Exhibitions

We invite members to visit Glory of Venice: Renaissance Paintings 1470–1520 before it opens to the public. Please be prepared to show your membership card as you enter the exhibition. Member Preview Day does not count toward your member ticket allocation. All members of your party must enter together. 

Half-hour tour for families with children age 6–12; free tour with paid Glory of Venice: Masterworks Renaissance Paintings 1470–1520 exhibition ticket. Sign up that day; first come, first served. Meet docent on Level B at entrance to exhibition. Visit the Box Office in East Building to purchase exhibition tickets.

In the 15th and 16th centuries, Venice was a center of commerce and trade, politics, and, of course, art. Celebrate the opening of this opulent, significant exhibition with wines, cheeses, Venetian-inspired delicacies, and lively music. Ask Me docents introduce members to the details of the exhibition and give brief tours throughout the evening. Costumes and masks encouraged.

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Half-hour tour for families with children age 6–12; free tour with paid Glory of Venice: Masterworks Renaissance Paintings 1470–1520 exhibition ticket. Sign up that day; first come, first served. Meet docent on Level B at entrance to exhibition. Visit the Box Office in East Building to purchase exhibition tickets.

Mingle at the wine bar in West Building, and then meet your docent in East Building in front of the Glory of Venice exhibition at 7:30 pm. The 50 works in Glory of Venice include major altarpieces, private secular and devotional paintings, and portraits. Many have never before been on view outside Venice.

Prof. William Barcham, retired professor, Fashion Institute of Technology, State University of New York.

Between about 1460 and 1520, painters in Venice generated a remarkable transformation, abandoning gold ground painting for a natural-looking reality. They realized glowing flesh and shadowed drapery folds by exploiting translucent properties of oil paints on the new materials of linen and canvas. And in privileging radiantly saturated colors over matte tones, they conferred authenticity on their religious portraiture.

This lecture has been made possible by the Humber Lecture endowment. 

While Giovanni Bellini was spawning a pictorial revolution in Venice about 1500, other craftsmen and entrepreneurs were adopting and perfecting new technologies and formats for printing texts and images. Exhibition co-curator Lyle Humphrey shows how Venice became a center for innovation in Europe, and a conduit for the circulation of the ideas and imagery from classical antiquity that helped foster the Venetian Renaissance. 

Registration required by 4 pm on the Tuesday before the event.

Celebrate the 1591st anniversary of the founding of Venice with exhibition co-curator David Steel. The paintings in this once-in-a-lifetime exhibition represent the first fruits of a new artistic vision that developed in Renaissance Venice and marked a turning point in the development of European art and in the history of Western culture.

Registration required by 4 pm on the Tuesday before the event.

Inspired by the portraits in Glory of Venice and the permanent collection, artist/educator William Paul Thomas guides students through the fundamentals of creating expressive and evocative self-portraits. All materials are provided.

Take inspiration from maps and city scenes on view in the exhibition Glory of Venice. Then, create a multimedia map of a meaningful place or important person—including you!

Gallery tour plus studio workshops for families. A different theme each time means there’s always something new to discover.

Please note: All participants (children and adults) must have a ticket. These popular workshops sell out quickly, so reserve your spot early.

Take inspiration from maps and city scenes on view in the exhibition Glory of Venice. Then, create a multimedia map of a meaningful place or important person—including you!

Gallery tour plus studio workshops for families. A different theme each time means there’s always something new to discover.

Please note: All participants (children and adults) must have a ticket. These popular workshops sell out quickly, so reserve your spot early.

Jewelry artist Betty McKim is inspired by iconic Venetian Renaissance portraits as she helps participants create a pierced silhouette image accented with gold leaf. Register in advance; limited to 16 adult students.

On this day only, enjoy free admission to exhibitions Ansel Adams: Masterworks and Glory of Venice. This special offer is made possible by a grant from Duke Energy.

The Museum's West Building (including permanent collection galleries, Iris restaurant, and Sip coffee bar) will be closed as they normally are on Mondays. The Museum Park will be open from dawn to dusk.

Take a virtual trip behind the scenes and discover the role that the Registration Department plays to ensure the safe and secure arrival of valuable art to the Museum. 

Registration required by 4 pm on the Tuesday before the event.

(1973) Directed by Nicolas Roeg. Julie Christie, Donald Sutherland, Hilary Mason. (110 min.) R

A dreary, haunted Venice holds uneasy secrets in a film that begins with the ultimate horror, the death of a child. A shiny red raincoat signals all is not as it should be, and ominous signs dapple an art restorer’s crumbling marriage. Adapted from a chilling story by Daphne du Maurier, the film “remains one of the great horror masterpieces, working not with fright, which is easy, but with dread, grief, and apprehension” (Roger Ebert).

Design, carve, and polish your own sculpture from alabaster during this two-day class under the tutelage of award-winning sculptor Paris Alexander. Register in advance; limited to 12 adult students.

Join teens from across the state at our annual spring teen event! Learn, play, socialize, and create in a variety of interactive experiences planned by the NCMA’s Teen Arts Council. ArtScene also celebrates artists featured in this year’s Teens, Inspired juried exhibition and students in our online high school courses. 

Create Art! Ongoing 1–4 pm

Moving Image: Animation with artist-in-residence Jaclyn Bowie

            Sip Coffee Bar

Create: Alter the History of Art with artist Denise Gunter

            Contemporary Galleries

Create: Faces and Places with artist William Paul Thomas

            European and American Galleries

Create: Collaborative Drawing

            Near West Building Info Desk

Create: Sumi Ink Comics with artist Jolie Day 

            Outdoor Rodin Garden

Create: One-Minute Sculptures

            Outdoor Rodin Garden

Mysteries and Meditation
             Limited availability.

Future Fortune: Tarot readings with Jameela Dallis

            Signup and readings in the Portrait Gallery

Zone In: Guided meditation at 2 pm and 3 pm. Limit of 15 people per session.

            Signup and meditation in the Impressionist Gallery

Teens, Inspired Pop-Up Exhibition

            Grand Hall

Performance Stage, Outdoor Wheeler Garden

            Celina Carra 1:15–1:45 pm

            Cam Cokas 2 –2:20 pm

            Teens, Inspired acknowledgement and winners 2:30–2:45 pm

            Yael Madero 3–3:20 pm

            Jazz Ensemble 3:30–4 pm

ArtScene is planned and facilitated by the NCMA Teen Art Council.

Funding is provided by the Catawba Valley Fund.

This two-part course explores the miraculous and historical existence of Venice as a city. In the first session, art educator Becky Bailey leads a gallery discussion about the construction of Venice while looking at paintings in the Museum’s collection. Participants try architecture and sculpture in the studio as they create miniature three-dimensional abstract cities. The second session includes a sneak peek of Glory of Venice to look at design motifs, followed by studio work to create multilayered collages. Register in advance; each session limited to 16 adult students.

(1997) Directed by Iain Softley. Helena Bonham Carter, Linus Roache, Alison Elliott. (102 min.) DVD. R

An impoverished beauty on the edge of polite Edwardian society schemes to leverage her charms and marry her penniless beau by befriending a gentle, ailing heiress, “the world’s richest orphan.” Within a melancholy, drizzling Venice, they pursue their labyrinthine passions through the maze of canals. Thoughtfully adapted from a story by Henry James.

“Satisfying, sexy, superb” (CBS TV).

(2005) Directed by Lasse Hallström. Heath Ledger, Sienna Miller, Jeremy Irons. (112 min.) R

The world’s greatest lover meets his match in this merry romp through 18th-century Venice. Heath Ledger’s purring voice and swashbuckling allure reveal Casanova as an unexpected philosopher: Be the flame, not the moth. A feast for the eyes, using Venetian locations never before seen on screen, and designed to complement the burnished reds, glittering golds, and grayish blues of Venetian painting.

“Wholly enjoyable . . . It’s an absurdly joyous bit of fluff” (salon.com).