The countdown is on for the return of one of Birmingham’s biggest art parties. After a two-year hiatus due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Art on the Rocks, the Birmingham Museum of Art’s evening art, cocktail, and concert event, returns tonight.
Starting at 7 pm, the Birmingham Museum of Art’s hallways, galleries, and outdoor plazas will be awash with dancing, DJs, live music, and interactive art exhibits.
For years, Art on the Rocks has welcomed patrons into the museum to party alongside bands including Durand Jones and the Indications and Tank and the Bangas.
Art on the Rocks is usually a three-part series—the BMA holds one party each month. But this year, the museum is holding one event for Art on the Rocks’ grand return. Museum staff said planning for the return of one of the BMA’s most popular evening parties is mix of emotions—mostly excitement.
“I feel like it just needs to be big because it’s been gone for so long,” said Carey Fountain, the Manager of Public Programs at the Birmingham Museum of Art. “And I really hope that it reignites the excitement that Art on the Rocks has. So with us doing one, I think it’s going to set a unique precedent for the future.”
In 2019, the theme of Art on the Rocks was a nod to its exhibit “Ways of Seeing: Fashion,” a curatorial project documenting fashion across time and place. There’s no specific theme this year, says Fountain. Instead, the concept of tonight’s Art on the Rocks will be a welcome back party for those who love to enjoy the museum after hours, as well as people looking for new things to do in Birmingham.
Headed to Art on the Rocks tonight? Here’s what you need to know.
Tickets and Parking
Tickets for Art on the Rocks are available for purchase online. Tickets will also be available for purchase at the Birmingham Museum of Art this evening. Tickets are $35 for members and early bird registration. Ticket prices will increase to $45 later this evening.
the time
Art on the Rocks is from 7 to 11 pm The museum will open its doors at 7 pm
TheConcert
Eric Bellinger is the headliner for this year’s Art on the Rocks at the Birmingham Museum of Art (Courtesy, Birmingham Museum of Art)
This year’s musical guest for Art on the Rocks is Grammy award-winning Eric Bellinger, who will perform outside in the museum’s upper plaza on the Tito’s Handmade Vodka Stage. Bellinger, an R&B songwriting veteran, has collaborated with artists including Brandy and Jennifer Hudson. Last month, Bellinger joined Usher and Vedo for Usher’s first NPR Tiny Desk.
Inside the museum
(Courtesy, the Birmingham Museum of Art)
One of the biggest highlights of Art on the Rocks is the community interactive mural in the BMA lobby. For the creative mainstay, the museum invites guests to pick up a paintbrush and paint alongside a featured artist to help complete the masterpiece. In 2019, artist Paul Wilm helmed the mural.
Artist Paul Wilm takes a photo with Lydia Walker after a lecture in from his mural at the BMA in 2019 (Shauna Stuart | Al.com)
This year, the mural’s featured artist is Brooklyn-based artist Rico Gatson. The BMA has commissioned Gatson as the next artist for his immersive “Wall to Wall” installation, a three-part series that invites artists to activate the museum’s lobby and café area with artwork inspired by the city of Birmingham.
Gatson’s “Wall to Wall” exhibition features colorful SunRa inspired vinyl compositions influenced by the iconography of SunRa, as well as a life-size community mural dedicated to the late minister and civil rights icon Fred Shuttlesworth. On August 3, Ruby Shuttlesworth and Dr. Carolyn Shuttlesworth– the daughters of the late civil rights leader– painted the first strokes of paint on the mural during “Illuminating Shuttlesworth,” a celebration of art and conversation for the social justice icon.
The beginnings of artist Rico Gatson’s mural at Fred Shuttlesworth at the Birmingham Museum of Art. Guests at Art on the Rocks will be invited to Gatson paint the mural. (Shauna Stuart | AL.com)
Rico Gatson and Ruby Shuttlesworth speak to the audience on Wednesday, Aug. 3 before painting a community mural dedicated to the late civil rights leader Fred Shuttlesworth (Shauna Stuart| Al.com)
The project will be one of Gatson’s largest murals to date.
“This is the first time where I’m inviting others to come into the process and put hand into work. And that for me is spiritual. This notion of bringing people together as a community to help complete this piece,” Gatson said on Wednesday, where he shared the stage with Frances Foster White, Ruby Shuttlesworth, Dr. Martha Boyer, Hugh Kaul Curator of Contemporary Art Hallie Ringle, and New York Times journalist Siddartha Mitter. “Of course, the Shuttleworths kicked that off. So, I’m really excited about you, the community, as participants in the completion of this project. Your energy will be transferred into the piece and celebrating this person.”
“I think that this kind of artistic representation is long overdue,” said Dr. Martha Boyer, the Executive Director of the Historic Bethel Baptist Church Foundation, in an interview with AL.com. “I do believe we get a better understand of history about history by using various mediums like art, music, poetry, all of that works to help tell a full story.”
As usual, all of the Birmingham Museum of Art’s galleries will be open to guests. In the café, hip hop dance collective Bham Beat Bullies will perform, along with sounds from DJ Smartt.
In the Arrington Gallery, Fen Kennedy, Ann Trondson, Melissa Yes, and students from the UA Department of Theater and Dance will present an interactive dance party and art installation called “Surround,” activating the gallery music, dancing and light projections.
Outside the museum
(Courtesy, Birmingham Museum of Art)
Outside in the BMA’s Sculpture Garden Lounge, DJ and artist Stephen Finley will be hosting a house music set and creative collective Cultured to Create will host a Tik Tok inspired immersive art installation.
Paper Doll Bar, will also bring its craft cocktail magic to Art on the Rocks with a satellite bar, mixing specialty cocktails featuring Tito’s Handmade Vodka. Also on the outdoor lineup, a 360 photo booth, a snow cone stand, and a drag show featuring performances from Birmingham’s finest queens.
Here’s a rundown of the full Art on the Rocks schedule:
7 to 11 pm | coffee shop
Beats in the Museum Cafe by DJ Smartt
7 – 11 p.m.| Sculpture Garden
360 photobooth
7 – 11| Garden Lounge
Garden Lounge
7:30 | coffee shop
Break dancing performance
7:30 to 9 pm| lobby
Interactive Mural with Rico Gatson
7 to 11 pm| Arrington Gallery
Art Installation / “Surround” Dance Party
8:15pm| Upper Plaza
Break dancing performance
8:45pm | Upper Plaza
drag show
9:30 // Tito’s Handmade Vodka Stage
Eric Bellinger
