Artistic Liberties: Southern Paintings & American Identity

September 18-19, 2026 Winston-Salem, NC

 

Artistic Liberties: Southern Paintings & American Identity
September 18-19, 2026
Winston-Salem, North Carolina

Early American artists navigated rapidly changing political and social landscapes, while holding a unique responsibility: documenting a nation in flux. As we commemorate America’s semiquincentennial, this seminar will explore the ways that artists in the colonial and early American periods utilized subjects, color, and technique to reflect on an emerging nation and create a burgeoning American identity. 

Please plan to join us in Winston-Salem or online for this two day seminar. Participants will engage in two days of lectures, including a keynote address by Laura Barry, Juli Grainger Senior Curator of Paintings, Drawings, and Sculpture at Colonial Williamsburg, as well as opportunities to participate in pre-conference workshops and an open house of paintings in MESDA’s study galleries.

 

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REGISTRATION (Opening in February!)

Conference Registration	$300.00 | $290.00 Society Level Members*
Registration includes a pastry breakfast, lunch, keynote reception, all lectures, and access to the lecture recordings.
Watercolor Sketching Workshop Add On	$50.00
Fresh Faces: New Additions to MESDA’s Portrait Collection Tour Add On	$50.00
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“Best of Painters, come, pursue!” In Search of the Guilford Limner Presentation Add On	$50.00

Virtual Ticket

Donation Suggested

Registration includes access to a live zoom link the days of the conference and limited time access to the lectures for two months.

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ADD-ONS AND WORKSHOPS: Friday, September 18, 2026

 

	Learn or refine watercolor techniques while painting the plants that fill Old Salem’s historic gardens. Whether you’re a first-timer or an experienced artist, you’ll enjoy a relaxed, creative workshop.
Pictured: Nancy Young Brevard Stevenson, attributed to Patrick Henry Davenport, Christian County, Kentucky, circa 1825, oil on canvas, MESDA Purchase Fund (6158)	Meet some of the most recent portrait acquisitions in the MESDA galleries with curator Lea C. Lane. Highlights include a revealing group of family pastels, the imposing likeness of a Vice President’s great-grandmother, a rather colorful self-portrait, and a sassy teenage Virginian.
Pictured: Elizabeth (Paisley) Gibson, Guilford Limner, Guilford County, North Carolina, 1827, watercolor on paper, ink, Gift of Alice Fitzgibbon (5642.2)	The portrait artist known as the Guilford Limner has fascinated, puzzled, and delighted scholars, collectors, and curators for several decades, since first introduced by the Greensboro Historical Museum in 1983. This presentation will provide an update on the most recent discoveries about the Guilford Limner, including the expanding perception of the geographical regions in which the Limner worked and the portraits that have most recently come to light. The presentation will also include an opportunity to examine select Guilford Limner portraits in person.

 

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SPEAKERS

Laura Barry, Juli Grainger Senior Curator of Paintings, Drawings, & Sculpture, Colonial Williamsburg

Johanna Brown, Chief Curator, Old Salem Museums & Gardens

Dr. Katherine Gregory, Visiting Assistant Professor of American Art, Wake Forest University

Lea Lane, Curator of the MESDA Collection, Old Salem Museums & Gardens

Nick Powers, Curator of Collections, Museum of the Shenandoah Valley

Elle Shushan, Owner and Independent Scholar, Elle Shushan Fine Portrait Miniatures

Matthew Skic, Director of Collections & Exhibitions, Museum of the American Revolution

William Strollo, Curator of Old Salem and Historic Building Interiors, Old Salem Museums & Gardens

Chris Swan, Senior Conservator of Wooden Artifacts, Colonial Williamsburg

 

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SCHEDULE

Friday, September 18

1:00-3:00 pm	Watercolor Sketching Workshop with Haley Elliott
2:15-3:00 pm	Fresh Faces Tour with Lea Lane
3:30-4:30 pm	“Best of Painters, come, pursue!” Presentation with Sally Gant
5:15 pm	Opening Reception
6:30 pm	Keynote: Laura Barry

Saturday, September 19

8:45 am	Breakfast
9:30 am	Johanna Brown, Welcome & New to the Collection
9:45 am	Matthew Skic, Picturing Washington’s Army: Discovering a Sketch of the North Carolina Brigade
10:35 am	Break
11:00 am	Nick Powers, Painter, Surgeon, Soldier, Spry: The German and American Identities of Federick Kemmelmeyer
11:35 am	Chris Swan, The Picture Frame in Colonial America
12:00 pm	Lunch
1:30 pm	William Strollo, The Good Taste of Mr. Elias A. Vogler
2:05 pm	Lea Lane and Johanna Brown, [Thomas] Sullied Reputations: A Showdown Between Two Gentlemen of the Brush, Thomas Jefferson Wright and Daniel Welfare
2:55 pm	Break
3:15 pm	Elle Shushan, Mary Roberts: America’s First Miniature Painter Sponsored by Leland Little Auctions
3:40 pm	Dr. Katherine Gregory, A Free Black Artist in the Antebellum South: Robert Duncanson’s Travels through North Carolina
4:00 pm	MESDA Open House

 

NOTE: This program and schedule is subject to amendment. 

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PROGRAM GENEROUSLY SPONSORED BY:

 

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