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Bethany Collins

,

Bethany Collins

  • Biography
  • Series
  • Exhibitions
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  • Biography
    Bethany Collins, 2022. Photo: Ross Collab
    Bethany Collins, 2022. Photo: Ross Collab

    Bethany Collins (b.1984) was born in Montgomery, AL and lives and works in Chicago, IL. Collins is a multidisciplinary artist whose conceptual practice examines the relationship between race and language. Centering language-its biases, contradictions, and ability to simultaneously forge connections and foster violence-her works illuminate America's past and offer insight into the development of racial and national identities. Drawing on a wide variety of documents, ranging from nineteenth-century musical scores to US Department of Justice reports, she erases, obscures, excerpts, and rewrites portions of text to bring to the fore issues revolving around race, power, and histories of violence. 

    Download Artist's CV (PDF, opens in a new tab.)

    Collins’s early series like her 2010 White Noise drawings lay the foundation for her later investigations. Created while pursuing her Master of Fine Arts at Georgia State University, these compositions draw on the artist’s own experience during studio critiques. Using chalk to inscribe and then erase portions of each troubling comment and suggestion white classmates made to her—including, “Do people ever think you’re white?”—Collins describes these drawings as being born from a need to “push language further so it was operating outside myself.”  

    Externalizing the pain and limits of language, White Noise led Collins to shift from using personal sources in her practice to published texts. Blue Noise (2014–15) revisits celebrated Black science fiction writer Octavia E. Butler’s autobiographical essay “Positive Obsession,” repeating and isolating portions of the text in blue pastel so that it begins to form tangled verbal constellations. For Collins, using blue pastel and ink marked a conceptual shift in her practice. “Blue feels responsive to the . . . coldness of exclusionary language,” she observed in a 2017 lecture, “It’s not inviting; it’s pushing you away.” Expanding on this idea of exclusion, series like The Southern Review (2014–present) and The Birmingham News (2017) draw attention to historical erasure by foregrounding the racial silencing that can occur through editorial decisions. 

    Also addressing erasure, Collins’s artist books literalize the act by physically removing material. America: A Hymnal collates one hundred different versions of “My Country ‘Tis of Thee” written by causes ranging from the Confederacy to the Temperance Movement. Lasering out the musical notes, Collins excises the shared score that united these various adaptations until all that is left are bits of lasered paper—“the dust of language,” in the artist’s words—a charred corpus of past (in)cohesion. “[Erasure] makes me feel I can control a text that feels out of my hands,” Collins explained in a recent interview. “… I feel a physical mastering of language. By deciding what’s legible, I’m dragging out the meaning already there.” 

    In series like The Odyssey (2018–present), Collins invests the modernist act of erasure with a charged physicality by using her spit to erase the text. This act represents a literal insertion of her body into Homer’s epic while also rendering the poem largely illegible save for isolated lines. These phrases, excerpted from different English versions of the ancient Greek poem, reflect the iterative, mutable nature of translation. Collapsing past and present, Collins’s excerpted lines draw parallels between Odysseus’s perilous journey and the United States’ current incendiary political climate. 

    Further reflecting on the nature of contemporary America, Collins’s Dixie’s Land (1859–2001) (2020) transposes 10 adaptations of the 1859 minstrel song that became the de facto anthem of The Confederacy into a minor key. The work overlays these mournful scores with drawings of tear gas fired by police during the protests that erupted in Minneapolis, MN after the murder of George Floyd to highlight centuries of racial injustice, disenfranchisement, and violence. Collins’s interest in contrafacta continues in more recent works like her 2022 Star-Spangled Banner panels, which isolate lyrics from different versions of the national anthem to expose the language of violence that bolsters American identity. Layering histories to draw attention to what (and who) is missing, these pieces lay bare the exclusionary foundations upon which the United States is built. 

     In the last several years, Collins’s engagement with music has expanded to encompass immersive sound installations. Often employing polyphonic singing, works like America: A Hymnal (2019) draw on alternative iterations of popular songs. Eschewing vocal harmony, these installations employ competing voices to examine the language that informs identities, capturing, per Collins, “dissenting versions of what it means to be . . . American bound together.”

    Ultimately concerned with what she has termed “the residue of language,” Collins imbues obfuscated traces with a metaphorical weight that challenges established institutions and practices while claiming space for future alternatives. As she concludes, “Everything but words I want you to read.” 

    Collins’s work has been the subject of numerous solo exhibitions including At Sea, Seattle Art Museum, WA (2024); Accord, Jule Collins Smith Museum of Fine Art at Auburn University, AL (2024); America: A Hymnal, Peabody Essex Museum, Salem, MA (2023); and My Destiny Is In Your Hands, Montgomery Museum of Fine Art, AL (2021), among others. Collins has participated in many group exhibitions including Prospect.6: the future is present, the harbinger is home, New Orleans, LA (2024); The Dirty South: Contemporary Art, Material Culture, and the Sonic Impulse, Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, Richmond, VA (2021), traveled to Contemporary Arts Museum Houston, TX (2021), Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art, Bentonville, AR (2022), and Museum of Contemporary Art Denver, CO (2022); and Jacob Lawrence: The American Struggle, Peabody Essex Museum, Salem, MA (2020), traveled to Seattle Art Museum, WA (2021), and The Phillips Collection, Washington, D.C. (2021). Collins’s work is represented in the collections of The Art Institute of Chicago, IL; Baltimore Museum of Art, MD; Birmingham Museum of Art, AL; High Museum of Art, Atlanta, GA; Rose Art Museum, Brandeis University, Waltham, MA; The Morgan Library & Museum, New York, NY; The Peabody Essex Museum, Salem, MA; and The Studio Museum in Harlem, NY, among others. She is the recipient of many awards and grants, including the 3Arts Next Level Visual Arts Award (2024); Gwendolyn Knight & Jacob Lawrence Prize (2023); Joan Mitchell Fellowship (2022); and The Pollock-Krasner Foundation Grant (2015), among others. Bethany Collins is also represented by PATRON, Chicago, IL.

  • Series

    • Cast Paper, 2023 – present
      Pages

      Cast Paper

      2023 – present
      In a departure from her text-based drawings, Bethany Collins began experimenting with paper casting in 2023 when she created her Old Ship series. Collins's Old Ship works mix handmade paper...
    • Antigone, 2023 – present
      Pages

      Antigone

      2023 – present
      Building on her recent Odyssey and Aeneid series, Bethany Collins’s Antigone series (2023–present) presents hand-written passages taken from Sophocles’s play blown up to a monumental scale. Meticulously erasing the text...
    • The Aeneid, 2022 – present
      Pages

      The Aeneid

      2022 – present
      An offshoot of the artist’s ongoing Odyssey series, Bethany Collins’s Aeneid series presents hand-written passages taken from Virgil’s epic blown up to a monumental scale. Painstakingly erasing the text using...
    • The Star Spangled Banner, 2021 – present
      Pages

      The Star Spangled Banner

      2021 – present
      Expanding upon the formal and conceptual concerns of her earlier series like Blue Noise , Red Noise , and Dixie’s Land (1859–2001) , Bethany Collins’s Star Spangled Banner (2022) series...
    • State Songs, 2020 – present
      Pages

      State Songs

      2020 – present
      Bethany Collins’s State Songs track nineteenth-century ballads whose meanings have drifted over the course of their broader histories. Beginning with American songs from the Library of Congress collection, Collins’s Rose...
    • Sound Installations, 2018 – present
      Pages

      Sound Installations

      2018 – present
      In recent years, Collins’s engagement with music has expanded to encompass immersive sound installations. Often employing polyphonic singing, installations like America: A Hymnal (2019) draw on alternative iterations of popular...
    • The Odyssey, 2018 – present
      Pages

      The Odyssey

      2018 – present
      In Bethany Collins’s The Odyssey (2018–present), the artist charges the modernist conceptual act of erasure with a direct physicality by using her own spit to erase monumental hand-written renderings of...
    • Lost Friends, 2018 – 2023
      Pages

      Lost Friends

      2018 – 2023
      Published in African American newspapers shortly before the end of the Civil War until the 1920s, these 'lost friends' ads were placed by formerly enslaved people separated from family by...
    • Red Noise, 2018–present
      Pages

      Red Noise

      2018–present
      In Bethany Collins’s Red Noise series, begun in 2018, the artist once again pushes the formal and conceptual inquiries established in her White Noise and Blue Noise series, this time...
    • Artist Books, 2014–present
      Pages

      Artist Books

      2014–present
      Bethany Collins’s artist books literalize the act of erasure by physically removing material. Her 2017 book, America: A Hymnal , collates one hundred different versions of “My Country ‘Tis of...
    • Pages

      Blue Noise

      Bethany Collins’s Blue Noise (2014–2015) marks an important change in the artist’s practice, a shift away from using personal sources to appropriating published texts. In this series, Collins revisits celebrated...
    • Pages

      White Noise

      Bethany Collins created her White Noise (2010) series while pursuing her Master of Fine Arts at Georgia State University. Drawing upon her personal experience during studio critiques, Collins used white...
  • Exhibitions
    • Bethany Collins

      Bethany Collins

      Years April 5 - June 16, 2024 Germantown
      Alexander Gray Associates, Germantown presents Bethany Collins: Years , an exhibition of recent work by the artist that maps the interconnection between loss and identity. Building on Collins’s first exhibition...
      Read more
    • Bethany Collins

      Bethany Collins

      Undercurrents October 26 - December 16, 2023 New York
      Alexander Gray Associates, New York presents Bethany Collins: Undercurrents , the artist’s first solo exhibition with the Gallery. Undercurrents features new cast paper works alongside a body of song-based drawings...
      Read more
  • Other Exhibitions

    • Bethany Collins: At Sea, Seattle Art Museum
      Exhibitions

      Bethany Collins: At Sea

      Seattle Art Museum November 14, 2024 - May 4, 2025

      Bethany Collins's solo exhibition At Sea at Seattle Art Museum, Seattle, Washington. 

    • Bethany Collins: Accord, Jule Collins Smith Museum of Fine Art
      Exhibitions

      Bethany Collins: Accord

      Jule Collins Smith Museum of Fine Art January 23 - June 16, 2024
      Bethany Collins's solo exhibition Accord at the Jule Collins Smith Museum of Fine Art, Auburn University, AL. The Jule Collins Smith Museum of Fine Art's press release follows: Born and...
    • America: A Hymnal, Peabody Essex Museum
      Exhibitions

      America: A Hymnal

      Peabody Essex Museum July 1, 2023 - September 1, 2024
      Bethany Collins's solo exhibition America: A Hymnal at the Peabody Essex Museum, Salem, MA. The Peabody Essex Museum's press release follows: This exhibition explores America as a place where disparate...
    • Visual Record: The Materiality of Sound in Print, Print Center New York
      Exhibitions

      Visual Record: The Materiality of Sound in Print

      Print Center New York October 8, 2022 - January 23, 2023
      Bethany Collins and Jennie C. Jones included in the group exhibition Visual Record: The Materiality of Sound in Print curated by Elleree Erdos at the Print Center New York, NY....
    • Evensong, Frist Art Museum
      Exhibitions

      Evensong

      Frist Art Museum June 11 - September 12, 2021
      Bethany Collins's solo exhibition Evensong at Frist Art Museum, Nashville, TN. Frist Art Museum's press release follows: Chicago-based artist Bethany Collins (b. 1984) explores the intersection of language and race...
    • Chorus, Contemporary Art Museum St. Louis, MO
      Exhibitions

      Chorus

      Contemporary Art Museum St. Louis, MO October 6 - December 29, 2019
      Bethany Collins's solo exhibition Chorus at Contemporary Art Museum St. Louis, MO. Contemporary Art Museum St. Louis's press release follows: For multidisciplinary artist Bethany Collins, language is an obsessive preoccupation....
    • The Litany, Locust Projects
      Exhibitions

      The Litany

      Locust Projects November 17, 2018 - January 26, 2019
      Bethany Collins's solo exhibition The Litany at Locust Projects, Miami, FL. Locust Projects's press release follows: Locust Projects is proud to present The Litany , a new site-specific installation by...
    • Benediction, University of Kentucky Art Museum
      Exhibitions

      Benediction

      University of Kentucky Art Museum October 14 - December 8, 2019
      Bethany Collins's solo exhibition at University of Kentucky Art Museum, Lexington, KY. University of Kentucky Art Museum's press release follows: Chicago-based artist Bethany Collins manipulates language in symbolic and provocative...
    • A Pattern or Practice, University Galleries of Illinois State University
      Exhibitions

      A Pattern or Practice

      University Galleries of Illinois State University February 15 - March 31, 2019
      Bethany Collins's solo exhibition A Pattern or Pratice at University Galleries of Illinois State University, Normal, IL. Galleries of Illinois State University's press release follows: A Pattern or Practice, the...
  • Public Collections
    Bethany Collins
    The Battle Hymn of the Republic: A Hymnal, 2023
    Artist book with 100 laser-cut leaves
    Collection of the Yale University Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library

    Agnes Scott College, Decatur, GA
    Art Institute of Chicago, IL
    Baltimore Museum of Art, MD

    Bernard A. Zuckerman Museum of Art, Kennesaw State University, GA
    Birmingham Museum of Art, AL
    Block Museum of Art, Northwestern University, Evanston, IL
    Bryn Mawr College, PA
    Hammer Museum, University of California, Los Angeles
    High Museum of Art, Atlanta, GA
    Illinois State University Special Collections Department, Normal, IL
    Kalamazoo Institute of Contemporary Art, MO
    Memorial Art Gallery, University of Rochester, NY
    Montgomery Museum of Fine Arts, AL
    Morgan Library & Museum, New York, NY
    Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago, IL
    Peabody Essex Museum, Salem, MA
    Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts Museum, Philadelphia, PA
    Philadelphia Museum of Art, PA
    Rose Art Museum, Brandeis University, Waltham, MA
    Saint Louis Art Museum, MO
    Smart Museum of Art, University of Chicago, IL
    Speed Art Museum, Louisville, KY
    The Studio Museum in Harlem, New York, NY
    University of Chicago, IL
    University of Virginia Special Collections Library, Charlottesville, VA
    William H. Van Every, Jr. and Edward M. Smith Galleries, Davidson College, NC
    Yale University Library, New Haven, CT

  • Videos
    • Bethany Collins on "Accord"

      Bethany Collins on "Accord"

      Auburn Forum for Southern Art and Culture, Jule Museum February 3, 2024
      The Auburn Forum for Southern Art and Culture is the inaugural half-day symposium featuring exhibiting artists and researchers in a series of one-on-one conversations. Part...
      Watch
    • Bethany Collins

      Bethany Collins

      Bemis Center for Contemporary Arts August 10, 2023
      Bethany Collins is interested in the unnerving possibility of multiple meanings, dual perceptions and limitlessness in the seemingly binary as a way to address matters...
      Watch
    • Bethany Collins: 2019–2020 Public Humanities Practitioner-in-Residence

      Bethany Collins: 2019–2020 Public Humanities Practitioner-in-Residence

      Van Every/Smith Galleries at Davidson College November 14, 2019
      Through support of the Justice, Equality and Community Grant, Bethany Collins is the 2019-2020 Public Humanities Practitioner-in-Residence at Davidson College. While many institutions continue to...
      Watch
    • Artist Talk: Bethany Collins

      Artist Talk: Bethany Collins

      Art Institute of Chicago January 16, 2019
      Bethany Collins (American, born 1984) is a multidisciplinary artist whose conceptually driven work is fueled by a critical exploration of how race and language interact....
      Watch
  • News / Events
    • Artist Talk: Bethany Collins

      Artist Talk: Bethany Collins

      Opening Panel and Reception forExpanding the 50th: Shared Stories at Smart Museum of Art March 28, 2025, 4:30–7:00 PM
      Join the Smart Museum of Art for the opening reception and panel discussion of Expanding the 50th: Shared Stories, featuring commissioned artists Bethany Collins, Caroline Kent, and Mary Mattingly, moderated by curator Galina Mardilovich, on Friday, March 28. The conversation will be followed by a public reception with hors d’oeuvres and drinks.
      Read more
    • Bethany Collins

      Bethany Collins

      Expanding the 50th: Shared Stories at Smart Museum of Art March 25–July 13, 2025
      Bethany Collins is included in the group exhibition Expanding the 50th: Shared Stories at Smart Museum of Art, The University of Chicago, Illinois, on view from March 25–July 13, 2025.
      Read more
    • Bethany Collins and Jennie C. Jones

      Bethany Collins and Jennie C. Jones

      Alice Coltrane, Monument Eternal at Hammer Museum February 9–May 4, 2025
      Bethany Collins and Jennie C. Jones are included in the group exhibition Alice Coltrane, Monument Eternal at Hammer Museum, Los Angeles, on view from February 9–May 4, 2025.
      Read more
    • Bethany Collins: At Sea

      Bethany Collins: At Sea

      Seattle Art Museum November 14, 2024–May 4, 2025
      Bethany Collins's solo exhibition, At Sea at the Seattle Art Museum, Seattle, WA, will be on view from November 14, 2024–May 4, 2025. The Seattle...
      Read more
    • Bethany Collins Named Recipient of the 2024 Next Level Award

      Bethany Collins Named Recipient of the 2024 Next Level Award

      October 21, 2024
      Alexander Gray Associates congratulates Bethany Collins on receving the 2024 Next Level Award. The 3Arts's press release follows: The 3Arts Next Level Awards offer our...
      Read more
    • Bethany Collins

      Bethany Collins

      Prospect.6: the future is present, the harbinger is home at Newcomb Art Museum of Tulane September 13, 2024–March 2, 2025
      Bethany Collins is included in Prospect.6: the future is present, the harbinger is home, on view from September 13, 2024–March 2, 2025 at Newcomb Art Museum of Tulane, New Orleans.
      Read more
    • Bethany Collins: Accord

      Bethany Collins: Accord

      Jule Collins Smith Museum Of Fine Arts January 23–June 16, 2024

      Bethany Collins's solo presentation, Bethany Collins: Accord at the Jule Collins Smith Museum Of Fine Arts in Auburn, Alabama.

      Read more
    • Papercuts

      Papercuts

      Bethany Collins and Catherine Lord in conversation December 15, 2023

      Join us at Alexander Gray Associates, New York for a conversation between Bethany Collins and Catherine Lord on Friday, December 15 at 3:00 PM. The talk is organized on the occasion of Undercurrents, Collins’s first solo exhibition with the Gallery, and to celebrate the publication of The Effects of Tropical Light on White Men, Lord’s most recent book.

      Read more
    • Bethany Collins

      Bethany Collins

      In Conversation with Amanda Gluibizzi at The Brooklyn Rail November 28, 2023

      Bethany Collins joins Rail ArtSeen Editor Amanda Gluibizzi for a conversation, concluding with poetry reading by Riel Bellow.

      Read more
    • Bethany Collins

      Bethany Collins

      Smart to the Core: Poetry is Everything at Smart Museum of Art September 21, 2023–February 4, 2024

      Bethany Collins is included in a group exhibition, Smart to the Core: Poetry is Everything at the Smart Museum of Art, Chicago, Illinois. 

      Read more
    • Bethany Collins

      Bethany Collins

      Black Writing at Spencer Museum of Art, The University of Kansas August 19, 2023–January 7, 2024

      Bethany Collins is included in the group exhibition Black Writing at the Spencer Museum of Art, The University of Kansas, Lawrence, Kansas. 

      Read more
    • Bethany Collins, America: A Hymnal

      Bethany Collins, America: A Hymnal

      Peabody Essex Museum July 1, 2023–Ongoing

      Bethany Collins's one person exhibition Bethany Collins, America: A Hymnal at Peabody Essex Museum in Boston, MA. 

      Read more
    • Bethany Collins: Tempest

      Bethany Collins: Tempest

      Bryn Mawr College March 17–May 28, 2023

      Bethany Collins's one-person exhibition Bethany Collins: Tempest at Brynmawr College in Bryn Mawr, PA.

      Read more
    • Bethany Collins

      Bethany Collins

      Performance of America: A Hymnal at International Print Center New York January 19, 2023

       Bethany Collins will perform America: A Hymnal as part of the group exhibition Visual Record: The Materiality of Sound in Print presented by the International Print Center New York.

      Read more
    • Bethany Collins and Jennie C. Jones

      Bethany Collins and Jennie C. Jones

      Visual Record: The Materiality of Sound at International Print Center New York October 8, 2022–January 21, 2023

      Bethany Collins and Jennie C. Jones included in the group exhibition Visual Record: The Materiality of Sound in Print at the International Print Center New York.

      Read more
    • Bethany Collins and Jennie C. Jones

      Bethany Collins and Jennie C. Jones

      Monochrome Multitudes at Smart Museum of Art, The University of Chicago September 22, 2022–January 8, 2023

      Bathany Collins and Jennie C. Jones included in the group exhibition Monochrome Multitudes at the Smart Museum of Art at The University of Chicago in Chicago, IL.

      Read more
  • Articles / Reviews
    • Bethany Collins, "The Odyssey 1905 / 1863 / 1883 / 1904 / 1999," 2024, detail.

      Visual artist Bethany Collins on the power of saying no

      The Creative Independent
      April 24, 2025 I love the texts that you use in your work. I'm curious to hear how you developed that as part...
    • Alice Coltrane, Monument Eternal, installation view Photo by Sarah Golonka

      In a New Museum Show, Alice Coltrane Steps Into the Light

      W Magazine
      February 12, 2025 Serene and soft-spoken, the late Alice Coltrane carried a regal disposition—a sphingine, ethereal air that infused her music and foreshadowed...
    • Alice Coltrane, circa 1978. She died in 2007 but remains an influential force for many artists. via The John & Alice Coltrane Home

      Alice Coltrane: Artist’s Muse and Sonic Healer

      The New York Times
      February 7, 2025 Coltrane, a jazz virtuoso who devoted much of her life to a spiritual journey, is a beacon for today’s artists....
    • “These (Mournful) Shores” (2020), a structure by Jennie C. Jones that was installed at the Clark Art Institute in Williamstown, Mass., and is based on an aeolian harp.Credit...© 2024 Jennie C. Jones, courtesy of Alexander Gray Associates, New York. Photo: Thomas Clark

      The Black Female Artists Redefining Minimalism

      The New York Times Style Magazine
      May 10, 2024 A new generation of painters and sculptors is finding creative freedom by making rigorously pared-down work. JENNIE C. JONES was...
    • Installation view: Bethany Collins, "Undercurrents," Alexander Gray Associates, 2023.

      Breakthrough Artist Bethany Collins Mines the Poetic Potential of Paper

      Artnet News
      November 8, 2023 “Paper is fragile, and it’s temporary. It heals itself but it holds abrasions to its surface,” said Bethany Collins on...
    • Installation view: Alexander Gray Associates, Frieze New York, 2023

      At Frieze New York 2023, One-Person Shows That Shine

      The New York Times
      May 18, 2023 At its debut in 2012, Frieze New York, a spinoff of Frieze in London, came off as an imperious enterprise....
    • Bethany Collins presents "America: A Hymnal" at Locust Projects. Photo by Chris Edward

      Bethany Collins' "America: A Hymnal" Offers Refuge From Basel and American Madness

      Miami New Times
      December 5, 2022 Visual artist Bethany Collins knows she's about to be uncomfortable. That's got nothing to do with the themes of race,...
    • Podcast: A Conversation with Bethany Collins

      Cerebral Women
      June 22, 2022 Ep.112 features BETHANY COLLINS (b. 1984 Montgomery, AL). She lives and works in Chicago, IL. Collins is a multidisciplinary artist...
    • Bethany Collins, three works from “Dixie” series, 2022, installation view. Photo: Maximilíano Durón/ARTnews

      Four Gallery Shows to See in the Windy City During Expo Chicago

      ARTnews
      April 7, 2022 Bethany Collins at Patron For a pared down exhibition, titled “Cadence,” Bethany Collins thinks through the importance of language in...
    • Bethany Collins, who researched different versions of the US national anthem, pictured in her studio

      O say can you see, what 100 versions of the Star-Spangled Banner reveal about America

      The Art Newspaper
      June 8, 2021 An estimated 800 people waving Confederate flags and Trump banners stormed the US Capitol in Washington, DC, on 6 January....
    • Bethany Collins, “The Star Spangled Banner: A Hymnal” (2020). Credit: Bethany Collins and PATRON Gallery; Evan Jenkin

      How a Museum Show Honoring Breonna Taylor Is Trying to ‘Get It Right’

      The New York Times
      March 11, 2021 “Promise, Witness, Remembrance ” — an exhibition opening April 7 at the Speed Art Museum in Louisville, Ky., in honor...
    • Bethany Collins included lyrics in her 2018 work, ‘I am for you (You’re A Grand Old Flag).’ Photo: Bethany Collins/PATRON, Chicago

      Collector’s Eye: They Built a World-Class Collection of Black Artists’ Work. Who Are They Acquiring Now?

      The Wall Street Journal
      July 15, 2020 Works by Black artists have surged in popularity in recent years, as curators and collectors reappraise their place in the...
    • Bethany Collins, "America: A Hymnal" (exhibition copy) (2017) book with lasercut leaves. Peabody Essex Museum, Phillips Library, N7433.4.C639 A58 2017. Courtesy of PATRON Gallery. Photo by Tim Johnson.

      Artist Jacob Lawrence’s ‘Struggle Series’ Offers a Poignant Reminder of Past Challenges America Has Endured

      Artnet News
      March 20, 2020 While museums around the globe are closed to the public, we are spotlighting each day an inspiring exhibition that was...
    • “America: A Hymnal” by Bethany Collins features a book printed with the lyrics of 100 different versions of “My Country, ’Tis of Thee.”Credit...Bethany Collins; Photo: Tim Johnson, via PEM

      Lost, and Now Found, Art From the Civil Rights Era

      The New York Times
      March 10, 2020 During the civil rights movement in the mid-1950s, Jacob Lawrence (1917-2000) — one of the leading black artists of his...
    • Artist Jacob Lawrence sitting in front of some of his paintings. (Courtesy Robert W. Kelley/The LIFE Picture Collection via Getty Images)

      Jacob Lawrence's 'The American Struggle' Commits The Nameless To Canvas

      WBUR
      February 25, 2020 An exhibition of painter Jacob Lawrence is a searing indictment of methodical erasures in our history, and a call to...
    • Bethany Collins

      Artadia Names Five Finalists for 2019 Chicago Awards

      ARTnews
      June 19, 2019 The New York–based organization Artadia has revealed the five finalists for its annual Chicago awards, which give unrestricted funds to...
    • Installation views of Solidary & Solitary: The Joyner/Giuffrida Collection, at the Smart Museum of Art until May 19. (Michael Tropea Photography)

      Art by black artists forces a new look at art history in a must-see show at the Smart Museum

      Chicago Tribune
      April 22, 2019 Why do collectors collect? “Solidary & Solitary: The Joyner/Giuffrida Collection,” a knockout show at the Smart Museum of Art, offers...
    • Bethany Collins, "My destiny is in your hands" (detail), 2018. Blind embossed wallpaper. Photo: Zachary Balber. Courtesy of Bethany Collins and Locust Projects.

      Solidary & Solitary: The Joyner/Giuffrida Collection

      e-flux
      December 19, 2018 The Smart Museum of Art at the University of Chicago has commissioned Bethany Collins , Samuel Levi Jones , and...
    • Bethany Collins, "The Odyssey: 2000/1980/2001" (detail), 2018, triptych, graphite and toner on paper, each sheet 44 × 90″. Photo: Aron Gent.

      Bethany Collins

      Artforum
      December 10, 2018 “I’ve been told that my mother’s name was Millie.” So wrote Lula Montgomery in an 1898 newspaper ad filled with...
    • Bethany Collins. Courtesy of the artist.

      6 Emerging Artists to Seek Out During Art Basel Miami Beach This Week

      Artnet News
      December 4, 2018 Sure, most of the popular coverage of Art Basel in Miami Beach centers on C-list celebrities attending over-the-top parties and...
    • Bethany Collins, Undersong. Courtesy of the artist and PATRON Chicago, IL. Photo Credit: Aron Gent

      Bethany Joy Collins: Undersong // Patron Gallery

      The Seen
      November 29, 2018 “Language is the foundation of civilization. It is the glue that holds a people together. It is the first weapon...
    • "Someone (told) me some of my erasure looks 'aggressive,' but it doesn't feel that way to me," says artist Bethany Collins.

      The art that’s found when other art gets erased, from Marvel to ‘The Odyssey’

      The Chicago Tribune
      October 2, 2018 Bethany Collins stood in the middle of the gallery, gesturing at three long off-white drawings. Each had been smeared from...

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