On View: ‘Shacks, Stories and Spirit: Beverly Buchanan’s Art of Home’ at Georgia Museum of Art, Her Work ‘Speaks to South in Intimate, Powerful Way’

BEVERLY BUCHANAN (American, 1940-2015), “Shot Gun House,” 1992 (mixed media, 14 1/4 × 10 1/4 × 15 1/2 inches). | Georgia Museum of Art, University of Georgia; Gift of Ann Oliver in loving memory and honor of her husband Ted Oliver. 2019.321

On View presents images from noteworthy exhibitions

THROUGH HER UNIQUE PRACTICE, Beverly Buchanan (1940-2015) introduced the vernacular architecture of humble shacks found in Black communities throughout the rural South to the fine art world. Buchanan is best known for her model-scale shack sculptures, which pay homage to the modest hand-built dwellings she recalled from childhood travels with her father, a professor who studied the economic and social conditions of tenant and farm laborers in South Carolina.

Born in North Carolina, Buchanan grew up in South Carolina. She earned a master’s degree in public health and became an educator in New York before pursuing a career in art. Her work reflects her early experiences, exploring collective histories, identity, memory, place, and notions of home. She worked in a variety of mediums, including sculpture, painting, drawing, photography, video, and land art.

Curated by Shawnya L. Harris, “Shacks, Stories and Spirit: Beverly Buchanan’s Art of Home” at the Georgia Museum of Art at the University of Georgia in Athens, Ga., focuses on the years the Buchanan lived in Athens, from 1987 to 2010, and features works she made during that time. Drawn exclusively from the collection of the Georgia Museum of Art, 25 sculptures and vibrant drawings are on view, including a self-portrait of the artist. “Beverly Buchanan’s art speaks to the South in such an intimate, powerful way,” Harris said in a statement. “She lived here, she knew its landscapes, and she turned everyday materials into narratives of belonging.”

“Beverly’s Athens,” a joint exhibition at the Athenaeum, the non-collecting contemporary art venue affiliated with the University of Georgia’s Lamar Dodd School of Art, was on view Jan. 16-March 21, 2026. The exhibitions were the first major presentations of Buchanan’s work in Athens and coincide with her first exhibition in Europe. On view through Aug. 19, 2026, “Beverly Buchanan. Impermanences, with Hélène Yamba-Guimbi” at 49 Nord 6 Est—FRAC Lorraine in Metz, France, presents her work in conversation with a young artist and poet based in Paris. CT

“Shacks, Stories and Spirit: Beverly Buchanan’s Art of Home” is on view at the Georgia Museum of Art, University of Georgia, Athens, Ga., from Jan. 3-June 14, 2026. The exhibition is curated by Shownya L. Harris, the Georgia Museum of Art’s Larry D. and Brenda A. Thompson Curator of African American and African Diasporic Art

FIND MORE about the exhibition

Installation view of “Shacks, Stories and Spirit: Beverly Buchanan’s Art of Home,” Georgia Museum of Art, University of Georgia, Athens, Ga. (Jan. 3-June 14, 2026). | Courtesy Georgia Museum of Art, University of Georgia

BEVERLY BUCHANAN (American, 1940-2015), “Double Barn Backup,” n.d. (painted foam board, glue and nails, 24 1/2 × 16 × 11 3/8 inches). | Georgia Museum of Art, University of Georgia; Museum purchase with funds provided by the W. Newton Morris Charitable Foundation. 2000.52

BEVERLY BUCHANAN (American, 1940-2015), Untitled (self-portrait), 1990s. Digital print colored with marker on paper, 5 1/2 × 8 1/2 inches. Georgia Museum of Art, University of Georgia; Gift of James and Lane Norton. 2024.260

BEVERLY BUCHANAN (American, 1940-2015), “Jamestown,” 1992 (oil pastel on paper, 38 1/4 × 50 inches). | Georgia Museum of Art, University of Georgia; Gift of Mr. and Mrs. James Norton. 1996.14

BEVERLY BUCHANAN (American, 1940-2015), Untitled (accordion format shack), n.d. (painted metal, 8 5/8 × 10 1/4 × 3 3/4 inches). | Georgia Museum of Art, University of Georgia; Gift of the estate of Mrs. Gene G. Weeks. 2025.2

Installation view of “Shacks, Stories and Spirit: Beverly Buchanan’s Art of Home,” Georgia Museum of Art, University of Georgia, Athens, Ga. (Jan. 3-June 14, 2026). | Courtesy Georgia Museum of Art, University of Georgia

BEVERLY BUCHANAN (American, 1940-2015), Untitled, circa 1980s/1990s (oil pastel on canvas, 12 1/4 × 12 inches). | Georgia Museum of Art, University of Georgia; Gift of James and Lane Norton. 2024.258

BEVERLY BUCHANAN (American, 1940-2015), Untitled, circa 1980s/1990s (oil pastel on paper, 11 × 13 15/16 inches). | Georgia Museum of Art, University of Georgia; Gift of James and Lane Norton. 2024.257

BEVERLY BUCHANAN (American, 1940-2015), Untitled (chickens), n.d. (marker on paper plate, 10 × 12 3/4 × 1 1/2 inches). | Georgia Museum of Art, University of Georgia; Gift of James and Lane Norton, 2024.268

BEVERLY BUCHANAN (American, 1940-2015), “Spirit Tree,” circa 1980s/1990s (found object assemblage, 18 × 12 × 11 inches). | Georgia Museum of Art, University of Georgia; Gift of James and Lane Norton. 2024.267

BEVERLY BUCHANAN (American, 1940-2015), “Happy Shack,” 1987 (lithograph, 22 1/2 × 15 inches). | Georgia Museum of Art, University of Georgia; Museum purchase. 1993.25.16

Installation view of “Shacks, Stories and Spirit: Beverly Buchanan’s Art of Home,” Georgia Museum of Art, University of Georgia, Athens, Ga. (Jan. 3-June 14, 2026). | Courtesy Georgia Museum of Art, University of Georgia

BEVERLY BUCHANAN (American, 1940-2015), Untitled (shacks with car), 1990s (ink and marker on postcard paper, 4 × 5 15/16 inches). | Georgia Museum of Art, University of Georgia; Gift of James and Lane Norton. 2024.263

BEVERLY BUCHANAN (American, 1940-2015), Untitled (shacks with cow), 1990s (ink and marker on postcard paper, 4 × 5 15/16 inches). | Georgia Museum of Art, University of Georgia; Gift of James and Lane Norton. 2024.264

BEVERLY BUCHANAN (American, 1940-2015), “Bubba’s Chair,” n.d. (various woods and ink, 14 1/4 × 8 7/8 × 12 5/8 inches). | Georgia Museum of Art, University of Georgia; Museum purchase with funds provided by the W. Newton Morris Charitable Foundation. 2000.51

BEVERLY BUCHANAN (American, 1940-2015), “Shack,” 1987 (painted foam board, glue, and nails, 11 3/4 × 4 5/8 × 5 7/8 inches). | Georgia Museum of Art, University of Georgia; Gift of James and Lane Norton. 2024.266

BEVERLY BUCHANAN (American, 1940-2015), Untitled (shacks with flowers), 1995 (ink and marker on paper, 6 5/16 × 8 3/16 inches). | Georgia Museum of Art, University of Georgia; Gift of James and Lane Norton. 2024.265

BEVERLY BUCHANAN (American, 1940-2015), “Floral Design,” 1997 (oil pastel on paper, 22 1/4 × 30 inches). | Georgia Museum of Art, University of Georgia; Gift of James C. Norton and Lane T. Norton. 2003.34

BEVERLY BUCHANAN (American, 1940-2015), “Medicine Woman,” 1993 (found object assemblage, 75 × 23 3/4 × 16 1/2 inches). | Georgia Museum of Art, University of Georgia; Gift of the estate of the artist. 2015.318

Installation view of “Shacks, Stories and Spirit: Beverly Buchanan’s Art of Home,” Georgia Museum of Art, University of Georgia, Athens, Ga. (Jan. 3-June 14, 2026). | Courtesy Georgia Museum of Art, University of Georgia

BOOKSHELF
The forthcoming later this year, the exhibition catalog “Beverly Buchanan: I Broke the House” complements a show of the same name at Swiss architecture school ETH Zürich in 2024. “Beverly Buchanan, Athens, Ga, 8 July 1995” is expected to be released in May. Also consider “Beverly Buchanan: Marsh Ruins” (an e-book from Afterall Books / One Work) and an earlier, hard to find volume, “Beverly Buchanan: Shackworks, A 16-Year Survey” (1994).