BEVERLY MCIVER (b. 1962)

A notable presence in American contemporary art, Beverly McIver has charted new directions as a Black female artist. With breathtaking honesty and virtuoso painting, her works tackle difficult themes about the human condition such as depression, racism, poverty, disability, and death. A recent article in Forbes compared her works both to “Frida Kahlo’s heart wrenching self-portraits,” and the “publicly exposed raw autobiography with the likes of Sylvia Plath poetry.” She has received numerous awards and honors and has been the subject of eleven museum exhibitions.

Born and raised in Greensboro, North Carolina, McIver grew up in a single-parent household. Her mother worked tirelessly to make ends meet to support McIver and two sisters, one of which, Renee, has developmental disabilities. Despite these challenges, McIver pursued her artistic inquiry through her education, earning a Bachelor of Arts degree in Painting and Drawing from North Carolina Central University and a Master of Fine Arts degree in Painting and Drawing from Pennsylvania State University. Her artistic journey serves as a testament to her perseverance and the complexities that shape her identity such as stereotyping, self-acceptance, family, otherness, illness, death and, ultimately, freedom to express one’s individuality.

In 2022, the Scottsdale Museum of Contemporary Art, Arizona, showcased a survey exhibition of McIver's work titled Full Circle, curated by Kim Boganey, which subsequently traveled to the Southeastern Center for Contemporary Art in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, and the Gibbes Museum in Charleston, South Carolina. The exhibit was accompanied by a 132-page hardcover catalogue published by the University of California Press with essays by Michele Wallace, leading black feminist scholar and daughter of Beverly’s graduate school mentor, Faith Ringgold, and distinguished scholar of American art history at Duke University, Richard J. Powell.

McIver holds the position of Professor of the Practice in Studio Arts at Duke University, a role she assumed after 12 years of teaching at Arizona State University. Her recent honors include a yearlong residency at the American Academy in Rome, where she was featured in a documentary titled Beverly McIver e il colore nero for Italian television. In 2017, she was honored with the lifetime achievement award from the Anyone Can Fly Foundation in a ceremony hosted by Faith Ringgold. Additionally, she was named one of the "Top Ten in Painting" by Art in America in 2011.

McIver is the subject in HBO’s Raising Renee—a feature-length documentary film by Academy Award-nominated and award-winning filmmakers Steven Ascher and Jeanne Jordan—tells the story of McIver’s promise to care for Renee when their mother dies. The film played in festivals around the country, was nominated for an Emmy® for Outstanding Arts and Culture Programming and is now available on Amazon Prime.

McIver’s work can be found in numerous esteemed collections including the High Museum of Art, Atlanta, Georgia, the National Portrait Gallery at the Smithsonian, Washington, D.C., the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, Philadelphia, the North Carolina Museum of Art, Raleigh, the Weatherspoon Art Museum, Greensboro, North Carolina, the Baltimore Museum of Art, Maryland, and the Mint Museum, Charlotte, North Carolina, among others.

CV

Born, 1962, Greensboro, North Carolina
2007 Honorary Doctorate, North Carolina Central University Durham, North Carolina
1992 MFA, Painting and Drawing, Pennsylvania State University Park, Pennsylvania
1987 BA, Painting and Drawing, North Carolina Central University Durham, North Carolina

SOLO EXHIBITIONS
Berry Campbell, New York, 2024.
Turner Carroll Gallery, Santa Fe, New Mexico, An Introspective Retrospective, 2023.
CONTAINER, Santa Fe, New Mexico, Dear God, and Loving in Black and White, 2023.
Craven Allen Gallery, Durham, North Carolina, Passage, 2022.
Scottsdale Museum of Contemporary Art, Arizona, Full Circle, 2022. (Traveled to Southeastern Center for Contemporary Art, Winston-Salem, North Carolina; Gibbes Museum of Art, Charleston, South Carolina)
Craven Allen Gallery, Durham, North Carolina, The Light Within, 2021.
Grimaldis Gallery, Baltimore, Maryland, Beverly McIver, 2021.
Betty Cuningham Gallery, New York, Beverly McIver: New Work, 2020.
Southeastern Center for Contemporary Art, Winston-Salem, North Carolina, 12 x 12: Beverly McIver, 2017.
Village Smith Gallery, Winston-Salem, North Carolina, Beverly McIver, 2017.
Betty Cuningham Gallery, New York, Objects of Affection, 2016.
Craven Allen Art Gallery, Durham, North Carolina, The Ties That Bind, 2016.
Betty Cuningham Gallery, New York, Solo Exhibition by Beverly McIver, 2013.
Craven Allen Art Gallery, Durham, North Carolina, New York Stories by Beverly McIver, 2013.
North Carolina Museum of Art, Raleigh, North Carolina, Reflections, Paintings by Beverly McIver, 2012. (Traveled to Mint Museum, Charlotte, North Carolina)
Craven Allen Art Gallery, Durham, North Carolina, Small Works by Beverly McIver, 2012.
Betty Cuningham Gallery, Durham, North Carolina, Beverly McIver, 2011.
Craven Allen Art Gallery, Durham, North Carolina, Raising Renee, 2011.
Boulder Museum of Contemporary Art, Boulder, Colorado, Beverly McIver's Paintings, 2010.
Walter E. Terhume Gallery, Owens Community College, Toledo, Ohio, Coming Home: Beverly McIver, 2009.
Greenhill Art Center, Greensboro, North Carolina, Facing South, Portraits by Beverly McIver, 2008.
Grimaldis Gallery, Baltimore, Maryland, New Paintings by Beverly McIver, 2007.
NCCU Art Museum, Durham, North Carolina, Raising Renee and Other Themes, 2006.
Tyndall Galleries, Chapel Hill, North Carolina, Paintings by Beverly McIver, 2006.
Kent Gallery, New York, Invisible Me, 2006.
Addison Art Gallery, Andover, Massachusetts, Raising Renee, 2005.
G-2 Gallery, Scottsdale, Arizona, Raising Renee, 2005.
Pacini Lubel Gallery, Seattle, Washington, New Paintings, 2005.
Tyndall Galleries, Chapel Hill, North Carolina, Beverly McIver, 2005.
LewAllen Contemporary Art Gallery, Santa Fe, New Mexico, Raising Renee, 2005.
40 Acres Art Gallery, Sacramento, California, The Many Faces of Beverly McIver, 2005.
Weatherspoon Museum of Art, Greensboro, New Works, North Carolina, 2004.
Kent Gallery, New York, New Paintings, 2003.
Radcliffe Institute of Advanced Studies, Cambridge, Massachusetts, Inventing Ourselves, 2003.
Grimaldis Gallery, Baltimore, Maryland, Mammy How I Love You, 2003.
Marshall Arts Gallery, Scottsdale, Arizona, Ten Years of Painting, 2003.
Shemer Art Center, Phoenix, Arizona, Faces in Phoenix, 2001.
LewAllen Contemporary, Santa Fe, New Mexico, Stand Still, 2001.
Green Hill Center for the Arts, Greensboro, North Carolina, Loving in Black and White, 2000.
Joseph Gross Gallery, Tucson, Arizona, Life is Good, 2000.
Chandler Center for the Arts, Chandler, Arizona, Dance with Me, 1999.
Scottsdale Museum of Contemporary Art, Arizona, All of Me, 1998.

GROUP EXHIBITIONS
Berry Campbell, New York, Perseverance, 2024.
Nasher Museum of Art, Duke University, Durham, North Carolina, Love & Anarchy, 2023-2024.
Pima Community College, Tuscon, Arizona, Portraits, 2024.
New York Academy of Art, New York, Parallels and Peripheries, 2021.
Bernice Steinbaum Gallery, Miami, Florida, We Art Almost Free, 2021.
Mint Museum, Charlotte, North Carolina, Silent Streets, 2021.
Coral Gables, Art Museum, Miami, Florida, Alien Nation, 2020.
Cameron Art Museum, Wilmington, North Carolina, She Persists, 2020.
David Klein Gallery, Detroit Gallery, Michigan, La Familiar, 2020.
Fondazione Biagiotti Progetto Arte, Florence, Italy, Black Value, 2018.
American Academy in Rome, Rome, Italy, Cinque Mostre 2018: The Tesseract, 2018.
Southeastern Center for Contemporary Art, Winston-Salem, North Carolina, 12x12 Collective, 2018.
American Academy of Arts and Letters, New York, Invitational Exhibition of Visual Arts, 2017. [NY. Purchase Award]
David C. Driskell Center for the Study of the Visual Arts and Culture of African Americans and the African Diaspora, University of Maryland, College Park, Shifting: African American Women and the Power of Their Gaze, 2017.
Kent Fine Art, New York, A Human Condition, 2017.
Grimaldis Gallery, Baltimore, Maryland, Summer ’17, 2017.
21c Museum Hotel, Durham, North Carolina, Dress Up, Speak Up, 2016.
Columbia Museum of Art, Columbia, South Carolina, Remix: Themes and Variations in African American Art, 2016.
Bravin Lee Gallery, New York, Introspective, 2016.
Cary Arts Center, Cary, NC. 2015-16, Face Facts or Head Space, New York Studio School, New York, Clothesline Musings: Art Inspired by the Clothesline, 2016.
Women Choose Women, Selected by Faith Ringgold, New Jersey, 2014.
National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian, Washington D.C., Juried Annual Portrait Competition, 2013.
Philadelphia Academy of Art, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, The Female Gaze, 2012.
Nasher Museum of Art, Durham, North Carolina, A Selection of Women Artists from the Nasher Museums Collection, 2011.
American Academy of Arts and Letters, New York, Invitational Group Exhibit, 2009. [Purchase Award]
Cynthia Broan Gallery, New York, The “F” Word, 2007.
Grimaldis Gallery, Baltimore, Maryland, Summer Exhibit, 2005.
Mint Museum of Art, Charlotte, North Carolina, The Nature of Craft and the Penland Experience, (traveling) 2004-2006.
Scottsdale Museum of Contemporary Art, Arizona, Hair Stories, 2003-2006.[Commissioned Work]
Judish Fine Arts, Denver, Colorado, Fifth Anniversary Celebration, 2003.
Ronald Feldman Gallery, New York, American Dream, 2003.
Robert Miller Gallery, New York, Free Lemonade, 2002.
Penland Gallery, Penland, North Carolina, The Relevance of Making, 2002.
LewAllen Contemporary, Santa Fe, New Mexico, Go Figure, Invitational, 2000.
Art in General, New York, Yaddo Writers and Visual Artist, An Invitational, 2000. 

AWARDS
Joseph H. Hazen Rome Prize, American Academy, Rome, Italy, 2017
Lifetime Achievement Award, Anyone Can Fly Foundation, Englewood, New Jersey, 2017
Purchase Award, Hassam, Spiecher, Betts and Symons Fund, American Academy of Arts and Letters, New York, 2017
The Marie Walsh Sharpe Foundation Studio Program, one-year free studio space, Brooklyn, 2012
Distinguished Alumni Fellow, Pennsylvania State University, State College, Pennsylvania, 2010
Artist of the Year Award, Scottsdale Cultural Council, Scottsdale, Arizona, 2004
Louis Comfort Tiffany Award, New York, 2003
Distinguished Alumni Award, Penn State University, State College, Pennsylvania, 2003
Marie Walsh Sharpe Foundation, Studio Space for one year, Tribeca, New York, 2003
Radcliffe Fellow, Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study, Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts, 2002
Creative Capital, Project Grant, New York, 2002
John Simon Guggenheim Fellowship, New York, NY. 2000 Anonymous Was a Woman Grant, New York, 2001

COLLECTIONS
National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institute, Washington D.C.
21c Museum Hotels, United States
High Museum of Art, Atlanta, Georgia
North Carolina Museum of Art, Raleigh, North Carolina
Mint Museum, Charlotte, North Carolina
Nasher Art Museum, Duke University, Durham, North Carolina
Duke University, Durham, North Carolina
Weatherspoon Art Museum, Greensboro, North Carolina
The David C. Driskell Center for the Study of the Visual Arts and Culture of African Americans and the African Diaspora, University of Maryland, College Park, Maryland
Arizona State University Art Museum, Tempe, Arizona
Ashville Museum of Art, Ashville, North Carolina
Baltimore Museum of Art, Baltimore, Maryland
Cameron Art Museum, Wilmington, North Carolina
Crocker Art Museum, Sacramento, California
Glaxo Pharmaceutical Company, Morrisville, North Carolina
Mesa Contemporary Arts Museum, Mesa, Arizona
Nelson Fine Art Center, Arizona State University, Tempe, Arizona
Philadelphia Academy of Art, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Scottsdale Museum of Contemporary Art, Scottsdale, Arizona