Maya Freelon Returns to the Museum Her Father Designed
Location: Gregg Museum of Art & Design, Raleigh, North Carolina
Date: October 29, 2026 – May 29, 2027
Project: Grounded, a Maya Freelon retrospective
Why it Matters: Three generations of Freelons hang in one show
The Gregg Museum sits in a 1927 mansion on Hillsborough Street in Raleigh, with a glass-and-brick wing added in 2017. The architect was Phil Freelon, and this fall his daughter, Maya Freelon, fills those galleries with her own work. Grounded is her first retrospective, with more than 20 pieces from across her career, along with new installations she made for the museum.
Maya Freelon has worked with tissue paper since the start of her career, a material she first got from her grandmother. She soaks the paper until the ink spreads across it. The finished pieces are sculptures and collages several feet wide.
The show keeps the family close. The Gregg’s building was designed by Phil Freelon, the architect behind the National Museum of African American History and Culture in Washington. His daughter’s tissue paper now shares these walls with his own work and with paintings by her great-grandfather, Allan Freelon Sr., a Harlem Renaissance painter.
“The juxtaposition of these new immersive environments alongside artwork by my father and great-grandfather brings new meaning to this retrospective”
Maya Freelon
The Gregg has more on view alongside Grounded this season, with shows continuing into the spring. Freelon gives a gallery tour on opening day, October 29.
Grounded runs through May 29, 2027.
More info: gregg.arts.ncsu.edu
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