Power Will Be Revealed at Unveiling of Nova Southeastern University’s 2009 African Presence Art Exhibition

African art displayed in public NSU library gallery is part of university-wide celebration of Black History Month, with opening reception on Feb. 4

FT. LAUDERDALE-DAVIE, Fla.—Art and artifacts depicting concepts of power from the rich cultural heritage of Africa will be on view from Feb. 4 through March 18, 2009 in the Second Floor Gallery of the Alvin Sherman Library, Research, and Information Technology Center, located on Nova Southeastern University’s (NSU) main campus at 3100 Ray Ferrero Jr. Boulevard in Davie.

The exhibition, Power Revealed, is comprised of selected works from the collection of the Museum of Art | Fort Lauderdale, a division of NSU. The exhibition’s invitation-only opening reception is on Wednesday, Feb. 4 from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m.

The reception will begin with African vocal and dance performances in the Miniaci Courtyard adjacent to the library. The celebration will then move to the library’s Second Floor Gallery for the unveiling of the exhibit.

Power Revealed is part of the university’s Sixth Annual African Presence Art Exhibition and 2009 Black History Month celebrations which include a month long calendar of compelling discussions, engaging performances, educational workshops, award winning film screenings and dynamic speakers.

Power Revealed includes hand-carved masks and statues, jewelry, utensils, ceremonial objects and other items. Each piece was chosen for its significance and for exemplifying various aspects of power represented in African culture. The physical, spiritual, temporal, masculine and feminine characteristics of power are all represented in the exhibit.

Robin Poynor, Ph.D., who teaches the arts of Africa and Oceania at the School of Art and Art History at the University of Florida, is the guest curator for the exhibition. Poynor has been using his expertise to help the Museum of Art | Fort Lauderdale catalogue their vast collection of African art, and as a result was asked to select the most significant pieces for this exhibition.

“The collection is quite diverse,” Poynor said. “We chose objects that we could share that had meaning behind their creation and were ultimately all similar in the way that they made the concept of power visible.”

Poynor has studied the arts of Africa for more than 40 years, with initial fieldwork in Nigeria as a Fulbright Hays Fellow. His dissertation, The Ancestral Arts of Owo, Nigeria, addressed the arts associated with death and dying and ancestral veneration among the Owo Yoruba, with subsequent work in Sierra Leone.

He is the author of several books including A History of African Art, written with Monica Blackmun Visona and Herbert M. Cole, which has won awards and has been adopted by more than 180 colleges and universities in the United States. Poynor is currently working on an edited volume with Amanda Carlson tentatively titled Africa in Florida, which deals with 500 years of African presence in the state of Florida.

Power Revealed is sponsored by NSU’s Office of University Relations, and the Museum of Art | Fort Lauderdale.

Free guided tours of the exhibition are scheduled for:

• Monday, Feb. 9 from 2 to 3 p.m.
• Monday, March 2 from 2 to 3 p.m.
• Monday, March 16 from 2 to 3 p.m.

Additional Power Revealed events are pending, and the exhibition is free and open to the public during the following hours:

• Monday through Friday from 8 a.m. to 9 p.m.
• Saturdays from 9 a.m. to 8 p.m.
• Sundays from 11 a.m. to 9 p.m.

For more information about the Power Revealed art exhibition, please call (954) 262-5309. For more information about NSU’s extensive offering of Black History Month events, please visit www.nova.edu/blackhistory.

About Nova Southeastern University: Situated on 300 beautiful acres in Davie, Florida, Nova Southeastern University is a dynamic fully accredited institution dedicated to providing high-quality educational programs of distinction from preschool through the professional and doctoral levels. NSU has more than 26,000 students and is the sixth largest not-for-profit independent institution nationally. The university awards associate’s, bachelor’s, master’s, specialist, doctoral, and first-professional degrees in a wide range of fields, including business, counseling, computer and information sciences, education, medicine, optometry, pharmacy, dentistry, various health professions, law, marine sciences, early childhood, psychology and other social sciences. For more information visit www.nova.edu.

About the Museum of Art | Fort Lauderdale: The Museum of Art | Fort Lauderdale, a division of Nova Southeastern University, is open daily 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. with extended hours on Thursdays until 8 p.m. Admission is $10 for adults and $7 for students (ages 6 -17) , military and seniors (ages 65+). College students with a valid ID, children 5 and under, students ages 6 -17 with a Broward County Library card and Museum members are admitted free. Join us every Third Thursday for free admission from 5-8 p.m. The Museum also features a Studio Arts School for adults and students which focuses on painting, drawing, design, art history, and musical theater. For more information visit www.moafl.org.

Exhibition Photo Credit (above, from left):

• (1) Dan – Circumcision Mask – Wood, cowrie shells, cloth – Gift of Morris and Sylvia Ivanhoe
• (2) Yaka, Democratic Republic of Congo – Mask (for Mukanda) – Wood, pigments, cloth, raffia – Gift of Mr. & Mrs. Edward Stone Jr.
• (3) Yoruba (Nigeria) – Ere ibeji, with cowrie shell tunic – Wood, pigment, beads, shells – Gift of Edward Stone Jr.
• (4) Igbo – Ikenga, Ahoada style – Wood – Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Irwin A. Weiser
• (5) Yoruba (Nigeria) Ere ibeji, female twin figure – Wood – Gift of Jeffrey and Richard Horvitz

Media Contact:
Andra Liwag, NSU Office of Public Affairs
954-262-5309 office, 954-873-8494 desk, andrali@nova.edu