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WILLIE LITTLE



http://www.willielittle.com

Education: Bachelor of Arts from the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill

Awards: Pop-up Residency, McColl Center for Art & Innovation, 2016
Haven Foundation Grant, 2012
Gottlieb Foundation Emergency Grant, 2012
Pollock Krasner Foundation Grant 2010, 2006
Special Grant, Arts & Science Council, 2003
Headlands Center for the Arts Residency, Sausalito, California 2002
Creative Fellowship, NC Arts & Science Council 2000
Caversham Press Printmaking Residency, Kwa Zulu Natal, South Africa 2000
Chivas Regal Artist-In- Residence and Commission 2000
Cultural Heritage Artist of the Year, 1999
Artist Residency at Tryon Center for Visual Art, 1999
Artist Project Grant from the NC Arts Council, 1996
Emerging Artists Grant from the NC Arts & Science Council, 1994


Solo Exhibitions:

2016 10th Annual Black History Exhibition, Arts Center of Greenwood, Greenwood, SC

2015 Rice/Polak Gallery, Provincetown, MA

2014 In the Hood, The New Gallery of Modern Art, Charlotte, NC

2011 Rice/ Polak Gallery, Provincetown, MA

2011 Totems to a Past:
Pounder Kone’ Artspace, Los Angeles, CA

2010 Juke Joint Installation:
Diggs Gallery, Winston Salem State University

2009 Juke Joint Installation:
YMI Cultural Center, Asheville, NC

2009 In Mixed Company:
California African American Museum, Los Angeles, CA

2009 Rice/Polak Gallery, Provincetown, MA

2008 In Mixed Company:
Levine Museum of the New South, Charlotte, NC

2008 Joie Lassiter Gallery
Charlotte, North Carolina

2007 Rice/ Polak Gallery, Provincetown, MA

2005 Rice/Polack Gallery, Provincetown, MA

2003/04 Juke Joint, Traveling Installation:
Smithsonian Institution, Arts & Industries Gallery, Washington DC
American Jazz Museum, Kansas City, Missouri

Rice Polak Gallery, Provincetown, MA

2002 Juke Joint, Traveling Installation:
African- American Museum in Philadelphia
Center for Documentary Studies, Duke University, Durham, NC

Black As… looking beyond the stereotype, Noel Gallery Charlotte, NC

2000 A Door to American Culture, Installation (Chivas Regal Residency Commission) Afro American Cultural Center, Charlotte, NC

Through the Window Into My Grandmother’s Garden,
Noel Gallery, Charlotte, NC
Kinfolks, Installation:
Tobacco Farm Life Museum, Kenly, NC

Juke Joint Traveling Installation:
Dallas African- American Museum Dallas, Texas
Kansas African- American Museum Wichita, Kansas

1999 Juke Joint, Traveling Installation:
Afro-American Cultural Center, Charlotte, NC
Charles H Wright Museum of African- American History, Detroit, MI

1998 Kinfolks, Noel Gallery, Charlotte, NC


1997 Juke Joint Traveling Installation:
Harriet Tubman African American Museum, Macon, GA
Greenhill Center for the Arts, Greensboro, NC
McKissick Museum, Columbia, SC
Penn Center for the Arts. St Helena Island, SC

Amazing Grace: The Black Church Installation, Museum of the New South Charlotte, NC

1996 Juke Joint Traveling Installation:
Afro American Cultural Center, Charlotte, NC
The College of Charleston, Charleston, SC
Afro- American Cultural Center, Charlotte, NC

1995 One Hundred Percent Natural,
Heritage House, Charlotte, NC

1994 Slaves To Fashion, Supra Natural Style 1994, Atlanta GA

1993 Slaves to Fashion, Pfeiffer College, Charlotte, NC
Newberry College, Newberry SC

1992 Slaves to Fashion, Spirit Square Center for the Arts, Charlotte NC

1990 Girls In Basic Black, YMI Cultural Center Asheville, NC

1998 Girls In Basic Black, The Gallery Charlotte NC 1988


Featured Artist:

2004 Andrea Schwartz Gallery, San Francisco, CA

Modernbook Gallery, Palo Alto, CA

Julie Baker Fine Art, Grass Valley, CA

2003 Lew Allen Contemporary Gallery, Santa Fe NM

Noel Gallery, Charlotte, NC
Julie Baker Fine Art, Grass Valley, CA
1999 Noel Gallery, Charlotte, NC
1993 Cleveland Community College, Shelby NC

Group Exhibits:

2016 NX/2 Quadratfuss Exhibition, Berlin Germany

2016 Rice/Polak Gallery, Provincetown, MA

2015 Art + Dialogue, Greensboro College, Greensboro, NC

2014 Rice/Polak Gallery, Provincetown, MA

2014 Evolve, the Gallery, Sacramento, CA

2013 New Gallery of Modern Art, Charlotte, NC

2012 Rice/Polak Gallery, Provincetown, MA

2011 Temporary Contemporary Gallery, Sacramento ,CA

Sculpture Today: New Forces, New Forms, Frederick

Meijer Gardens, Grand Rapids, Michigan

2010 Some Assembly Required, Craft and Folk Art Museum,
Los Angeles, CA

2010 Rice Polak Gallery, Provincetown, Ma

2010 Past Forward, African American Culture Complex, San Francisco, CA

2010 Infix: The Grammar of Insertion, SFMoma Artist’s Gallery, San Francisco, CA

2009 Here & Now, New South, A Joie Lassiter Gallery, Charlotte, NC

2009 Decade…10 Artists for the Center’s First 10 Years, McColl Center for Visual Art, Charlotte, NC

2009 Some Assembly Required, Sesnon Art Gallery, UC Santa Cruz, Santa Cruz, CA

2008 Scene in America: A Contemporary Look at the Black Male Image, Mint Museum of Art, Charlotte, NC

2007 Julie Baker Gallery, Nevada City, CA

2006 Rice/Polak Gallery, Provincetown, Ma
Julie Baker Gallery, Nevada City, CA

2005 International Assemblage Exhibition, Gallery 24, Berlin, Germany

Abstraction: The Poetic Visual Image, Bolinas Museum, Bolinas, CA

Julie Baker Gallery, Grass Valley, CA

2004 International Assemblage Exhibition, Gallery 24, Berlin, Germany

Common Ground: Discovering Community in 150 Years of Art, Corcoran Museum, Washington, DC

Ascension: A Legacy of African American Artists in North Carolina,
Diggs Gallery, Winston Salem State University
Rice Polk Gallery, Provincetown, Ma
War, Peace and Civil Liberties, Berkeley Art Center
Julie Baker, Fine Art, Grass Valley, CA

2003 Old South/New South, Levine Museum of the New South, Charlotte, NC

Gender, Tools and Technology, University of the Pacific, Stockton, CA

Abstracts 2003, Rice/Polak Gallery, Provincetown, MA


2002 The Hourglass Project: Baggage, Caversham Press Prints, South Africa,Alliance Francaise/French Cultural Centre, Gabarone, Botswana
Frans Masereel Centre, Kasteriee, Belgium
Alliance Francaise/French Cultural Centre:
Pretoria, South Africa
Maputo, Mozambique
Capetown, South Africa
Durban, South Africa
Port Elizabeth, South Africa
Johannesburg, South Africa
Roswell Arts Center, Roswell, GA

2001 Black Face/White Face, Lew Allen Contemporary Gallery, Santa Fe New Mexico

Myth, Memory and Imagination:
Hampton University, Hampton, VA
McKissick Museum, Columbia, SC
North Dakota Museum of Art
Arkansas Art Center, Arkansas
Memphis Brooks Museum, Memphis Tennessee
Columbus Museum of Art, Columbus GA

Baggage, Prints from Caversham Press, South Africa,
Tryon Center for Visual Arts, Charlotte NC
The Hourglass Project: Baggage, City Gallery Chastain. Atlanta, GA
Home Grown, Celebrating Arts in North Carolina, Southeastern Center for Contemporary Art, Winston Salem, NC

Like A Prayer: A Jewish and Christian Presence in Contemporary Art, Tryon Center for Visual Art

2000 Rice/Polak Gallery, Provincetown, MA
People, Places, Things, Lew Allen Contemporary Gallery, Santa Fe, NM

Common Threads, Lew Allen Contemporary Gallery, Santa Fe NM
The Artists of Charlotte, Fayetteville Museum of Art, Fayetteville, NC

1999 Myth, Memory and Imagination, Mckissick Museum. Columbia, SC

Residents 1999/2000 Artists @Tryon Center for Visual Art, Spirit Square Charlotte, NC

Annual Photography Show, Rice/Polak Gallery, Provincetown, Ma
Crossing Cultures, Lew Allen Contemporary Gallery, Santa Fe, NM

1994 Recent African- American Art In North Carolina, Recent African- American Art In Traveling Juried Exhibit, Afro-American Cultural Center, Hayti Cultural Center Durham, NC

1990 Freedom of Expression, Spirit Square Center for the Arts, Charlotte, NC

1989 N. C. Printmakers Show, Art & Antiques Amusements Gallery, Charlotte, NC



Lectures/Workshops:
Santa Clara University, Santa Clara, CA
Craft and Folk Art Museum forum with Betye Saar, Los Angeles, CA
Sesnon Gallery, Porter College, UC Santa Cruz, CA
Levine Museum of the New South, Charlotte, NC
CCAC , Oakland California
Headlands Center for the Arts, Sausalito, CA
University of Natal, Pietermaritzburg, South Africa
University of Capetown, Capetown, South Africa
Bittney Springs High School, Nevada City, CA
University of the Pacific, Stockton, CA
Center for Documentary Studies, Duke University
Mint Museum of Art, Charlotte, NC
Piedmont Middle School, Charlotte, NC
Northwest School of the Arts, Charlotte, NC
Afro American Cultural Center, Charlotte, NC
Tryon Center for Visual Art, Charlotte, NC
Cabarras Art Guild, Concord, NC

TV Appearances:
WLOS 13, ABC Affiliate Asheville, NC
Out of the Ashes, WTVI Public Television Documentary
North Carolina Now, WUNC Public Television
Assignment Carolinas, WJZY 46
South Carolina Public Television
WBTV 3 News, story on Hugh McColl
WBTV 3 News, Black History Month Showcase


Radio Appearances:
WUNC, NPR 2002
Radio Disney 2002
KERA, NPR Dallas, Texas 2000
Mike Collins, WFAE, NPR 1998, 2000, 2008
WSOC Morning Show, 1999
Todd Munce Show, NPR, Detroit MI. 1998

Collections:
The New Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture. Opening 2016
Mint Museum of Art, Charlotte, NC
Ambassador of Madagascar
Jeff Warner Designs, San Francisco, CA, Hawaii
Peter Luder, Howard Kanini, London, England
Traveling Collection of Judy Norell, Myth, Memory and Imagination (Washington, DC)
Bank of America Corporate Offices, Charlotte, NC
Jon D. Lowly    SF, CA
Betsy Schmidt  Sacramento, CA
Allison Knapp  SF, CA
Emily Leff   Granite Bay, CA 
Aynesh Johnson  NY, NY
Patty and Jeff Baird- Cedar House Sport Hotel, Truckee, CA
Sara Harris   L.A., CA
Lisa Eisenpresser L.A., CA  
Tanya Jordan-Taylor, Buchanan and Jordan Inc-Reno, CA
Shaye Whittlesey  Nevada City, CA
Wendy Whitson Asheville, NC 
Paul Geenty Nevada City
Danny Simmons, NYC
Robert Gray, Palm Springs, CA
Rick Wulff, Berkeley, CA
Dr. Nicholas Daniels and Dr. John Eckels, San Francisco, CA
First Charter Bank Headquarters, Charlotte, NC
Tobacco Farm Life Museum, Kenly NC
Afro- American Cultural Center, Charlotte, NC
Davis Steel, Matthews, NC
Museum of the New South, Charlotte, NC
Mary Tribble, Charlotte, NC
Jodie and Frank Turner, Charlotte, NC
McColl Center for Visual Art
Headlands Center for the Arts

Bibliography: Larimore, Phillip On Willie Little: Proof of Promises Kept, Charlotte Viewpoint Metropolitan Ideas & Art, July, 2016

Schreiber, Barbara, Willie Little Takes on Tea Party, Klan in Exhibition, Charlotte News and Observer, September, 2014

Titcombe, Tara, Best of Winston Salem, US Airways Magazine, September, 2010

Kopp, Bill, Willie Little’s Juke Joint: A Slice of the 50s, Laurel of Asheville, February, 2010

Kopp, Bill, Juke Joint: Hookers, Batwings, Pigs’ Feet and Hair Tonic, Mountain Express, Asheville, 12/16/2009

Motsinger, Carol, Juke Joint Revisted: Interactive YMI Exhibit re-creates lost culture, Citizen Times, Asheville, 12/13/2009

Barden, Louise, The Darker Side of ‘Mixed Company’, South Park Magazine, 5/2008

Vance, Donna, Exhibit adds to our grasp of divisions, Charlotte Observer,1/18/2008

Singleton, Erica, Breaking Mythic assumptions, The Charlotte Post,1/24/2008

Richard, Paul, Smithsonian’s ‘Juke Joint’ Last Call for a Vanished South Washington Post, 9/29/2003

‘Juke Joint’ Exhibit Opens In American Jazz Museum, Kansas City Call, 2003

Lewis, Samella, PhD, African American Artists, 4th Edition, 2003

Dickson, Laurie, Ode To Southern Roots, Artists’ Interiors… Creative Spaces, Inspired Living, 2003

Lewis, Scott, ‘Out of the Box’ Artist Willie Little Gets Playful with Race, Creative Loafing, Charlotte, NC, 6/5/02

Maschal, Richard, Dolls Foster Study of Racial Stereotypes, Charlotte Observer, 6/3/02

Greenburg, Blue, Down Memory Lane in the South, The Herald Sun, Durham, NC, 09/02

Raleigh News & Observer, 10/02

Arts & Science Council Newsletter, 2002

Home Grown…Celebrating Arts of North Carolina, SECCA Catalogue, 2001

Lee, Heath-Hartage, Treasure Hunt, Charlotte Place, November 2001

Parker, Alan-Michael, South African Artists Depict ‘Truths’, Charlotte Observer, 08/01

Paterson, Tom, A Little Homework, Winston-Salem Journal, 06/03/01

Getting A Handle on ‘Baggage’, Atlanta Journal-Constitution, 8/17/01

Maschal, Richard,’ Prayer’: Focus on Faith Through the Artist’s Lens, Charlotte Observer, 05/11/01

Like A Prayer: A Jewish and Christian Presence in Contemporary Art, Catalogue, 2000

The Hourglass Project: Baggage, Catalogue, 2000

Muller-Price, Debra, A Sanctuary for the Arts, Southern Accents, March-April, 2000

Swisher, Amy, Little’s Big Gift, Creative Loafing, 09/02/00

Brown, Derrick, ‘Door’ Opens for Charlotte Artist in Residence, Charlotte Post, Summer, 2000

Willie Little’s tell-a-tale art, Independent Tribune, 03/31/00

Downtown Magazine, Summer 2000, Winter 2001

Grant, Kandice, Willie Little, A Revivalist of the Rural South Uses Art to Spin Living Tales of Times Past, Cultural Calendar, 04/05/00

Higgins, Katherine, Little Draws from his Experiences as a Country Boy, The Smithfield Herald, 04/13/00

Simpson, Thea, Little’s Art Tells Family Story, Life on Eastern NC Tobacco Farm, The Wilson Daily News, 04/18/00

Fox, Catherine, Where Creativity Can Flourish, Atlanta Journal- Constitution, 01/09/00

Fox, Catherine, Charlotte’s New Devotion to the Arts, Atlanta Journal-Constitution, 01/09/00

Dunn, Debra, Artist Fellowship Awarded, Charlotte Observer, 06/23/00

Norman, Bud, Art Display Celebrates Good Friends in Low Places, Wichita Eagle, 08/00

Kansas African American Museum Inc., and Kansas Art Commission & K.T Weidemann Foundation Present Juke Joint, Catalogue, 2000

Create Something, Charlotte Magazine, 01/01

Brown, Linda-Louise, Americans, Creative Loafing, 02/27/99

Myth, Memory and Imagination: Universal Themes in the Life and Culture of the South, Catalogue, The collection of Judy Norell, 1999

Miller, Hanna, Jukin’ Charlotte Magazine, May 1999

Lewis, Scott, Southern Exposure, Northern Light, Creative Loafing, 10/9/99

Residents: 1999/2000, Catalogue, Tryon Center for Visual Art, 1999

Juke Joint: A Community Story, Cover Story, North Carolina Arts Council Newsletter, Spring/Summer 1999

Arts & Science Council Newsletter, Autumn 1999

Haight,Kathy, Artsy Inaugural, Charlotte Observer, 07/11/99

Meadows, Bob, Exhibit Portrays Life on a Tobacco Farm, Charlotte Observer, 08/30/98

Brown, Linda-Louise, Praise Singer, Creative Loafing, 08/98

Juke Joints Jive at Museum, Michigan Press, 07/23/98

Colby, Joy-Hakanson, Multimedia ‘Juke Joint’ Pulls Visitors into the Southern Memories, The Detroit News, 07/3/98

Cohen, Keri- Guten, Sculptures Bring Juke Joint to Life, Detroit News& Free Press, 08/16/98

Pearson, Craig, Cultural Celebration, The Windsor Star, 08/14/98

Museum Seeks ‘Paradise’ Memories, The Monitor, 07/16/98 (Michigan)

This Joint is Jumpin’ (all Detroit, Michigan area, 07/26/98)
Framingham Observer
Garden City Observer
Westland Observer
Rochester Eccentric
Troy Eccentric
Southfield Eccentric
West Bloomfield Eccentric
Plymouth Observer
Birmingham Eccentric
Canton Observer
Livonia Observer

Colby, Joy- Hakanson, Artist Crafts a Slice of African American Life, Detroit Press, 1998

Moran, K- Michelle, Rural Aesthetic, Troy Times (Detroit) 08/5/98

Harley, Cathy, At Penn Center…The ‘Joint Jumping’, The Packet, Beaufort, SC, 1997

Toppman, Lawrence, Installation Evokes Civil Rights –Era Church, Charlotte Observer, 1997

Day, Jeffery, Gallery Exhibit Reserves Viewers’ Place at Juke Joint, The State Newspaper, SC, 03/09/97

Joy, Pain Meet in ‘Juke Joint’, Greensboro News& Record, 05/08/97

Marley, Dan, Hometown Hangout, The Macon Telegraph, 06/20/97

MacNeil, William, Crossing Cultures Provide Impetus for Art Show, Pasatiempo, Santa Fe, NM, 04/97

Santa Fe Magazine, 1997

Seawright, Sandy, Two Way Street, Creative Loafing, 08/15/97

Young, Jeri, ‘Amazing Grace’ Exhibit at New South, Charlotte Post, 10/31/96

Drake, Nicholas, Little Creates a ‘Juke Joint’ From his Memory, The Post & Courier, Charleston, SC, 06/20/96

Walker, Sherry, Pride Goes to ‘Juke Joint’, Pride Magazine, August, 1996

Walker, Sherry, Willie Little’s Juke Joint, C Magazine, Volume 2, Number 3, Cover Story, Spring, 1996

Meadows, Bob, Artist Brings his Childhood to Life, Charlotte Observer, 04/07/96

Mint Museum of Art, Catalogue, 1994-95

Other Experience National Advisory Board, McColl Center for Visual Art, Charlotte, NC, Emeritis

National Advisory Board, McColl Center for Visual Art, Charlotte, NC, 2011-2015

Board of Directors, Tryon Center for Visual Art. Charlotte NC 2001-2002, Advocate for fellow artists, Strategic and Diversity committees

Willie Little

Artist & Storyteller

According to essayist, Bill Gaskins at Parsons the New School for Design, Willie Little is "the viewer, listener and participant of his environments, paintings and assemblages. The work is presented in a wide range of experiences, observations, and sights from this skilled, spirit driven artist, storyteller, editorialist and native son of the American South." The work celebrates the "unsung".

Biography

Multimedia, installation artist and storyteller, Willie Little, born in rural North Carolina currently resides in Northern California. Many of his works are rooted in the Southern traditions of North Carolina. Through his visual narratives, he documents a fading part of a rural lifestyle. He has had solo exhibitions at the Smithsonian Institution in Washington DC, The Center for
Documentary Studies at Duke University and the Pounder Kone' Artspace in Los Angeles. Notable group exhibitions have been at the Corcoran in Washington DC, the California Folk Art Museum in Los Angeles and the SF MOMA Artists Gallery

Willie received his B.A. from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. He went on to receive three grants:

1) The North Carolina Arts & Science Council Emerging Artist grant in 1994
2) The North Carolina Arts Council Artist Project Grant in 1996
3) A special grant from the Arts & Science Council in Charlotte, North Carolina. All three grants completed the large-scale installation Juke Joint

Juke Joint, an interactive traveling multimedia installation depicting his father’s grocery store by day that morphed into an illegal liquor house at night in the late 60s/, early 70s. The three quarter scale architectural depiction of a childhood memory includes a visual and auditory sensory experience. The installation includes surreal life size mannequins, period artifacts, theatre walls, foodstuffs like pickled eggs and pickled pig’s feet. The ambient sounds engulf the 320 square foot shot gun shack with a blues-filled audio track created and performed by the artist. The audio layer breathes life into a warm, humorous, sometimes seedy, yet real depiction of a slice of rural life. Juke Joint traveled to over a dozen museums since 1996 and culminated at the Smithsonian Institute in 2003 where the date was extended and audiences swelled to over 305,000.

The Smithsonian exhibition was well-received, reviewed by the Washington Post on September 29 and discussed in African American Art and Artists, a revised edition, by Samella Lewis, PhD, both in 2003. In 2010, the work was juried into the Smithsonian’s permanent collection of the new National Museum of African American History and Culture, opening in 2017.

Since 1999, Little has been honored with the following awards and residencies:

1) The Cultural Heritage Artist of the Year Award (1999)

2) The Arts & Science Council Creative Fellowship Award (2000)

3) A month-long printmaking residency at Caversham Press in Kwa Zulu Natal, South Africa. Little created social/political limited edition prints under the theme “Baggage”. His prints take a look a America’s (Baggage) sense of self-righteousness at the close of the 20th Century, which is no doubt founded in the 19th Century America’s faith in “Manifest Destiny”: God Given Birthright, (2000)

4) The Chivas Regal Perspectives in African American Art residency and commission. He produced new work that was donated to the Afro- American Cultural Center in Charlotte. The work’s title “A Door to American Culture” is an examination of the black woman as one of the paths to understanding
American Culture. The installation metaphorically embraces some of the roles and realities the black woman has played in nurturing the American experience. (2000)

5) The Headlands Center for the Arts Residency in Sausalito, California (2003)

6) The International Assemblage Juried Exhibition, Berlin Germany (2004). The exhibit included over 250 assemblage pieces from 65 artists from 37 countries. Little’s work won a third place prize in the juried show.

7) The Pollock Krasner Foundation Grant (2006, 2010)

8) Gottlieb Foundation Emergency Grant (2012)

9) The Haven Foundation Grant (2012)

10) Pop-up Residency McColl Center for Art & Innovation (2016)

Little’s work is a cultural testament to Southern rural traditions, family dynamics and it identifies with universal experiences that cross racial and socio-economic lines.

Nodder Doll- Living Doll preview (Nodder Doll)
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Nodder Doll- Living Doll
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                      NRA Official Target        ...

Willie Little 2016 Multimedia Paintings Rice Polak Gallery
                                            Jade Falls                                Multimedia oil, wax medium and rust medium on canvas 2016                                                                      30 x 40 x 1.5                               ...

Willie Little 2016 Oxidation Paintings
  Marine Mist 48 x 48 x 2 Oxidation Painting on Panel 2016       Marine Mist Detail A     Marine Mist Detail B     Marine Layer 12 x 72 x 2 Oxidation Painting on Panel 2016     Marine Layer Detail A     Marine Layer Detail B          

Blood Multimedia Paintings at Rice Polak Gallery
Blood Orange 40 x 48 x 3, 2013 retail upon request at Gallery Detail image above Dual Panel Abstrac t A, 12 x 16 x 3, 2013 Dual Panel Abstract B, 12 x 16 x 3, 2013 Red Hot , 24 x 48 x 3, 2015 Detail image above Blood Multimedia oil and wax medium paintings ...

New Oil Paintings
Blue Rain                                            Oil and wax medium on panel with black wood frame                                                                  30 x 40 x 2.4                                                                         Det...