Sept. 2 marked the beginning of the centennial celebration of 20th century American master artist Romare Bearden. Charlotte, N.C. was his birthplace, as well as an underlying influence in much of his art. There are a number of exhibitions here sharing why Bearden is an artist to be honored, but one highlighting his Charlotte influence is a major exhibition of more than 40 collages, watercolors and prints at the Jerald Melberg Gallery.

Bearden said of his own work: “I thought about who I was and what I liked, and I began to paint pictures of people I know and remembered down South.” Whether intimate interior scenes or lovely landscapes with common people and trains in the distance, all of these works of art are tender glimpses into one artist’s soul.

This show, called “Romare Bearden: An Artist Remembers His Birthplace,” is free and open to the public and is on view now through Saturday, Nov. 12. You can see Bearden’s “unique works,” like collage and watercolor, as well as his “graphic works,” which are editions like lithographs and screen prints. All feature the artist’s memories of Charlotte and Mecklenburg County in an artistic voice, which is uniquely Bearden.

Bearden is quite famous for his collages. One might argue that he did more for mainstreaming collage than artists Georges Braque and Pablo Picasso, who coined the term in the beginning of the 20th century. (The word “collage” is derived from a French root word meaning “to glue” and is best known as an assemblage of different — often paper — forms and pieces recombined into a new whole.)

Bearden’s collages may use found papers, printed magazines pieces or his own painted or printed papers. They often have some additional paint, pen or pencil detail work as well. His works are very subtle but powerful when experienced in person. Although they reproduce well, there is no substitute for standing in front of one of these works in real life.

Like the majority of this artist’s work, these pieces are not labored but spontaneous, like improvisational jazz. Bearden’s art is always complex. It may be figurative and about place, while being abstract at the same time. It’s musical in nature and is built up layer upon layer, literally and figuratively.

“I am trying to explore the particulars of the life that I know best; those things common to all cultures,” he once said.

Though Bearden spent the majority of his life living in other places, he said: “I keep going back, for some reason, to Mecklenburg … I can’t explain it.” This exhibition celebrates that connection, his roots.

The artist kept going back to this source of personal memories, and we see things like windows, doors and trains over and over again in his work. Bearden uses these common metaphors just like he uses color to lead us through these places and to emphasize important details. Every mark, every “note” in his work is significant, even in its subtleness.

Michael Kimmelman, of “The New York Times,” wrote: “Bearden was not a great black artist; he was a great artist, who wove his own life and the lives of other blacks into collages, a distinction that needs restating. His genius … was to see collage as an inherent social metaphor …”

This is a show you don’t want to miss.

“Romare Bearden: An Artist Remembers His Birthplace” Sept. 10 – Nov. 12, 2011 Jerald Melberg Gallery 625 S. Sharon Amity Road, Charlotte Gallery hours: Monday through Saturday, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. and by appointment 704-365-3000