work in documentary filmmaking, fiction film directing, music video, and senior thesis films.

This event is free and open to the public.

Join us on Tuesday, November 19 from 6-8pm to see an Original Documentary about Patriot Packout at Ike's Dining Hall on Mason's Fairfax campus.

In collaboration with Mason Dining's Gourmet Gathering, a curated menu of locally sourced and campus-grown food will be served! 

Patriot Packout (PPO) is George Mason's community-based donation initiative that diverts new and gently used items from trash and redistributes them to students, faculty, and staff for free!

Items you may find through PPO include clothing, shoes, books and tech, art-making and office/school supplies, non-perishable food and toiletries, small appliances and furniture, bikes, scooters, and skateboards, and MORE.

PPO is made possible by countless university partners and supporters, including (mostly volunteer) staff, faculty, students, and community members.

This event is a collaboration between Facilities and Campus Operations, Mason Exhibitions, and Mason Dining.   

Join Mason Exhibitions and the Alan Cheuse International Writers Center on November 15, 6-8pm at Mason Exhibitions Arlington for a book launch of two authors, Megan Doney's Unarmed: An American Educator's Memoir  and Amanda Newell, Postmortem Say.

This event is in collaboration with Faces and Figures: Identity Through Printmaking Between South Africa and DC. Themes of the exhibition respond to violence, reconciliation, and the spirit of Ubuntu (I am because we are).

Mason Exhibitions Arlington is located at 3601 Fairfax Drive, Arlington VA, across the street from the Virginia Square Metro station, and paid street parking is available.

Please email Alissa Maru with questions/concerns (mailto: amaru@gmu.edu)
Free and Open to the Public

About the Books

Unarmed: An American Educator's Memoir

After surviving a school shooting, English professor Megan Doney was traumatized and adrift. Rather than hardening her heart and life, she wrote Unarmed: An American Educator's Memoir. An insightful response to American gun violence and illusions of public and private safety, this memoir is about how to live with an open heart, alive to luck, learning, and love.

Postmortem Say

Love and death, poetry's immortal themes, are interwoven throughout Amanda Newell's Postmortem Say. Death is everywhere-in the fields and forests, on darkened roads, in the delivery room-but there is also love, the kind that defies convention and outlasts death itself. These poems confront, without flinching, hard truths about what it means to be a woman, a mother, a wife, and a lover.

-Sue Ellen Thompson, author of Sea Nettles: New & Selected Poems

How can a mask tell your story? How can you interject new meaning into discarded, recycled materials?

In this poetry and art workshop, artist Steven Luu will lead participants through the creation of collage self-portrait masks using recycled scrap paper, turning waste into treasure. 

Masks can represent concealment and revelation, enabling individuals to take on different roles and stories. They are a means to express, to act, and to be. Materials also carry significant meaning: discarded scraps of paper carry the stories and memories from different people and places. Through collage, we can remix these materials into new forms and memories, a meditative process that allows us to contemplate our own identities and experiences.  

Registration is free but encouraged to save your place. All materials are provided, but participants are encouraged to bring their own discarded letters, photos, or other materials to incorporate into the collage.

Join artist Jorge Bañales for re(IMAGINE), a hands-on workshop inspired by the Fenwick Gallery’s current show, re[FORM]er, co-curated by Bañales and artist Steven Luu. 

This exhibit explores the power of materials to transport our memories. Bañales will guide participants through creating unique photo sculptures using disregarded 35mm negatives and photographic prints.

Photo sculptures transform familiar images into dynamic, dimensional art pieces, allowing participants to reimagine memories and meaning. Participants are encouraged to bring their own photographs to personalize the experience, though all materials will be provided.

The workshop will last approximately one hour, beginning with a tour of the gallery and an introduction by Jorge, followed by 45 minutes dedicated to crafting a photo sculpture.

Registration is free but encouraged to save your place.

Time to get inky! You want to make prints, but what do you do if you don’t have access to a printing press? Before the printing press was invented, blocks were printed by hand. Learn how to carve and print using soft easy-carve relief blocks. You will be given suggestions on size and concept, but ultimately the imagery is left up to you. Best of all, you’ll have learned all the basic techniques to continue creating prints using your own designs after the class is over!

Slots are extremely limited and your registration is a reservation. If you are unable to attend the workshop, please email Alissa Maru (amaru@gmu.edu) 3 days prior to offer your reservation to another participant.
All materials will be provided.

Visual Voices is a lecture series hosted by Mason Exhibitions and the School of Art. We look forward to seeing you in person or online on Thursday, November 7, 4:45pm to 6:30 pm.

Colette Fu received her MFA in Fine Art Photography from the Rochester Institute of Technology in 2003, and soon after began devising complex compositions that incorporate photography and pop-up paper engineering.

Harris Theater is building #27 on the campus map and the nearest paid visitor parking is at the Mason Pond Parking Deck.

RSVP is required to receive the zoom link the day-of the event via email!

Questions and concerns should be emailed to Jeffrey Kenney at jkenney5@gmu.edu.

Andriy Ivanovych Dubchak (b. 1976) is a Ukrainian photographer, videographer, photojournalist, and war correspondent. Dubchak is the founder and director of the independent reporting media outlet Donbas Frontliner.

Andriy’s work is featured in A Closer Look: Conflicted Art from Ukraine at Buchanan Hall Atrium Gallery.

This event will be held online only! RSVP is required to receive the link via email the day-of!

Join us on Thursday, October 17 at 4:30pm for Fall for the Book with A.B. Spellman amongst the current art exhibition in Gillespie Gallery, Nothing Personal: A Collaboration in Black and White. This event is free and open to the public!

In Between the Night and Its Music, renowned poet and leading figure of the Black Arts Movement, A.B. Spellman intertwines jazz and poetry through the collection of new and selected poems. Author and scholar Margo Natalie Crawford says, “This necessary book shows that [Spellman’s] entire poetic flow has been a profound movement of words that create the sensuality, music, and quiet of a Black collective consciousness.” Sponsored by African and African American Studies.

4:30pm – 5:00pm – Holton Plaza (Rain Location: Center for the Arts Lobby)

• Live Music

• Declaration of Inter-Dependence

• Voter Registration with Fairfax League of Women Voters

• Participatory Public Sculpture: Put the I in Civic by Linda Hesh

5:00pm: Chant poetry during a group procession to Buchanan Hall

5:00-5:45pm Citizen Joy Dialogue and Theater of the Oppressed Activity

5:45pm – 6:00pm A Closer Look: Conflicted Art from Ukraine

The third annual Arlington Art Walk is a self-guided tour connecting local galleries, artist studios and cultural events. 

At Mason Exhibitions Arlington, printmaker Fleming Jeffries will lead a ‘Kitchen Lithograph’ make and take-home craft activity, and a live DJ will be onsite. All materials will be provided

Mason Exhibitions Arlington is located at 3601 Fairfax Drive, Arlington VA, across the street from the Virginia Square Metro station, and paid street parking is available.

Please email Alissa Maru with questions/concerns (mailto: amaru@gmu.edu)

This year’s Art Walk coincides with the Museum of Contemporary Art Arlington’s (MoCA) daylong celebration of the National Biennial Exhibition, fall shows and Art After Hours. Enjoy a variety of activities, including Fred Schnider Gallery, Made in Arlington Market at MoCA, Mason Plaza activities and entertainment at Northside Social Arlington. Don't miss the courtyard video screens at Mason Exhibitions showcasing the 40th anniversary of Arlington Public Art installations.

For more information and a downloadable map, visit the Arlington Art Walk webpage.

Check out the Innovation Economy Podcast featuring Alissa Maru, Associate Curator at Mason Exhibitions Arlington and Susan Soroko, Director, Creative Economy  //  Strategic Partnerships at Arlington Economic Development

A  Gathering of Translators

Sept 30, 2024, in celebration of Day of Translation

If you throw a flower in another language into the air, who will catch it? Let’s make a bouquet together in many languages! Please join us for a chance to convene and bring together literary translators and multilingual writers in the DMV for a kaleidoscopic reading and gathering. 

Location: Gillespie Gallery, 1st Floor Art and Design Building, 4515 Patriot Circle, Fairfax

Bus stop: Mason shuttle stop is nearby. Please use google maps to find us.  

Parking: Shenandoah Parking Deck (Validation will be provided for readers. Please save your receipt)

Program

3:30 - 4: 30pm Reception with Introductions, and a discussion on building community around translation; hopes for literary translation practice in the DMV 

Poetry Reading 4:30 pm - 6:00 pm

Lineup: includes Padma Narayanan, Katie King, Munir Hachemi (Cheuse Center Writer-in-Residence from Spain). Nancy Naomi Carlson and Vivek Narayanan

Book Sales: All writers are welcome to bring books to sell via cash, check, venmo, paypal, zelle, with payment to be issued directly to them. 

About the Exhibition: Nothing Personal: a collaboration in black and white: https://www.masonexhibitions.org/exhibitions/nothing-personal

Nora Krug is a German-American author and illustrator whose drawings and visual narratives have appeared in newspapers, magazines and anthologies internationally. In September 2023, Krug published Diaries of War: Two Visual Accounts from Ukraine and Russia.

Immediately after Russia began its unprovoked invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, Nora Krug reached out to two anonymous subjects — “K.,” a Russia-born Ukrainian journalist, and “D.,” a Russian artist — and began what would become a year of correspondence. Based on her weekly interviews with K. and D., Krug created this collection of illustrated accounts that chronicles two viewpoints from opposite sides of the border throughout the first year in this ongoing war.

This event will be held in Harris Theater on the GMU Fairfax campus and online via Zoom. RSVP is required to receive the link via email the day-of!

Diaries of War: Two Visual Accounts from Ukraine and Russia will be for sale at the event, and a book signing will be held in the lobby afterwards!

Join us on Saturday, September 21, 2-5pm at Mason Exhibitions Arlington for the opening reception of Faces and Figures: Identity Through Printmaking Between South Africa and DC with a documentary celebrating the Black printmakers of DC.

Featured Documentary:

BLACK PRINTMAKERS OF WASHINGTON DC
PERCY B. MARTIN & MICHAEL B. PLATT

We'll be joined with filmmaker Susan Goldman, artists Percy Martin, Carole Beane- wife of Michael Platt, and Artist Proof Studios.

Mason Exhibitions Arlington is located at 3601 Fairfax Drive, Arlington VA, across the street from the Virginia Square Metro station, and paid street parking is available.

Please email Alissa Maru with questions/concerns (mailto: amaru@gmu.edu)
Free and Open to the Public

Run of Show:

2-2:30- See exhibition, enjoy food, mingle.

2:30-3pm- Introduction from Susan Goldman and screening of film

3-3:30- moderated discussion, Percy Martin, Carol Beane, Susan Goldman and (hopefully) artists from Artist Proof Studio (zoom), and 5 artists in Black DC exhibition

3:30-4pm- Q/A and final thoughts, promotion of programs and other printmaking activities

Join us on Monday, September 16, 1:30-3pm in Gillespie Gallery of the Art and Design Building. The Fall Symposium II will feature a compelling roundtable discussion entitled "Evidence of Things Not Seen: Creativity as Reconstruction from Trauma." Esteemed panelists including Lina Alattar (visual artist), Monifa Love (writer and academic), Kris O'Shee (therapist, memoirist, dancer, host of the Baldwin100), will come together under the moderation of Alison Landsberg, who will help us talk about a framework of exploring memory and empathy. 

Together, they will share their reflections on creativity and resilience in the face of adversity within the context of Baldwin’s life and works, talk about their perspectives on the role of place, both local and global, and the shaping influence of upbringing in a creative journey, and navigate a deep exploration of memory, empathy, and the transformative power of creativity as inspired by Baldwin's enduring legacy.

The Fall Symposium I features a roundtable discussion titled “Meditations on Masculinity and Sexuality in the Life and Art of James Baldwin.”

The roundtable conversation promises an insightful exploration into the intricate ways in which Baldwin’s writing and personal narrative challenge conventional notions of gender and sexuality, offering profound understanding into the human experience and to appreciate Baldwin's contributions to literature and social thought, and understand his lasting impact on discussions of identity and society.

PANELISTS

GerShun Alivez

GerShun Avilez is a cultural studies scholar who specializes in contemporary African American and Black Diasporic literatures and visual cultures. His teaching also covers 20th century US literature. Much of his scholarship explores how questions of gender and sexuality inform artistic production. In addition, he works in the fields of political radicalism, spatial theory, gender studies, and medical humanities. He serves as the Associate Dean of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion for the College of Arts and Humanities.

His first book, Radical Aesthetics & Modern Black Nationalism (Illinois), appeared in 2016 as a part of “The New Black Studies” Series. Radical Aesthetics won the 2017 William Sanders Scarborough Prize from the Modern Language Association (MLA). The prize is given to an outstanding scholarly study of African American literature or culture. His second book, Black Queer Freedom (Illinois), explores Black Diasporic queer artists and questions of social space. It was published in 2020 and is also a volume in “The New Black Studies” Series. Black Queer Freedom was a finalist for the 2021 P. Sterling Stuckey Book Prize (Association for the Study of Worldwide African Diaspora). He edited a special issue of the journal Women's Studies (2019) and recently co-edited the 10th edition of the Norton Anthology of American Literature, 1945-Present (2022).

He is currently working on two research projects, one which focuses on art and healthcare and another which explores Black queer history. He has written articles and book chapters on a range of historical and cultural subjects, including the Cold War, segregation narratives, early African American writing, race & terror, social death, queer life, experimental poetry, Black women’s writing, literary & cinematic satire, the Harlem Renaissance, Black Power Politics, and the Black Arts Movement.

Throughout his work and teaching, he is committed to studying a wide variety of art forms, including, drama, fiction, non-fiction, film, poetry, visual and performance art, ethnography, and comic books/graphic novels. He was the recipient of the Poorvu Award for Excellence in Interdisciplinary Teaching in 2011 (Yale University).

He created and coordinates the departmental Africana/Black Studies Colloquium, which hosts a number of events (lectures, roundtables, book launches, discussion groups, etc.) each year centered around African American and Black Diasporic research. He was an elected member of the MLA Delegate Assembly, and he served on the Program Committee for the annual convention of the American Studies Association (ASA).

He received his PhD in English from the University of Pennsylvania, where he also earned a Graduate Certificate in Africana Studies. He has held professorships at Yale University and the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill.  He also held the Frederick Douglass Post-doctoral Fellowship at the University of Rochester.

Keith Clark

Keith Clark is Distinguished University Professor of English and African and African American Studies. He earned a B.A. from the College of William and Mary (1985) and a Ph.D. in English from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (1993). He is the author of Black Manhood in James Baldwin, Ernest J. Gaines and August Wilson(Illinois UP, 2002), The Radical Fiction of Ann Petry (Louisiana State UP, 2013; winner of the College Language Association Creative Scholarship Award), and editor of Contemporary Black Men's Fiction and Drama (Illinois, 2001). His latest book, Navigating the Fiction of Ernest J. Gaines: A Roadmap for Readers, was published in Spring 2020 by Louisiana State.  His critical and pedagogical essays and book reviews have appeared in Callaloo, African American Review, The Oxford Companion to African American Literature, Resources for American Literary Study, American Writers V, Modern Drama, and GLQ.  His teaching interests include Black Literary masculinity studies, the Black bildungsroman, and African American LGBT studies. In addition to his academic interests, he is involved in several community service projects related to mentoring, tutoring, and hospice. 

Shane Stevenson

Shane Stevenson is an undergraduate student studying Civil Engineering with a deep interest in city planning and ecology. Although his academic focus is practical and industrious, his background is based in artistic expression. Currently recording an acoustic guitar EP, his down time is spent making music, drawing, reading, or playing games. Recently, Shane has enjoyed examining stories and dissecting them to understand their relevance to current social dynamics in America, and worldwide. Without a doubt, his highest achievement in college so far is being selected by his former Professor Mehta to speak on a panel to celebrate the impact of James Baldwin in the month of his 100th birthday.

Kei Ito (b. 1991) is an interdisciplinary installation artist working primarily with photographic media and sculpture. Ito’s photographs are fundamentally rooted in the trauma and legacy passed down from his late grandfather, a survivor of the atomic bombing of Hiroshima, and the loss of many other family members from the explosion and subsequent radiation poisoning. His work meditates on the complexity of his identity and heritage and seeks to visualize invisible forces such as radiation, memory, and human mortality.

This event will be held at the Center for the Arts Concert Hall on the GMU Fairfax campus and online via Zoom. RSVP is required to receive the link via email the day-of!

Join us on Wednesday, September 11 at 11am-1:30pm at the rear lower-level patio of the Art and Design building to participate in a Rain Barrel Painting of the Chesapeake Bay Food Web with School of Art alumna Nadya (Bella) Steare!

George Mason Facilities donated a rainwater barrel to the School of Art for installation at the Sculpture Yard to raise awareness about stormwater management using public art. Murals at Mason commissioned a design from Nadya Steare that encompasses the estuarine food web of the Chesapeake Bay. 

Each step of the food web is unique and important to the health of the ecosystem and those who depend on it for food, clean water, and recreation. The rain barrel design will raise awareness about the (often toxic) contents of stormwater runoff into the Chesapeake Bay and the animals that are affected. 

Join Fenwick Gallery for a welcome back reception and celebration of RE(FORM)ER, a joint exhibition from artists Steven Luu and Jorge Bañales!  

From 5-6pm, stop by Fenwick Gallery (in Fenwick Library) to meet the artists, enjoy refreshments, and learn more the exhibit and upcoming events in the gallery.

From 6-7PM, the exhibit curators will lead a conversation and discussion of the exhibit in the Fenwick Library Main Reading Room (2001, 2nd floor).

This event is supported by the University Libraries, Mason Exhibitions, and Welcome2Mason.

Registration is free but strongly recommended.

Join us for an evening of critical discourse and creative responses to Blues for Mister Charlie and other works on Monday, September 9, 7-9pm at the Center for the Arts Concert Hall.

In Blues for Mister Charlie, James Baldwin turns a murder and its aftermath into an inquest in which even the most well-intentioned whites are implicated—and in which even a killer receives his share of compassion. 

In a small Southern town, a white man murders a black man, then throws his body in the weeds. With this act of violence, James Baldwin launches an unsparing and at times agonizing probe of the wounds of race.

Begun in Instanbul in 1963, you can read about the writing of Blues for Mister Charlie in this 1964 edition of Playbill where the interviewer asks: When and where did you write Blues for Mister Charlie?

Join us on Monday, September 9 at 5-6:30pm for the exhibition opening of Nothing Personal: A Collaboration in Black and White in Gillespie Gallery of the Art and Design Building at Gillespie Gallery of the Art and Design Building.

Following the opening, join us for A Critical Discourse: Blues for Mister Charlie and other works organized by the Alan Cheuse International Writer's Center at the Center for the Arts at 7pm on Monday, September 9.

Learn more about the yearlong Baldwin100 initiative here:

Join us for Citizen Joy: A celebration of democracy focused on agency, harmony, and gratitude on Friday, July 26 at 4:30-6pm at Mason Exhibitions Arlington.

This is a family-friendly event that is free and open to the public. During this interactive and experiential event, visitors will be invited to think about what it means to be part of a community that we all have some ability to influence. You’ll share your thoughts and experiences on the democratic process, and explore ways to make an impact and bring your community closer together.

This event is free and open to the public and we encourage guests to RSVP at the following link:

During the event, you will see the current exhibition on view, A Closer Look: Conflicted Art from Ukraine, hear music and poetry, and more! Citizen Joy is a program of Jeff Raz where different sites across the country will have art installations about the joy of participating in the voting process on Saturday, July 27.

Questions should be emailed to Yassmin Salem at ysalem@gmu.edu

This event is organized by Mason Exhibitions in collaboration with George Mason University’s College of Visual and Performing Arts, including the School of Art, School of Theater, and Reva and Sid Dewberry Family School of Music

Mason Exhibitions Arlington is located across the street from the Virginia Square Metro and 2 blocks west of the Mason Square campus. Paid street parking is available nearby.