E. Warren Perry, Jr.

Warren Perry, curator of Echoes of Elvis on PBS Newshour

PBS Newshour's Art Beat filmed a nice segment on curator Warren Perry and Elvis tribute artist Will Debley talking about the Echoes of Elvis exhibition at NPG.

Click here for the link to the story on the PBS website.

See the video below:

Smithsonian Magazine video of Echoes of Elvis

February 25, 2010. Smithsonian Magazine has also produced a video about the National Portrait Gallery Echoes of Elvis exhibition. See the video below, produced by Abby Callard and Ryan Reed.

Video tour of One Life: Echoes of Elvis by Curator Warren Perry

February 24, 2010

Check out the newly posted Curator's tour (by Warren Perry) of the Echoes of Elvis exhibition at the Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery. Videography is by Ben Bloom at NPG.

Warren Perry interviewed on Fox 5 Morning News in Washington, DC

Warren was interviewed on Fox 5 Morning news this morning as Curator of the Echoes of Elvis exhibition at the National Portrait Gallery. Here is the video of the interview:

This Saturday, NPG will host an Elvis-themed family day, "Elvis is in the Building," with curator-led tours, an Elvis costume contest, Elvis tribute artist performing, and Elvis' lifelong friend George Klein will be on hand to sign his new book.

Warren Perry, Curator of Echoes of Elvis, will give gallery talk on sculpture of Elvis Presley by Robert Arneson

Thursday, January 14. This evening's Face to Face Portrait Talk will feature Warren Perry, Curator of One Life: Echoes of Elvis at the Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery, discussing "Elvis" by Robert Arneson, a monumental glazed ceramic sculpture of Elvis Presley as Julius Caesar.

Face to Face Talks are free to the public on Thursdays from 6 - 6:30 pm. Visitors meet in the G Street Lobby of the Portrait Gallery on 9th Street NW between F and G Streets, NW in Washington, DC.

Click here to view the work: Elvis by Robert Arneson, 1978, glazed ceramic, Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Smithsonian Institution, Gift of the Sydney and Frances Lewis Foundation, 1985

Click here for more information about the One Life: Echoes of Elvis  exhibition.

Echoes of Elvis opened Friday, January 8th at National Portrait Gallery

One Life: Echoes of Elvis, curated by Warren Perry, opened to the public Friday at the Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery in Washington, DC. The press preview took place Thursday morning, and already several news outlets (especially Brett Zongker at Associated Press) have begun to broadcast their interviews and information.

Check out the growing list of published articles:

NPR - Weekend Edition, January 9, 2010 (includes a link to the audio interview with Warren on  All Things Considered)

Washington Times

NPR (AP Story - radio interview will be on Weekend Edition Saturday or Sunday)

Kuwait Times (AP) - no kidding!

WTOP.com (AP)

ABC News (AP)

CBC News (AP) - Canadian news organization

Access Atlanta (AP)

The Miami Herald (AP)

Newser.com (AP) - Put on your Blue Suede Shoes - includes a great slideshow of installation shots from gallery

San Diego News (AP)

Around the Mall (Smithsonian Institution Blog)

Even other languages!

Czech

Indonesia

China

Click here for the link to the National Portrait Gallery's website devoted to Echoes of Elvis

I'll continue to update as more articles and interviews are available in the next few days.

Face to Face Portrait Talk on Muhammad Ali and Elvis by Warren Perry January 7

Thursday, January 7, 2010 - 6:00 pm. Warren Perry, Curator of the One Life: Echoes of Elvis exhibition at the Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery, will give a Face-to-Face Portrait Talk on Elvis Presley and Muhammad Ali this Thursday evening. The lecture will feature a portrait of Ali by artist Henry C. Casselli, Jr. titled Cat's Cradle (1981, oil on canvas). (Image courtesy of National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution; gift of the Sig Rogich Family Trust, copyright Henry Casselli, 2002)

Face to Face Portrait Talks are free to the public and take place on Thursday evenings from 6 - 6:30 pm at the National Portrait Gallery, on 9th Street NW between F and G Streets, NW in Washington, DC. Visitors should meet in the F Street Lobby of the museum at 6 pm.

Warren Perry to give lecture at Historic Bethlehem Partnership January 24

Warren has been invited to give a lecture in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania at the Historic Bethlehem Partnership on one of his favorite subjects -- the repeal of Prohibition, one of the most terrifying periods in American history. The lecture will be part of a special event, sponsored by Samuel Adams, "Winterfest: Hot Jazz, Seasonal Microbrews, and Food Tastings" at the Historic Hotel Bethlehem on January 24, 2010.

Sunday, January 24, 2010
4:00 p.m. - 7:00 p.m.
1741 on the Terrace in The Historic Hotel Bethlehem
437 Main Street
Bethlehem, PA 18018

Click here for details of the event and information about tickets

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Warren Perry interviews baseball legends Tommy Lasorda and Steve Garvey

September 22, 2009 - Former Los Angeles Dodgers manager Tommy Lasorda and former Dodgers first baseman Steve Garvey, along with other baseball greats and current Commissioner of Baseball Bud Selig, were on hand at the National Portrait Gallery Tuesday as Lasorda's portrait was officially entered into the museum's collection. The new portrait by Everett Raymond Kinstler is now on view in the New Arrivals gallery of the National Portrait Gallery in Washington, DC.

Image: Warren Perry (right) with Steve Garvey (left) at NPG on September 22. Photo by Ben Bloom.
 

 

Go to the NPG blog at http://face2face.si.edu/my_weblog/2009/09/tommy-lasorda-joins-the-collection-of-the-national-portrait-gallery-.html to read more about the event.

 

To see the dedication ceremony and Warren's interviews with Tommy Lasorda and former LA Dodgers player Tom Paciorek, see the video link below:

If you are having difficulty viewing the video, click here to go to the YouTube link.

Gallery Talk on Eudora Welty by Warren Perry, Thursday, April 30

Thursday, April 30, 2009 - 6 pm at the Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery. Writer/Researcher Warren Perry will give a talk on the 1988 portrait of author Eudora Welty by Mississippi artist

Mildred Nungester Wolfe. Welty and Wolfe, both natives of Jackson, Mississippi, had known each other for many years.

 

Wolfe wrote about painting the portrait: "In 1988, I asked her if I could come and make a drawing of her in her house. It was very cold that day. The heat was off in her house, and she was sitting in her chair in the living room with her coat on. I didn’t take my coat off either. I very carefully made a full-scale drawing in charcoal, took a photograph, and made some color notes. I used all this information to start on the canvas in the studio so Eudora would not have to sit for the portrait. When I was satisfied, I had her come and look. She liked it."

 

Among Welty's best-known works are The Ponder Heart, which earned her the American Academy of Arts and Letters' prestigious William Dean Howells Medal in 1955, and The Optimist's Daughter, for which she received a Pulitzer Prize in 1973.

 

Listen to the audio of this gallery talk: http://www.npg.si.edu/audio/blog_perry_eudora_welty_043009.MP3

Face to Face Gallery Talks are conducted from 6 pm - 6:30 pm on Thursday evenings. Visitors will meet in the F Street lobby of the National Portrait Gallery, 9th Street NW between F and G Streets, NW, and then walk to the appropriate gallery.

 

Image courtesy of the Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery. Eudora Alice Welty, 1988, oil on canvas, by Mildred Nungester Wolfe.

Wolfe quotation: Mildred Nungester Wolfe, by Elizabeth Wolfe, Ellen Douglas, Mildred Nungester Wolfe, University Press of Mississippi, 2005.