Durades Dialogue: Melvin Edwards with Kimberli Gant

Melvin Edwards is a pioneer in the history of contemporary African-American art and sculpture. Working primarily in welded steel, Edwards is perhaps best known for his “Lynch Fragments,” an ongoing series of small-scale reliefs born out of the social and political turmoil of the civil rights movement.

For this event, Edwards will speak with curator Kimberli Gant about his lifelong engagement with the history of race, labor, and violence through his sculpture, as well as his deep connection to Africa and the African Diaspora since his first visit to the continent in the 1970s.

Born in Houston in 1937, Edwards attended college in Los Angeles, graduating with a BFA from the University of Southern California. In 1967, he moved to New York City, where he lives today, dividing his time between his studio in Plainfield, N.J., and residences with studios in Accord, N.Y., and Dakar, Senegal.

Kimberli Gant, PhD, is the McKinnon Curator of Modern & Contemporary Art at the Chrysler Museum in Norfolk, Va. She received her PhD in art history from the University of Texas, Austin, and holds an MA from Columbia University and BA from Pitzer College, both in art history.

Co-presented with Obsidian Arts.

$10; $5 My Mia members, free to members of the Contemporary Art and African Art Affinity Groups. Register online or call 612.870.6323. Ticketing available beginning August 13.