The David C. Driskell Center

05/28/2026

☀️The Driskell Center Gallery will be closed for the summer break.☀️ We look forward to welcoming you back soon with our new exhibition ahead. Thank you for your continued support, and wishing everyone a wonderful summer. 🎨✨

05/21/2026

We are deeply saddened by the passing of artist Mary Lovelace O’Neal—a painter, printmaker, educator, and storyteller whose work transformed generations of artists and audiences alike.
At The Driskell Center, we want to honor O’Neal’s memory as her work will remain profoundly influential, and we honor her extraordinary life and lasting legacy. 🖤 Mary Lovelace O’Neal (1942–2026)

1/ 🖼️ Mary Lovelace O’Neal, Running Freed More Slaves Than Lincoln Ever Did, 1997. Serigraph and ink on paper, 23.5 × 16.5 in. Ed. 7/20. Gift of the Jean and Robert E. Steele Collection. 2022.04.001.
2/ Quote: Manuscript “Mary O’Neal, Painting on the Edges of a Black and White World”, David C. Driskell Papers, 1800-2014, Series 5, Box 31, Folder 7. David C. Driskell Center Archives. University of Maryland at College Park.
3/ 📸 David C. Driskell and Mary Lovelace O’Neal at the Bomani Gallery for the opening of the exhibition “David Driskell: Two Worlds: One of Sight, One of Vision,” David C. Driskell Papers, 1800-2014, Series 11, Subseries 1. David C. Driskell Center Archives. University of Maryland at College Park.

05/19/2026

🖤A BIG THANK YOU to our amazing gallery monitors, student ambassadors, and student curriculum developers at The Driskell Center 🖤
Your energy, dedication, curiosity, and care helped shape this year’s exhibitions, tours, and public programs in so many meaningful ways. Thank you for welcoming visitors, leading conversations, and contributing to our vibrant community.

To our graduating students — we wish you all the best on your next adventures and cannot wait to see all that you accomplish. And to those returning next year, we’re already looking forward to welcoming you back!
✨Thank you for being such an important part of our community ✨

Photo Credit: Kevin Cartwright,
Artworks by:
Mark Thomas Gibson, Flag 1 (The Big One) (2024), Ink on canvas, 60 x 118 in. Mark Thomas Gibson Studio. Lex Marie, Just A Baby (2023), Hospital receiving blankets, fabric, flagpole,48 x 50 in. Courtesy of the Artist.
June Edmonds, For Carney and The 54th (A Memorial) I - IV (2019), Acrylic and spray paint on unstretched canvas, 88 x 55 in. © June Edmonds. Rodney M. Miller Collection, courtesy of Luis De Jesus Los Angeles.

05/15/2026

The Driskell Center Spring 2026 Newsletter -

With America Will Be! now concluded and a dynamic season of public programs behind us, spring has been a season of momentum at The Driskell Center. Explore recent events, upcoming initiatives, and the latest news from the Center.

05/13/2026

The Driskell Center is delighted to receive a $225,000 grant from Getty through its Black Visual Art Archives initiative for our project Radical Legacies, Digital Futures: Preserving Black Art for Global Access.

The 18-month grant will support archival processing and digitization across five recently acquired collections in The Driskell Center Archives (collections pictured) and an improved web interface designed to expand access to all 17 collections we hold, providing open access to digitized materials, finding aids, and interpretive content. The grant period will culminate in pop-up exhibition programming that brings these five collections into dialogue with contemporary audiences.



Image Credits:
Dindga McCannon (seated), Linda Hiwot (l.), and Miriam Francis (r.), Where We At Black Women Artists, circa 1975. The Where We At Black Women Artists Archives.
Dewey Crumpler with one of his paintings, circa 1969. The Crumpler Collection.
From left to right, Robert L. Hall, David C. Driskell, Winston Branch, Rutherford Adkins, Earl Hooks, and Aaron Douglas at the opening event for the Winston Branch exhibition at Fisk University, 1973. David C. Driskell Papers, MS01.11.01.P0249.
Lewis Tanner Moore, 2020. The Lewis Tanner Moore Collection.
“Where We At” Black Women Artists exhibition flyer with artwork by Dindga McCannon, 1975. The Where We At Black Women Artists Archives.
Dindga McCannon, circa 1980s. The Dindga McCannon Archives.
All courtesy of The Driskell Center at the University of Maryland, College Park.

05/06/2026

FREE CATALOGS - Last week of “America Will Be!” 💫

As we wrap up the exhibition, we’re happy to share that we still have a limited number of catalogs available for pickup. Stop by and grab one while they last!
At The Driskell Center, we are committed to accessible content and scholarship—making this publication freely available is part of fulfilling that mission. Come by, spend some time with the work, and take a catalog home with you before the exhibition closes on Friday.
Catalog contributions by Dr. Nicole Archer, Dr. Jordana M. Saggese , Dr. Antoine Banks .



Image: “America Will Be!” catalogs. Artwork by June Edmonds, “Four Years in the White House Flag,” 2019–2021. Acrylic on linen, 90 x 60 in. Petrucci Family Foundation Collection of African American Art. ©️June Edmonds, image courtesy of Luis De Jesus Los Angeles.

Photo repost by Lex Marie

05/05/2026

Closing Friday: "America Will Be!" -

Be sure to stop by The Driskell Center gallery to see America Will Be! before the exhibition officially closes this Friday, May 8. We hope to see you here soon!

05/04/2026

Last chance to experience "America Will Be!" ✨
📍 The Driskell Center
🗓 On view through May 8
As we enter the final week of the exhibition at The Driskell Center, we invite you to visit before "America Will Be!" closes on Friday. Don't miss the opportunity to engage with artworks that reimagine what the symbol of the American flag has been—and what it might become.

Lead support provided by the Terra Foundation for American Art , with additional support from the Maryland State Arts Council , UMD Arts for All, and The Driskell Center's generous patrons.

Artist/Lender Credits:
© Nari Ward Studio, Courtesy of Vilcek Foundation
© June Edmonds, Images courtesy of Luis De Jesus Los Angeles.
© Sanford Biggers, Nesbitt-Blanchard Collection
© 2025 David Hammons / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York; Glenstone Museum
© Mark Thomas Gibson Studio

Photo Credits:
1) Pete Duvall
2) Kevin Cartwright Do Good Institute
3–5) Taneen Momeni University of Maryland College of Arts and Humanities

04/30/2026

✨ Beyond the Stars and Stripes ✨
Join us TOMORROW, May 1, from 5–7 PM for a powerful panel discussion at The Driskell Center. featuring Mark Thomas Gibson , Sheldon Scott and June Edmonds . Moderated by co-curator Dr. Nicole Archer. Tea at 5 PM. Panel starts at 5:30 PM.
📍 Driskell Center
🗓 May 1. ⏰ 5–7 PM
🔗 Register via Eventbrite here > https://go.umd.edu/drskevent

Image Credit: © June Edmonds, “For Carney & The 54th (a Memorial), I, III, V, & IV” (2019), The Rodney M. Miller Collection, courtesy of Luis De Jesus Los Angeles. Installation photography by Pete Duvall - Anything Photographic.

04/29/2026

Artists' Panel FRIDAY – Still Time to Register! -

Join us for an intimate conversation with three artists from our spring exhibition, America Will Be!, as they reflect on the American flag as a site of protest, possibility, and belonging. Together, they explore what it means to make art about citizenship at this pivotal moment in our nation's histo...