Binghamton University Art Museum exhibition to highlight former faculty, sculptor Ed Wilson

The Binghamton University Art Museum announces that the Terra Foundation for American Art has awarded the museum a grant to support research, an exhibition, a catalogue, public programming and activities related to artwork by former faculty member, sculptor Ed Wilson.

Ed Wilson: The Sculptor as Afro-humanist (Sept. 7–Dec. 9, 2023) will be the first retrospective of this under-recognized American artist in over 50 years. Wilson (1925–1996), a longtime member of the studio faculty at Binghamton University, was an innovative sculptor whose practice evolved from autonomous figures carved from stone and wood in the 1950s to large-scale public artworks, often sited in educational institutions, beginning in the late 1960s.

The exhibition, organized by adjunct curator and Professor of Art History Tom McDonough, will gather Wilson’s extant sculptural works and drawings, assembled from museum holdings and loans from private and public collections nationwide. It will also include materials from the artist’s personal archives, presently held by his family, allowing the museum to present the most comprehensive overview of Wilson’s 45-year career.

The Terra Foundation for American Art, established in 1978 and having offices in Chicago and Paris, supports organizations and individuals locally and globally with the aim of fostering intercultural dialogues and encouraging transformative practices that expand narratives of American art, through the foundation’s grant program, collection and initiatives.