A different kind of classroom.
Our Mission
The mission of the Sordoni Art Gallery is to encourage an appreciation of the arts and an understanding of its role in society through direct engagement with art. Our main focus is to present high-quality exhibitions, related programming, and publications in a wide range of media, topics, cultures and time periods.
Memories and Inspiration: The Kerry and C. Betty Davis Collection of African American Art
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
About The Gallery
Contacts
Heather Sincavage
Associate Professor/Director Sordoni Art Gallery
Hours
- Tuesday-Friday: 10 a.m. - 5 p.m.
- Saturday-Sunday: 12 - 5 p.m.
- Monday & University Holidays: Closed
