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The Nasher Museum Celebrates 10 Years With Artist Odili Donald Odita

Host Frank Stasio talks to the chief curator of the Nasher Art Museum Trevor Schoonmaker and abstract painter Odili Donald Odita about the museums 10 year anniversary celebration

Duke University’s Nasher Museum opened its doors in the fall of 2005 with a vision for a first-rate museum but without a clear path to get there. Luckily the board hired talented staff,and within a few years they were on their way to becoming an established museum with robust collections of contemporary art and art by people of African descent. 

For their 10th anniversary the museum commissioned artist Odili Donald Odita to paint one of their indoor walls and an outdoor wall in downtown Durham. Odita is an abstract painter recognized for the way his art explores history, emotion and culture.  

His downtown mural will be unveiled this Saturday as part of Nasher10 Unplugged, a block party in downtown Durham from 3 p.m. to 8 p.m. featuring a variety of art and music.

Host Frank Stasio talks to Trevor Schoonmaker, chief curator of the Nasher, and abstract painter Odili Donald Odita.

A closer look at Odita's mural at the Nasher
J Caldwell /
A closer look at Odita's mural at the Nasher
Odita also created a mural outside of the downtown Durham YMCA.
J Caldwell /
Odita also created a mural outside of the downtown Durham YMCA.
Downtown Durham YMCA mural
J Caldwell /
Downtown Durham YMCA mural

Copyright 2015 North Carolina Public Radio

Anita Rao is the host and creator of "Embodied," a live, weekly radio show and seasonal podcast about sex, relationships & health. She's also the managing editor of WUNC's on-demand content. She has traveled the country recording interviews for the Peabody Award-winning StoryCorps production department, founded and launched a podcast about millennial feminism in the South, and served as the managing editor and regular host of "The State of Things," North Carolina Public Radio's flagship daily, live talk show. Anita was born in a small coal-mining town in Northeast England but spent most of her life growing up in Iowa and has a fond affection for the Midwest.
Longtime NPR correspondent Frank Stasio was named permanent host of The State of Things in June 2006. A native of Buffalo, Frank has been in radio since the age of 19. He began his public radio career at WOI in Ames, Iowa, where he was a magazine show anchor and the station's News Director.