Friday, February 16, 2007

Wilmington, N.C. - The University of North Carolina Wilmington Department of Art and Art History will host a book signing reception from 2 to 4 p.m. on Saturday, Feb. 24 in the Cultural Arts Building Art Gallery. Amy Kirschke, associate professor of Art History, will sign her new book Art in Crisis: W.E.B. Du Bois and the Struggle for African American Identity and Memory.

Carlton Wilkinson, gallery director, will present introductory remarks about the book and also the current exhibit, "Common Hope, Common Sorrow: Art of the African American Diaspora." The event is free and open to the public. The exhibit concludes on Feb. 28.

Kirschke will also present her research for her book on the use of art and visual imagery by W.E.B. Du Bois in his magazine The Crisis on March 8 at the Sorbonne, University of Paris. She has also been invited to launch Art in Crisis: W.E.B. Du Bois and the Struggle for African American Identity and Memory, and participate in a panel discussion March 28 in Washington, D.C. The book launch is sponsored by the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars and co-sponsored by the National Gallery of Art, the Smithsonian's African American Culture Museum, Howard University and the University of Maryland. The launch, book signing and discussion will be broadcast on both radio and satellite TV. In Washington, Kirschke will discuss the way in which Du Bois created a "visual vocabulary" to define "a new collective memory and historical identity for African Americans."

Du Bois' interest in the visual arts developed during his years as editor of The Crisis magazine, beginning in 1910. As Kirshke writes in the book's introduction, The Crisis was the first significant national African American magazine and an integral part of the struggle to combat American racism. Kirschke examines the visual art featured in The Crisis, its impact on African American identity and cultural realization, and Du Bois' use of art as a means of bringing about political action.

"Du Bois considered the truth beautiful, immanently political and public, but he knew that words weren't enough," she said. "He hoped that the use of powerful images would inspire African Americans to take a strong stance in the political arena."

Copies of Art in Crisis: W.E.B. Du Bois and the Struggle for African American Identity and Memory will be available at the book signing and may also be ordered directly from the publisher at www.iupress.indiana.edu.

For more information, contact Carlton Wilkinson at 910.962.7958 or Amy Kirschke at 910.962.3749.