“Bloom for Yesterday” is an exhibition of works by visiting artist, Rachel Gloria Adams, opening in the University of North Carolina Wilmington’s Cultural Arts Building (CAB) Art Gallery on Thursday, February 20, 2025.
 
The exhibition will run through Wednesday, March 26, 2025.
 
A public opening reception will be held on Thursday, February 20, 2025 from 5:30 p.m. – 7 p.m.
with an artist talk before the reception at 5 p.m. in UNCW's Cultural Arts Building, Room 2033.
 
The artist talk will also be held in person, as well as hosted on Zoom. Please see the Zoom link
listed below, and all the call options listed in the linked press release (https://linktr.ee/cabartgallery)
 
Zoom Artist Talk - Rachel Gloria Adams: 2/20 at 5 p.m. EST
https://uncw.zoom.us/j/86725670417?pwd=imfV2RJVMqUECd9IltmmpKjsejgtEe.1
Meeting ID: 867 2567 0417
Passcode: RGA
 
Gallery hours are Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, and Friday, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. with extended
hours on Thursdays from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m.
 
The CAB Art Gallery is located in the UNCW Cultural Arts Building, 5270 Randall Drive, Wilmington, NC 28403 - UNCW’s campus on the ground floor of the Cultural Arts Building, near the building's main entrance. Visitors can access the gallery from South College Road or Racine Drive, and parking is available in front of the box office entrance to the building.
 
For more information visit https://linktr.ee/cabartgallery
 
 
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"Bloom for Yesterday" is a collection of 10 quilts that highlight moments of tenderness within the Adams family. A combination of paint and quilting are patched together to capture these seemingly small moments that reflect the happiness, pride and depth of motherhood. These moments are depicted in an illustrative style that distills the essence of its subjects. Subtle clues of the subject’s identity are exposed whether it be the strong emphasis on hair to allude to the blackness of the subjects or patterning within their clothing. In many ways each piece serves as self-portraiture as they are moments that have evoked an emotional response from the artist.
 
Adams comes from a lineage of quilters and creatives. The practice of quilting allows Adams to work from home within the chaos of raising two daughters. Her girls, Zoe and Norah, are able to experience these moments and witness the process of translating life into art through their mother’s lens. Adams has created heirlooms that memorialize these specific points in time for the Adams and provide a tangible means of holding onto these moments.
 
The quilts themselves breakdown art institution norms by bringing together painting and craft. These objects give the viewer the sensation of warmth, comfort and home.
 
"Bloom For Yesterday" in essence is a love letter to Adams younger self. As products of divorce and troubled youths, both Rachel and Ryan are dedicated to providing a life for their girls that is
full of adventure, creativity and love. In many ways they are able to experience things for the first time alongside their girls and in return their own inner child is able to blossom in ways they didn’t know they were capable of. On a broader scale the work serves as a reminder of Black joy. As a Black family living in Maine it is not often Black families are represented enjoying the Maine landscape. These moments provide a narrative of joy despite the hardships people of
color endure.
 
Funding for this exhibition at UNCW’s CAB Art Gallery is supported by UNCW’S Seahawks Advancing Interdisciplinary Learning (SAIL) and UNCW’s Department of Art and Art History’s Visiting Artist and Scholars Program.
 
www.rachelgloria.com
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BIOGRAPHY
 
Rachel Gloria Adams is a multidisciplinary artist living in Portland, ME. Adams has developed a vibrant, graphic pattern-based visual language filled with references to the natural world that possess an heirloom quality. Her work takes form by way of quilting, painting, design and largescale murals.
 
Adams moved to Maine in 2005 to pursue her BFA from the Maine College of Art and Design. She has gone on to exhibit artwork at Center for Maine Contemporary Art Dowling Walsh Gallery and Portland Museum of Art. She has attended residencies at Speedwell, Stephen Pace House and is an Indigo Arts Alliance David C Driscoll Fellow. Her artwork has been acquired by the Farnsworth Art Museum and several personal collections. In addition to her studio practice, Adams has been commissioned to create murals for several institutions including the Children’s Museum of Portland, University of Maine and the Farnsworth Art Museum.
 
This spring Adams alongside her husband and creative partner will install a mural at the Worcester Art Museum in Massachusetts.
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ARTIST STATEMENT
 
I am interested in distilling personal memories and experiences into abstractions. I am constantly bouncing back and forth between sewing shapes and painting them. I find that I sew what I can’t paint and paint what I can’t sew. These shapes, icons, and portraits are patched and pieced together as a way of documenting family connections.