What are the opening hours?

Monday 8:30am - 4:30pm 11am - 4pm Tuesday 8:30am - 4:30pm 11am - 4pm Wednesday 8:30am - 4:30pm 11am - 6pm Thursday 8:30am - 4:30pm 11am - 4pm Friday 8:30am - 4:30pm 11am - 4pm

The David C. Driskell Center

Home
United States
College Park, MD
The David C. Driskell Center

Call Directions Website Contact the museum

An intellectual home for those who are interested in broadening the field of African Diasporic art.

10/15/2026

Registration for Foundations and Futures closes Thursday, October 29 ⏳

On November 5 and 6, the David C. Driskell Center marks 25 years 🎉 with a two-day symposium rooted in our institutional archive and collections 📚 We’ll look at what the Center has built, what it holds, and where the study of African American and African Diaspora art goes next

🏛️ Registrants can also opt into private tours of two exhibitions at the National Museum of African American History and Culture.

🎓 HBCU faculty, staff, and students receive 20% off registration with the code 25ANNIVHBCU

🎟️ Seats are limited. Register through the link in our bio 🔗

09/29/2026

🚨Heads up! Today is your last chance to register for the Foundations & Futures symposium at a discounted rate.

For 25 years, the David C. Driskell Center has collected, preserved, and shared the work of African American artists and artists of the African Diaspora. This November, we gather to consider what that archive has built and where it leads next.

Register today for only $30 with the link in our bio or at go.umd.edu/driskell25.

09/08/2026

🚨Double Exhibition Opening Alert🚨

The Driskell Center and The STAMP Gallery are both hosting opening receptions for their new exhibitions this Friday evening!

Jubilee is a landmark exhibition that celebrates a quarter-century of collecting, documenting, researching, exhibiting, and advancing Black art at The Driskell Center. The exhibition features 75 works from the Center’s historic art collection that reflect prevalent subjects, aesthetic trends, and concerns that Black artists across the African diaspora have engaged with from the early 20th century to the contemporary moment. The reception for Jubilee is from 5:30-7:30 pm on September 11th. To register, find the link in our bio.

Stamp Gallery 's exhibition, "Afterhours," features six artists whose works examine how obsolescence shapes individual and collective experiences. Reflecting on capitalist definitions of purpose, utility, and worth, featured artists invite viewers to reconsider how these systems of categorization have molded our relationships with objects, spaces, ourselves, and each other. The reception for "Afterhours" is from 5-7 pm on September 11th. For more information, visit stamp.umd.edu/gallery

📸Napoleon Jones-Henderson, Bebop Couple or Just Us; In Time With You, 1996. Sculpture, 19 x 10.75 in. Gift of Bess Bentley Daniels and family.

📸 Trystan Luah, A Caixa Coletora dos Correios (The Post Office Collection Box), 2026.

09/01/2026

Only 10 days away!!

Twenty-five years. One exhibition. Jubilee: Celebrating 25 Years of The Driskell Center opens Friday, September 11. Guest-curated by Adrienne L. Childs (). This exhibition traces the Center’s remarkable journey and looks ahead to what’s next. All are welcome.

🔗 RSVP link in bio.
📍 David C. Driskell Center, University of Maryland

📸 Nelson Stevens, Printed at Raven Fine Art Editions at Easton, PA by Jase Clark. Primal Force, 2019. Serigraph on paper, A/P 7/12, 21 x 20 in. Gift of Ananda Holton.

📸 James Phillips, Spear Chucker/Watermelon Man, 2006. Acrylic on canvas, 28 x 24 in. Permanent loan from the collection of David C. Driskell © James, Shellie Phillips Collection

📸 Maria-Lana Queen, Kindred Spirits #3, 2016. Acrylic and oil stick on paper, 30 x 22.5 in. Gift of Maria-Lana Queen in honor of David C. Driskell.

08/17/2026

🎉We’re thrilled to invite you all to Jubilee, Celebrating 25 years of the Driskell Center! 🎉
Join us for the opening reception on September 11, 5:30–7:30 PM.
This exhibition traces the Center’s remarkable journey and looks ahead to what’s next.
All are welcome. 🔗 RSVP link in bio.
📍 David C. Driskell Center, University of Maryland
🗓️ September 11 | 5:30–7:30 PM

08/04/2026

Installation is underway!
Jubilee: Celebrating 25 Years of The Driskell Center, curated by , opens September 14. Preview reception Friday, September 11 2026 from 5.30-7.30 PM. Free and open to all. Please RSVP with the 🔗 in bio.

Maryland State Arts Council NextNOW Fest UMD Arts for All College of Arts & Humanities UMD Art History

This event is supported in part by the Maryland State Arts Council (msac.org) and the University of Maryland’s Arts for All initiative.

07/29/2026

✨
In anticipation of « Jubilee: Celebrating 25 Years of The Driskell Center, » we’re revisiting memorable exhibitions from the Center’s history.

Pictured here: « American Landscapes: Scenes from the Americas, 1850–2020 » from 2021. « American Landscapes » was the first exhibition after the gallery reopened in person following the pandemic. Curated by Dorit Yaron and Curlee R. Holton, the exhibition brought together 73 works by 68 artists, tracing the contributions of Black artists to the American landscape tradition while placing their work in dialogue with that of their contemporaries.

Opening September 11, « Jubilee » will reflect on 25 years of collecting, exhibitions such as « American Landscapes, » scholarship, and community engagement through collection highlights, recent acquisitions, and archival materials. Stay tuned as we continue our journey through the Center’s past!

07/28/2026

It is with profound sadness that we mark the passing of Betye Saar (1926-2026). A longtime friend, ally and supporter of David C. Driskell, Saar’s practice marked a turn in Black Art History. Saar’s work has been collected by The Driskell Center since the late 2000s, and for more than six decades, her work transformed everyday objects into powerful statements on gender, race, or memory, shaping generations of artists who followed her.
Saar was last featured at The Driskell Center in 2023, in a duo show in conversation with Faith Ringgold centered on printmaking (Ringgold|Saar : Meeting On The Matrix), and she will be honored in our upcoming fall exhibition, Jubilee. She will be deeply missed. Images:
Betye Saar and David C. Driskell during Saar’s visit to Driskell’s home in Falmouth, Maine (August, 1999). David C. Driskell Papers, MS01.11.01.P0653. The Driskell Center at the University of Maryland, College Park.
The Long Memory, 1998, Serigraph Print, 14.50 » x 11.75”, Edition #81/100 Courtesy of Steven Scott Gallery, Photography by Greg Staley, 2017. 2012.16.001
Betye Saar, LA Sky with Spinning Hearts, 1989, Print, 25’’ x 29’’ Edition # 16/32. Gift from Jean and Robert E. Steele Collection. Photography by Greg Staley, 2017. 2017.08.023

07/23/2026

.
In anticipation of « Jubilee: Celebrating 25 Years of The Driskell Center, » we’re revisiting memorable exhibitions from the Center’s (pre)history.
Hosted UMD Art Gallery, « Narratives of African American Art and Identity » from 1998 was formative to the Center and is a crucial part of its prehistory. The show brought together 100 works by 61 artists from David C. Driskell’s collection, tracing the evolution of African American identity and artistic expression from the 1870s to the present. The show traveled nationally, introducing audiences across the country to the collection.

Opening September 11, « Jubilee » will reflect on 25 years of collecting, exhibitions including « Narratives, » scholarship, and community engagement through beloved works from the collection, recent acquisitions, and archival materials. Stay tuned as we continue our journey through the Center’s past and register for the opening reception (🔗in bio).
📸 Credit: Artists gathered at a panel discussion held as part of the « Narratives of African American Art and Identity » exhibition at the University of Maryland, College Park. From left to right: Patricio Moreno Toro (holding a copy of the exhibition catalogue), Mary Lovelace O’Neal, Mel Edwards, Lou Stovall (crouching in front), William T. Williams, Jerome Meadows, and David C. Driskell (November 1998). Photograph by Tosha Grantham. David C. Driskell Papers, MS01.11.01.P0636. Courtesy of The Driskell Center at the University of Maryland, College Park.

07/16/2026

In anticipation of "Jubilee: Celebrating 25 Years of The Driskell Center," we're revisiting memorable exhibitions from the Center's history.

Pictured here: "Evolution: Five Decades of Printmaking by David C. Driskell" from 2009

"Evolution" was the inaugural exhibition in The Driskell Center's current home in Cole Student Activities Building. Curated by Dr. Adrienne L. Childs, the exhibition featured more than 75 prints alongside preparatory works and woodblocks, offering an unprecedented look at five decades of Driskell's artistic practice. We are delighted to welcome Dr. Childs back as the curator of "Jubilee: Celebrating 25 Years of The Driskell Center."

Opening September 11, "Jubilee" will reflect on 25 years of collecting, exhibitions such as "Evolution," scholarship, and community engagement through collection highlights, recent acquisitions, and archival materials. Stay tuned as we continue our journey through the Center's past!

Address

1214 Cole Student Activities Building
College Park, MD
20742

Opening Hours

Monday	8:30am - 4:30pm
	11am - 4pm
Tuesday	8:30am - 4:30pm
	11am - 4pm
Wednesday	8:30am - 4:30pm
	11am - 6pm
Thursday	8:30am - 4:30pm
	11am - 4pm
Friday	8:30am - 4:30pm
	11am - 4pm

Telephone

+13013142615

Website

http://driskellcenter.umd.edu/, https://driskellcenter.umd.edu/news/artist-team-selected-david-c-and-thelma-g-driskell-a

Alerts

Be the first to know and let us send you an email when The David C. Driskell Center posts news and promotions. Your email address will not be used for any other purpose, and you can unsubscribe at any time.

Contact The Museum

Send a message to The David C. Driskell Center:

Want your museum to be the top-listed museum in College Park?