Johnson Collection announces 2019 Voices in American Art speaker
The Johnson Collection announced yesterday that Dr. Tuliza Fleming, Curator of American Art at the National Museum of African American History and Culture (NMAAHC), Smithsonian Institution, as the 2019 Voices in American Art distinguished speaker.
The sixth annual edition of the educational series is scheduled for 7 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 28, and will be held at Chapman Cultural Center in downtown Spartanburg. As always, the public is invited to attend the free lecture; no reservations are required.
Dr. Fleming received her MA and PhD in American art history from the University of Maryland, College Park (1997 and 2007) and her BA from Spelman College (1994). During her tenure at the NMAAHC, she worked to build the museum’s foundational American art collection, and supervised the creation of a collection-based multi-media interactive presentation. She also co-curated the traveling exhibition Ain’t Nothing Like the Real Thing: How the Apollo Theater Shaped American Entertainment, curated Clementine Hunter: Life on Melrose Plantation, and served as the lead curator for the museum’s inaugural exhibition Visual Art and the American Experience. Formerly, Dr. Fleming served in the position of Associate Curator and head of the Department of American Art at the Dayton Art Institute in Dayton, Ohio.
Since 1996, Dr. Fleming has curated over twenty exhibitions and worked and/or consulted for a variety of museums and cultural institutions. Her publications include, “Visual Art and the American Experience: Creating an Art Gallery in a History and Culture Museum,” Art and Public History: Approaches, Opportunities, and Challenges (Rowan and Littlefield, 2017); “Cover Stories: The Fusion of Art and Literature During the Harlem Renaissance,” Dream a World Anew: The African American Experience and the Shaping of America (Smithsonian Books, 2016); “The Convergence of Aesthetics, Politics and Culture: Jeff Donaldson’s Wives of Shango,” AfriCOBRA: Philosophy (The University of Chicago, 2013); “It’s Showtime! The Birth of the Apollo Theater,” Ain’t Nothing Like the Real Thing: How the Apollo Theater Shaped American Entertainment (Smithsonian Books, 2010); “The ‘Museum Baby’ Grows Up: Being a Curator of Color in a Monochromatic Art Museum World,” Museum News (July/August 2005); and, Breaking Racial Barriers: African American Portraits in the Harmon Foundation Collection (Pomegranate Press, 1997).
Established in 2014, Voices in American Art brings distinguished arts leaders from important national institutions to Spartanburg for annual presentations. In addition to an evening keynote lecture that is open to the public at no charge, visiting speakers meet with college students for informal master classes on career paths.