Tuesday, March 21, 2000

Note to the Media: Illustrations of artwork can be e-mailed. Contact Phillip Brown at 910/962-7223 or e-mail brownp@uncwil.edu.

Members of the media are invited to a special pre-opening tour of the exhibit at 11 a.m., Wednesday, March 29, in Kenan Hall, Claude Howell Gallery. There will be an opportunity to interview Dr. Reents-Budet, Paul Clifford and UNCW student curators who will be finalizing the exhibit.

WILMINGTON, NC -- The Paul A. Clifford Collection of Colonial Latin American Art will open at 4 p.m., Wednesday, March 29 in UNCW's Kenan Hall, Claude Howell Gallery with a special reception. This free exhibit will continue through April 28. Public viewing will be from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday.

The exhibit will feature Latin American ecclesiastical paintings, sculpture and silver items from the 17th through 19th centuries from Peru, Bolivia, Ecuador, Guatemala and Mexico. Items on display will include paintings of St. Anthony and the Christ child and St. Gertrude and several sculptures depicting Madonna and child. Paul Clifford of Newton, N.C., has collected Precolumbian and colonial Latin American art for more than 30 years. He created the Precolumbian Collection at Duke University Museum of Art, and many of his colonial artworks are in the permanent collection of Charlotte's Mint Museum.

While many colonial period Latin American artists are unknown, Clifford's collection represents works of art such high caliber that one would expect them to be displayed at the North Carolina Museum of Art, said Dr. Dorie Reents-Budet, director of the Museum of World Cultures at UNCW. Reents-Budet is overseeing the design and installation of the exhibit by UNCW student curators.

"The student curators are getting an opportunity to create an exhibit featuring world-class artworks," said Reents-Budet. "In addition to learning how to install and display the pieces, they have had to learn about the religious, historical and social significance of the items. They will include these cultural facets in wall texts which they are writing to accompany the objects which will augment the viewer's experience of these unknown yet fine artworks."

In addition to loaning the university items for the display, Clifford donated his personal research library of Precolumbian, Latin American and African art books to the university's Randall Library in honor of Reents-Budet and Dr. Gerald Shinn, UNCW professor emeritus of philosophy and religion and founder of the university's Museum of World Cultures.

"Paul Clifford believes that art enriches our lives and reveals human cultural history in a more lively and full manner than simply studying history from books," said Reents-Budet, who served as associate curator of Precolumbian art at Duke University from 1988-97. "Paul's collecting art and building exhibitions has always been motivated by his deep desire to make art accessible to the public and especially to students."

Prior to joining UNCW this past fall, Reents-Budet was a visiting curator at the Denver Art Museum, the Gardiner Museum of Ceramic Art (Toronto) and the Boston Museum of Fine Arts. She was curator and adjunct faculty in art history at Duke University and is a research associate at the Smithsonian Center for Materials Research and Education Museum Support at the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C. She earned a master's degree in anthropology and a Ph.D. in art history from the University of Texas at Austin. She conducts field research in Precolumbian art and archaeology, specializing in ancient Mayan culture.

For more information, call Dr. Reents-Budet at 910/962-7233.