Owens Daniels joins Reynolda House as art and community engagement fellow
Local artist will give weekly guided gallery talks starting Sept. 7 and host creative portraiture workshops in November.
WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. (Sept. 2, 2021) — Owens Daniels has joined Reynolda House Museum of American Art as a fellow focusing on community and art engagement. The fellowship has been funded by the Thomas S. Kenan Institute for the Arts Creative Catalyst program and Debbie and Mike Rubin, with additional support by Lynn and Barry Eisenberg.
During the six-month fellowship, Daniels will focus on connecting the community with Reynolda’s educational resources for children, families and adults. He will work with the Museum’s teaching and learning department staff to define new audiences, develop partnerships and expand the Museum’s volunteer base.
“At its core, Reynolda is an organization dedicated to learning and meeting the needs of our community,” says Allison Perkins, executive director of Reynolda House. “We are extremely grateful for the opportunity to reach new audiences through the important work made possible by this fellowship.”
Daniels is a photographer and visual artist based in Winston-Salem. His photographic career began in the U.S. Army Photographic School of Cartography, and he has continued to learn and work in photography since. Daniels also has a bachelor’s degree in computer information from Virginia State University.
In addition to recent solo exhibitions in the Triad and Triangle, he has participated in numerous group exhibitions in North Carolina, Georgia and South Carolina. He is the 2019 Duke Energy Grant and Z. Smith Reynolds Lead artist for the Present Absence Project with the Center for Design and Innovation (CDI) as well as a recent Leadership Winston-Salem graduate.
Starting Sept. 7, Daniels will give four weekly guided gallery talks at Reynolda focused on photography and The Voyage of Life: Art, Allegory, and Community Response. On Nov. 13 and 20, he will lead a two-part creative portraiture workshop inspired by the 2022 exhibition, Black is Beautiful.
Daniels may be reached at danielo@wfu.edu or 336.758.5336.
About Owens Daniels
Daniels’s vision is to create artwork that builds bridges, promotes cultural exchanges, and cultivates artistic endeavors between organizations, institutions and the diverse communities they serve. His photographic career started at the U.S Army Photographic School of Cartography, where he learned the basics of photography and photo printing. In addition to his formal training, Daniels continues to work as a freelance photographer with a distinctive and intimate photojournalistic signature style in visual storytelling which has led to various opportunities that include artist-in-residence roles, public art installations, grants and varied other commissions.
Daniels makes use of the visual arts to express his interpretation of the world, and photography serves as his medium to open unexplored spaces between the subject and viewer, exposing them both to a world of opportunities and experiences. He believes this objective can best be obtained through a focus on the commonalities that keep us in the moment and stop us from fretting about the future or regretting the past.
Current works: When The Revolution Comes, 4 Days of Peace, Dear Winston Salem, Social Distancing, More Than A Picture, Common Ties That Bind, Power of Art, Birth of the Cool, Brown Paper Bag, American Gothic, America Wants, Winston Salem Dance Project and Present Absence
Select recent exhibits: SECCA, New Winston, Levin, Cameron Museums, Light Factory, ArtWorks, Milton Rhodes, Delta Fine Arts and other contemporary galleries
About Reynolda
Reynolda is set on 170 acres in Winston-Salem, N.C. and comprises Reynolda House Museum of American Art, Reynolda Gardens and Reynolda Village Shops and Restaurants. The Museum presents a renowned art collection in a historic and incomparable setting: the original 1917 interiors of Katharine and R. J. Reynolds’s 34,000-square-foot home. Its collection is a chronology of American art and featured exhibitions are offered in the Museum’s Babcock Gallery and house bedrooms. The Gardens serve as a 134-acre outdoor horticultural oasis open to the public year-round, complete with colorful formal gardens, nature trails and a greenhouse. In the Village, the estate’s historic buildings are now home to a vibrant mix of boutiques, restaurants, shops and services. Plan your visit at reynolda.org and use the mobile app Reynolda Revealed to self-tour the estate. Reynolda is part of Wake Forest University.
About the Thomas S. Kenan Institute for the Arts at UNCSA
The Kenan Institute for the Arts at UNC School of the Arts is a catalyst that encourages and supports the exploration and development of new knowledge to transform the way artists, organizations and communities approach their creative challenges. Through its new five-year strategic plan, Creative Catalyst Initiative, the Institute will empower the next generation of artist leaders, entrepreneurs and innovators; enhance creative placemaking near the UNCSA campus; and engage the creative community across the region to increase access, equity and inclusion across the sector.