Echoes: Artists Respond to Carolina Shout

Taking Bearden’s collage as its point of departure, the museum asked four local artists — Carla Aaron-Lopez, Susan Brenner, Malik J. Norman, and Beverly Smith — to create a new work of art responding to some aspect of Carolina Shout. Each of those artists was invited to recommend a colleague to participate; thus, the original four were joined by Tom Delaney, Dammit Wesley, Juan Logan, and Liliya Zalevskaya.

While the artists were free to respond in whatever way they felt was appropriate, Bearden’s themes of baptism, music, the South, memory, and community, along with his masterful use of collage and other artistic techniques, all provided rich points of departure for these artists to consider as they created their own work.

Romare Bearden’s iconic collage Of the Blues: Carolina Shout was the first work by the Charlotte native to enter the museum’s collection, acquired in 1975, the year after it was created. Since then, it has been included in every major exhibition on the artist and has become known as one of his signature works.

See the works in the Romare Bearden Gallery on Level 4 at Mint Museum Uptown.