Curated by Museum Intern Lindsay Twa, Compositions: Images of Music and Dance from the Collection of the Ackland Art Museum features images that communicate the power and importance music and artful movement have in the human experience. Comprised of 82 images including prints, photographs, sculpture and painting, Compositions also explores the multiple messages and connections surrounding depictions of music and dance.

In collaboration with Timothy Riggs, assistant director for collections, Twa began her curatorial adventure in the Ackland's print storage room hunting for images (and admits she was concerned there would not be enough examples to fill the Second Floor gallery.) "I was pleasantly surprised by the large number of works related to this theme in our collection. Many of the works I found were unmatted and in storage boxes, never having been displayed." Twa culled the number to create a show of high quality images representing a wide range of periods, nationalities and media.

Valery Koreshkov's Pause, a black and white photograph from the 1970's, portrays two ballet dancers at rest. Seated on the floor, one woman props her feet on a chair, rubbing and stretching her sore legs. The other dancer, seated against the mirrored wall, looks off to the side, lost in her own reverie, or perhaps watching others at work. The movements these artists strive to perfect are graceful and beautiful, but also painful and mercilessly disciplined. American Thomas Hart Benton's lithograph, Missouri Musicians (She'll Be Coming 'Round the Mountain), 1931, depicts a small group gathered to sing, dance and enjoy the sounds of an accordion, guitar and fiddle. The work literally evokes the folk song being sung; a ghostly vision of a woman is shown whipping six white horses as she careens around a distant mountain.

Other images portray music and dance as having the power to transform individuals or change the world. Lucas van Leyden's sixteenth-century engraving, David Playing the Harp Before Saul, shows King Saul slumped on his throne, a spear clutched in his hand. It is only the elegant tones of the harp, played by young David, which can exorcise the king. Music aids another biblical hero in Richard Seewald's woodcut Jericho, ca. 1930. In the famous battle, the walls of Jericho "come tumbling down" before Joshua's feet, all to the sound of seven Jubilee trumpets.

The timing of Compositions offered the opportunity to provide a complement to the Ackland's other summer exhibition, Linda McCartney's Sixties: Portraits of an Era, a prospect that excited Twa. "Linda McCartney's work shows our fascination with people who have the ability to create art and meaning through sound. Compositions demonstrates that we have idolized our partners in music and dance long before the advent of Rock 'n Roll."

Each year the Ackland employs a talented UNC-CH graduate student in the position of Museum Intern. Interns work in various Museum departments over the course of the academic year and often have an opportunity to curate a summer exhibition. Twa came to UNC-CH with a Bachelor of Arts in music and studio art and is completing a Master's Thesis in Art History. She has used her background and interest in music as a driving force behind her work on Compositions. Conversely, she has found that her curatorial experience has aided her graduate research into the role of music in visual art. She plans to continue her studies in the Art History PhD program at UNC-CH in the fall.

Join Lindsay Twa for a Gallery Talk on Wednesday, June 20 at 12:15 p.m.