The Gibbes to Unveil Exhibition of Contemporary Portraits During Art Charleston 2023

The Gibbes Museum of Art will unveil an exhibition of powerful portraits by renowned contemporary painter Beverly McIver on April 28 during the museum’s visual arts festival Art Charleston. Beverly McIver: Full Circle presents the career arc and continued ascent of the artist featuring nearly 50 works from the last 25 years. The exhibition will be on view April 28-Aug. 6, 2023 in the museum’s third-floor galleries. The Gibbes will also host signature Art Charleston event Beverly McIver in Conversation on April 28 to celebrate the exhibition opening.

“We are honored to host this survey exhibition of works by a talented contemporary artist,” says Angela Mack, executive director of the Gibbes Museum of Art. “This exhibition demonstrates Beverly McIver’s bold, thematic approach to portrait painting and perfectly coincides with this year’s theme of Art Charleston, pushing the boundaries.”

Born and raised in Greensboro, N.C., McIver is nationally recognized for her autobiographical portraits and is currently Duke University’s Ebenshade Professor of Practice in studio arts. Beverly McIver: Full Circle will display a wide range of her poignant, large-scale portraits revealing her personal journey. Her works range from her early self-portraits in clown makeup, which explore expressions of individuality, stereotypes and ways of masking identity, to portraits of family members and friends that provide glimpses of intimate life moments, in good times as well as in illness and death.

The Gibbes will host a lunch and interview with Beverly McIver and exhibition curator Kim Boganey to celebrate the exhibition opening during Art Charleston. Beverly McIver in Conversation will be held on Friday, April 28 from 11:30 a.m.-1 p.m. This event is $45 for members, $55 for non-members and $30 for students and faculty and includes a gourmet boxed lunch. For tickets to Beverly McIver in Conversation, visit https://bit.ly/40I4Wwh.

In addition to Beverly McIver in Conversation, Art Charleston is anchored by Art of Design, Gibbes on the Street, Artistic Visionaries Panel, Art Charleston & Beeple Studios, Live at the Gibbes and the Artisan Fair.

Beverly McIver: Full Circle is organized by the Scottsdale Museum of Contemporary Art (SMoCA) and curated by Kim Boganey, arts and culture manager at the Museum of History and Art in Ontario, Calif. The exhibition at the Gibbes is made possible by generous support from BlueCross BlueShield of South Carolina, the Gaylord and Dorothy Donnelley Foundation, the Jane Smith Turner Foundation and Lynch Cracraft Wealth Management of Raymond James.

For images, visit https://bit.ly/3Gwum7o. For more information about Beverly McIver: Full Circle, visit www.gibbesmuseum.org. For more information about Art Charleston, visit www.gibbesmuseum.org/art-charleston.

April 12, 2023

Top image: Beverly McIver (left) and Kim Boganey (right). Photo by MCG Photography