The Margaret Harwell Art Museum is in the final stages of assembling its Black History Month exhibit, “The Black History of Southeast Missouri Through Art.”
Organizers are calling on the community for art and historic photographs by and about the Black community in Poplar Bluff.
The exhibit opens with a reception from 6-8 p.m. Feb. 5, and runs through Feb. 28. It will feature pieces special to the show and some in the museum’s permanent collection.
Contributors so far include Cory Matthews, Anthony Williams, George Young, Sally Ware and the internationally renowned Dean Mitchell.
Mitchell’s exhibit began in December 2021 and was held over due to the artist’s cancer diagnosis, since both he and Whitworth still anticipate holding an in-person reception for his work when his health allows. In the meantime, Whitworth said Mitchell’s artistic presence in the Black History Month exhibit is serendipitous, since he held his first solo exhibition at MHAM.
“He certainly qualifies to be part of our history of Black History Month. We’ll leave his exhibit all downstairs and then we have the local input in the upstairs. The largest gallery is the upstairs gallery,” Whitworth noted.
Whitworth said the exhibit welcomes “any kind of visual (art), sculptures, any kind of artwork by former residents or people who’ve had a great connection to Southeast Missouri. I want to give them a chance to share their vision and their history and their experience through art in the art museum.”
The deadline for entries is Wednesday, Feb. 2. More information is available by calling MHAM at 573-686-8002 or Whitworth at 573-714-4411.