Nasher Museum Presents Inaugural Susan and Barkley L. Hendricks Artist Lecture Featuring Mickalene Thomas

DURHAM, NC - The Nasher Museum of Art at Duke University will launch the Susan and Barkley L. Hendricks Artist Lecture , an annual series established through a transformative gift from longtime museum supporter Susan Hendricks in honor of the late artist Barkley L. Hendricks.

The inaugural lecture on October 1 will feature acclaimed contemporary artist Mickalene Thomas in conversation with Duke art historian Richard J. Powell, offering an opportunity to hear directly from two influential voices on contemporary art, Black visual culture, representation, and the ways artists shape how we see ourselves and the world around us.

The new lecture series builds on Barkley Hendricks' longstanding relationship with the Nasher. The museum's landmark 2008 exhibition Barkley L. Hendricks: Birth of the Cool , brought his work to a broad public audience, and Hendricks was among the Nasher's early artist lecturers. Today, the Nasher holds the largest and broadest public collection of Hendricks' work in the world. The annual series will carry that legacy forward by creating an ongoing platform for leading contemporary artists to engage audiences at Duke, in Durham, and beyond.

WHO: Mickalene Thomas , internationally acclaimed artist known for vibrant, rhinestone-adorned portraits and multimedia works exploring race, gender, beauty, identity and representation.

Richard J. Powel l, John Spencer Bassett Distinguished Professor of Art & Art History at Duke University and an internationally recognized scholar of Black art and visual culture. His new book,Colorstruck! Painting, Pigment, Affect, was published by Princeton University Press on September 1, with the inaugural lecture serving as part of Powell's fall book tour.

WHEN: Thursday, October 1, 2026 | 6:00 PM

WHERE: Nasher Museum of Art at Duke University | Durham, NC

ADMISSION: Free. For those unable to join in person, the lecture will be livestreamed.

WHY: This artist lecture represents more than the launch of a new annual program. It establishes a lasting platform for artists to shape conversations about art, culture, and society while extending Barkley Hendricks' impact at the Nasher.

Hendricks had a particularly meaningful relationship with the museum. In 2008, the Nasher presented his first career retrospective, Birth of the Cool , which helped bring his work and the museum to a national audience, while his engagement with Nasher audiences as an early lecturer reflected his belief in the power of artists to connect with and challenge the public. Susan Hendricks' gift ensures that this spirit of exchange will continue for generations of artists and audiences.

Thomas is an especially resonant inaugural speaker. Her practice centers Black women and challenges traditional ideas of beauty and representation, while engaging deeply with art history, popular culture, identity and visibility. Her conversation with Powell offers a timely opportunity to consider the continuing evolution of Black representation in contemporary art and the role artists play in expanding whose stories are seen and remembered.

Together, the inaugural lecture and the series it launches reflect the Hendricks family's enduring commitment to artists, scholarship, and public engagement. The program will create new opportunities for audiences at Duke and throughout Durham to encounter leading contemporary artists, hear their perspectives and participate in conversations that connect art to broader cultural questions.

The inaugural lecture also marks an important moment for the Nasher as it continues to build on its history of bringing artists into direct conversation with audiences and creating opportunities for contemporary art to spark dialogue, inquiry and connection.

About Mickalene Thomas

Mickalene Thomas is a globally celebrated artist renowned for her vibrant and exquisite rhinestone-adorned portraits that boldly reimagine the representation of Black women in contemporary art. Her paintings and multimedia works take on the complex intersection of race, femininity and beauty through her distinctive vernacular that draws from art history, popular culture, African textiles, domestic spaces, personal histories and iconic moments to reimagine environments where Black women have often been overlooked or misrepresented. Working across painting, photography, collage, video and installation, Thomas creates layered compositions that explore complex themes of race, gender, identity, sexuality and beauty. By referencing figures like Manet, Matisse, and Picasso, she both honors and disrupts the Eurocentric art canon - placing empowered images of Black women at the center. Her work unapologetically challenges traditional beauty standards and amplifies narratives often excluded from mainstream art spaces, transforming how we see beauty and identity, while also redefining who gets to be seen, celebrated and remembered in the world of art and beyond.

Thomas' work is part of the permanent collections at major institutions including The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY; The Museum of Modern Art, New York, NY; the Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, NY; and the Smithsonian American Art Museum, Washington, D.C., solidifying her role as a leading figure in contemporary visual culture. Beyond her studio practice, Thomas is a visionary curator, mentor, creative director, and educator. She actively supports emerging artists - especially women, LGBTQ+ creatives and artists of color - through mentorship, community engagement and inclusive curatorial work. She is also a Tony-nominated co-producer, further demonstrating the reach of her creativity across disciplines.

In 2023, Thomas made history as the first Black queer femme artist to have a scholarship endowed in her name at Yale University, her alma mater. This milestone reflects her commitment to fostering access and equity in the arts for future generations. Her influence only deepened in 2025 - a landmark year - in which she was named one of TIME100's Most Influential People, became the first African-American artist to be honored with a major solo show at the Grand Palais in Paris and was the Keynote Speaker at Rutgers University-Camden's Commencement. Most recently in 2026, Thomas received a Clio Award and the CPW Photographer of the Year award. She has also received prestigious accolades including the Gordon Parks Foundation Honorary Award, the Creative Capital Award, the Hirshhorn Museum's National Arts Award, the Queens Museum Honoree distinction and RxART Innovation Award. She was named Honorary Co-Chair of the Dance Theatre of Harlem and was recognized at the NYC Health + Hospitals/South Brooklyn Health 150th Anniversary Gala for her monumental mosaic Freesia on My Mind: The Beauty of Ruth Bader Ginsburg, on permanent display at the Ruth Bader Ginsburg Hospital in Brooklyn.

About Richard J. Powell

Richard J. Powell is the John Spencer Bassett Distinguished Professor of Art & Art History at Duke University. Powell has organized numerous art exhibitions, most notably The Blues Aesthetic: Black Culture and Modernism (1989); Rhapsodies in Black: Art of the Harlem Renaissance (1997); To Conserve A Legacy: American Art at Historically Black Colleges and Universities (1999); Back to Black: Art, Cinema, and the Racial Imaginary (2005); and Archibald Motley: Jazz Age Modernist (2014). Powell has published books on a range of topics, including such titles as Homecoming: The Art and Life of William H. Johnson (1991), Black Art: A Cultural History (1997, 2002 & 2021), Cutting a Figure: Fashioning Black Portraiture (2008), Going There: Black Visual Satire (2020), and Colorstruck! Painting, Pigment, Affect (2026). From 2007 until 2010, Powell was Editor-in-Chief of The Art Bulletin, the world's leading English language journal in art history.

About the Nasher Museum of Art

The Nasher Museum of Art at Duke University is a leading center for the arts in Durham, North Carolina, and a vital resource for both the Duke campus and the surrounding region. Designed by acclaimed architect Rafael Viñoly, the 65,000-square-foot museum has organized more than 125 cutting-edge exhibitions since its opening in 2005, many of which have traveled nationally and internationally. With a strong commitment to contemporary art, the Nasher's collection emphasizes work by artists who have been historically underrepresented, reflecting its mission to shape a more inclusive art historical narrative. Deeply integrated into Duke's academic life, the museum fosters interdisciplinary research, supports innovative teaching, and engages students and faculty in critical dialogue. The Nasher also welcomes broader audiences through vibrant community and K-12 programs, and has offered free admission to all visitors since 2022, thanks to the generosity of Jennifer McCracken New and Jason New. To date, more than 1.6 million people have experienced the museum's exhibitions and programs. Guests can enjoy local fare at the Nasher Museum Café and shop art-inspired gifts at Parker & Otis. Learn more at nasher.duke.edu .

For more information on the Nasher, please contact:

Allison Elbl , Alexa Price , and Dakota Rosen