Shakey Graves to Headline the Carter’s 60th Birthday Bash

The Amon Carter Museum of American Art is hosting a 60th Birthday Bash on September 25 from 4 to 10 p.m. with six hours of art-inspired activities and live music to celebrate six decades of the Carter. Live music kicks off at 6:30 p.m. with DJ Ronnie Heart prior to Austin native Shakey Graves—whose music combines blues, folk, country, and rock and roll—who will take the stage at 8 p.m. The evening will conclude with a fireworks show on the Carter’s lawn.

Throughout the event, a variety of free creative experiences will be offered. Connect with the Carter’s collection through gallery experiences and hands-on activities led by our current and former Carter Community Artists, and get creative and celebratory with our community partners. Celebrate our anniversary by getting to know the Carter’s collection with the “60 Years of Art” Art Discovery Guide and explore two new exhibitions opening to the public on September 25: Imagined Realism: Scott and Stuart Gentling, the first exhibition to highlight the work of Fort Worth artists Scott and Stuart Gentling; and Anila Quayyum Agha: A Beautiful Despair, featuring site-specific sculptural installations alongside related drawings by Pakistani-American multidisciplinary artist Anila Quayyum Agha. Additional event highlights include the opportunity to contribute to our community family photo album, create your own 3D paper artworks, and send us well wishes for our next 60 years with a giant birthday card.

“The Carter is thrilled to celebrate our 60th anniversary with a free, fun event with our community, who have played such a vital role on the past six decades of the Carter,” said Andrew J. Walker, the museum’s Executive Director. “With an evening of art, activities, and live music from the talented Shakey Graves, we know it will be a night to remember ending with the biggest birthday candles we could find—a fireworks show overlooking downtown Fort Worth from our lawn.”

Local food trucks will be on-site serving a variety of dining options for purchase. Visit cartermuseum.org/BirthdayBash for an up-to-date list of food trucks. Carter museum members will receive access to a VIP area with free drinks and lite bites. Pan Ector is back by popular demand with their Fort Worth-themed T-shirts that are screen printed on-site.

Free tickets are available online beginning July 1. All ages require a free ticket to enter the event, including infants and toddlers. Exclusive early tickets are available for Carter members beginning June 22. Visit cartermuseum.org/BirthdayBash to reserve your tickets in advance of the event. Free parking is available at the UNT Health Science Center lot and east garage on Clifton Street (north of the museum). Additional paid parking is also available at the Eastern Heritage Garage on Gendy Street and other parking lots at the Will Rogers Memorial Center. For more information about the Birthday Bash, parking and accessibility, call 817.738.1933 or email info@cartermuseum.org. Visit the museum’s website and follow Facebook, Twitter and Instagram for updates. Will Rogers Road will be closed between Lancaster Avenue and Camp Bowie Boulevard from 8 a.m. to 10 p.m. on the day of the event. Please no pets or outside food and drink.

Presenting Sponsor: Meador Dodge Chrysler Jeep Ram. Generously supported by Luther King Capital Management, The Projects Group, William E. Scott Foundation, and the Board of Trustees and the Ambassador Council of the Carter.

About Shakey Graves:

Shakey Graves is an Americana musician from Austin, Texas, whose music combines blues, folk, country, and rock and roll. This year marks the 10-year anniversary of his self-released debut album Roll the Bones, which gained him national attention as he began touring with artists such as Mumford and Sons, Edward Sharpe, and Old Crow Medicine Show. In 2015, he received the Best Emerging Artist award at the Americana Music Awards.

Exhibitions Opening September 25:

Anila Quayyum Agha: A Beautiful Despair

September 25, 2021–January 9, 2022

Commissioned by the Carter, multidisciplinary artist Anila Quayyum Agha will create an immersive, site-specific sculptural installation informed by her multicultural, migrant experience. Using metal armatures of open geometric and curvilinear designs to encase a single light source, Agha will produce a meditative space filled with ornate patterns of light and shadow. Bridging modern and traditional materials with historic and contemporary meanings, her installation at the Carter will be accompanied by a new series of drawings that incorporate textile processes like wax, dyes and embroidery to reposition practices of traditional domestic servitude as a fine art form. The exhibition continues the museum’s history of telling the complex stories and identities that have defined American art history as well as supporting artists who are reinventing traditional modes of works on paper.

Imagined Realism: Scott and Stuart Gentling

September 25, 2021–January 9, 2022

Imagined Realism marks the first comprehensive retrospective of Fort Worth artists Scott and Stuart Gentling. Featuring more than 150 works and archival objects, the exhibition is part of a multiyear initiative to further the scholarship and research on these two artists, which began in conjunction with the establishment of the Gentling Study Center at the Carter in 2019. Imagined Realism demonstrates the Carter’s longstanding work with Texas artists to contextualize the practices of local and regional art within the American canon. The exhibition is grounded by the museum’s extensive archival collection, which is dedicated to preserving artistic legacies.