Exhibitions and Events

Featured Exhibit

Memories and Inspiration: The Kerry and C. Betty Davis Collection of African American Art

Sept. 14, 2024 - Jan. 6, 2025

The traveling exhibition Memories & Inspiration: The Kerry and C. Betty Davis Collection of African American Art presents sixty-seven selected works from a body of art amassed over thirty-five years by an ordinary working-class couple. Often choosing artworks over material items and other creature comforts, Kerry, a retired mailman, and Betty, a former television news producer, have opted instead to live with drawings, paintings, prints, and sculpture as their principal luxuries.

While their stated intention to “preserve cultural memories and provide their community with a source of inspiration” are goals shared by most art enthusiasts, Kerry and Betty do not search exclusively for well-known and/or documented artists, keeping in mind “the importance of gathering and preserving a spectrum of approaches to the black image in order to console the psyche and contribute to a more authentic articulation of the self.” To this end, the Davises continue to be students of the visual arts through visits to galleries and museums and through their voracious reading of exhibition catalogues, artist monographs, books, and online data about artists, art genres, mediums, and history.

More about Memories & Inspiration

The Davis Collection has evolved considerably over the years, as its owners went from sifting through entries posted on various auction sites to visiting artists in their studios, dropping by galleries, trading with other collectors, going to estate sales, and receiving artworks from artists as gifts. The result is an eclectic gathering of pieces crossing different mediums, subjects, and styles by a group of artists of the African Diaspora who—in terms of training, experience, and expression—are singularly diverse but unified in their use of cultural and historical narratives. As their collection has grown, so has the Davises’ storehouse of memories of discovering new works of art, building friendships with artists, and conversing with museum professionals and other collectors in their home. They have also continued to expose their collection to family, friends, and church members who, while receptive to the fine arts, are unlikely to visit such local institutions as the High Museum of Art in Atlanta—prompting the artist Leon Nathaniel Hicks to refer to their residence as “a museum in a home.”

Memories & Inspiration: The Kerry and C. Betty Davis Collection of African American Art is organized and toured by International Arts & Artists, Washington, DC.

Sedrick Huckaby b. 1975 Fort Worth, TX | She Wore Her Family's Quilt 2015

Events

Events take place at the Sordoni Art Gallery and are free and open to the public unless otherwise stated.

To register, please use the event registration form unless an event states otherwise.

Cocktails & Culture; co-hosted with Diamond City Partnership

Thursday, November 7, 2024 | 5:30 PM

This special evening celebrating Memories & Inspiration is an opportunity to take in art, enjoy southern cuisine and cocktails, and live music is a wonderful way to enjoy the arts in downtown Wilkes Barre. A short tour with the Sordoni Gallery director will guide visitors through the magnificent display of art. Tickets are $30, $25 for Sordoni Gallery members.

Register for Cocktails & Culture; co-hosted with Diamond City Partnership

Second Saturday Family Hour: Stamp & Repeat

Saturday, November 9, 2024 | 12 PM

Sordoni Art Gallery’s current exhibition, Memories & Inspiration, features a variety of printmaking. It is a fun way to make multiple pieces of art at once. Join us on November 9 from noon to 2 p.m. for a stamp making workshop! We will be making stamps for coasters and notecards. You will be able to use your stamp again and again!

Don’t forget to join us for storytime with the Osterhout Free Library at 1 p.m.!

Art in Context Screening: I am not your Negro by James Baldwin; Talkback with Dr. Helen Davis, Dept. of English

Wednesday, November 13, 2024 | 4:45 PM

In 1979, James Baldwin wrote a letter to his literary agent describing his next project, “Remember This House.” The book was to be a revolutionary, personal account of the lives and assassinations of three of his close friends: Medgar Evers, Malcolm X and Martin Luther King, Jr. At the time of Baldwin’s death in 1987, he left behind only 30 completed pages of this manuscript. Filmmaker Raoul Peck envisions the book James Baldwin never finished.  Dr. Helen Davis, Dept. of English, will conduct a casual talk back following the film.

Registration is required. Email melissa.carestia@wilkes.edu to reserve your spot!

Questions? Please Contact

Heather Sincavage

Associate Professor/Director Sordoni Art Gallery

heather.sincavage@wilkes.edu