Panel Discussion: “Joe Overstreet: Taking Flight”

Join us for a panel discussion with Natalie Dupêcher, Associate Curator of Modern Art, celebrating "Joe Overstreet: Taking Flight" focusing on the life, work, and enduring legacy of the pioneering artist Joe Overstreet (1933–2019). Overstreet’s innovative use of materials and his exploration of Black cultural identity redefined the possibilities of abstraction in American art.

About the Panelists

Valerie Cassel Oliver is the Sydney and Frances Lewis Family Curator of Modern and Contemporary Art at the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts. Previously, she was Senior Curator at the Contemporary Arts Museum Houston (2000–2017), where she organized numerous acclaimed exhibitions, including "Radical Presence: Black Performance in Contemporary Art" and surveys of artists such as Donald Moffett and Jennie C. Jones. At VMFA, her notable projects include "Howardena Pindell: What Remains to be Seen" and "The Dirty South: Contemporary Art, Material Culture and the Sonic Impulse." A recipient of numerous prestigious awards, she has been recognized for her contributions to curatorial excellence and diversity in the arts. Cassel Oliver holds degrees from Columbia University, Howard University, and the University of Texas at Austin and has also held leadership roles at the NEA and the School of the Art Institute of Chicago.

Abbe Schriber, an Assistant Professor at University of South Carolina, specializes in 20th and 21st-century art, performance, and material culture of the African Diaspora, examining how diaspora shapes visual innovation. Her research explores genre-blurring practices of artists of African descent in the U.S. from a transnational perspective, focusing on Black artistic communities, liberation movements, and alternative art spaces. Her work has been supported by fellowships from institutions including the Met, Smithsonian, and Crystal Bridges. Her first book examines David Hammons and Black diasporic aesthetics in 1970s-80s New York, while her second project explores the archival practices of women artists in the long civil rights era.

As always, Menil programs are free and open to all.

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Public Program of The Menil Collection, Houston, TX. June 11, 2025.