In Rosa Sparks, self-proclaimed art evangelist Steve A. Prince presents a tableau of black experience in America by recreating the momentous event in Montgomery, Alabama, where Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat to white passengers. At the front of the bus, a haloed Parks sits defiantly in response to the standing bus driver’s gesture that she move to the back. At the left, a line of figures, some in silhouette, represent the experiences of black Americans—from the chains of slavery to present-day threats of gun violence. They are joined by references to others inspired by Rosa's spark, civil rights leaders Martin Luther King Jr. and Malcolm X. A rider at the back of the bus holds a Bible turned to Matthew 5:3–10. This passage describes the Beatitudes, beginning with "Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven...."
His work is an unending exploration of that faith and its relationship to his life, his culture and his community. "We are all living epistles," notes Prince, “whether we want to be or not." His work is an open letter to Americans calling them "to acknowledge their role within the fabric of the American family and to redress race, representation, and education with a new raiment woven of respect, truth and equality."
Prince is a native of New Orleans. He earned his BFA from Xavier University of Louisiana and his MFA from Michigan State University. He has shown his work internationally in various solo, group, and juried exhibitions including the Contemporary Art Center of Virginia, the National Gallery of the Bahamas, the Museum of Cultural Arts Center (Santa Catarina, Brazil), the Grand Rapids Museum of Art, the Portsmouth Courthouse Museum, Hampton University Museum, the Museum of African American Culture (New Orleans), and the Peninsula Fine Arts Center.
Steve Prince, Rosa Sparks, 2017
This project compiles smartphone photographs documenting the experiences of Dickinson students, faculty, and staff during the pandemic. These photographs provide a window into how the Dickinson community responded to the challenges presented by the Covid-19 pandemic from March 2020 through December. It is part of the museum's exhibition In light of the Past: Experiencing Photography 1839–2021.
Virtual Senior Recital of Max Jacob assisted by Eun Ae Baik-Kim
This selection of works from the museum’s permanent collection considers how artists manifest notions of spirituality in the visual arts. The exhibition is curated by Abbie Cottle ’20, a religion and archaeology major.
Chinese, Dragon Bowl
nineteenth century
This exhibition considers how we experience photographs, from the origins of the daguerreotype and paper negative to digital imagery. It examaines the ways in which we make, view, comprehend, and consume photographic imagery. This wide-ranging exhibition draws together more than one-hundred objects, including early photographic media to printed books, magazines, projected imagery, and cell phones. This exhibition is curated by art history majors Tenzin Crowley, Ana-Elena Karlova, Hill Gobourne, Emma Larson-Whittaker, Zuquin Qi, and Jackson Rhodes.
Download the exhibition catalogue
Elliot Erwitt
California Kiss, 1955
This exhibition features thesis projects by senior studio art majors Devon Anderson, Gracyn Bird, Ernest Entsie, Ruodan Que, Clara Roth, and Jeremy Yu, under the direction of Rachel Eng with Todd Arsenault, Anthony Cervino, and Andy Bale.
Clara Roth
Memory, 2021, digital collage
We present here from the museum's collection this handcolored print from Harpers Weekly (January 1863). President Abraham Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation of 1862 declared an end to slavery. However, slavery was still legal and practiced in several states until December 6, 1865, when ratification of the Thirteenth Amendment to the Constitution abolished chattel slavery nationwide.
This print is a gift to the museum from Darlene K. Morris in honor of the Hackenbergers and Heimbaughs.
Emancipation
Harpers, January 1863
