Have you visited the Harvey B. Gantt Center for African-American Arts + Culture? Its current magnificent location on 551 S. Tryon St. opened in 2009. The Gantt Center, a Knight Arts Grantee, has a long history in our city, but this museum — part of the Levine Center for the Arts campus — is yet another jewel in Charlotte’s art crown.

The location and design of the Gantt Center are references to the history of Charlotte’s black community, of which the Brooklyn neighborhood was the center until the 1960s, when it was razed for urban renewal. One of the schools in this neighborhood, called the Myers School, was actually nicknamed the Jacob’s Ladder School because of the numerous fire escapes that flanked the building. Jacob’s Ladder has both a local and broader context to the African-American culture and is a powerful metaphor and only one of the deeper connotative meanings behind this exquisite architecture.

Although its focus is on African-American arts and culture, this place is for everyone. You definitely want to check out the exhibitions that will be leaving after August 21, 2011. “The John & Vivian Hewitt Collection of African-American Art” is a rare and significant collection that chronicles the most important black artists of our time.

It’s not news that for too long African-American artists were greatly excluded from art history. This collection, purchased and donated to the Gantt Center by Bank of America, represents a 50-year period where the Hewitt’s collected many, many works of art. One of the best parts of this show is experiencing multiple works of art by one artist. Ernest Crichlow has a painting/collage, a lithograph and serigraph, which all represent his portraits of women that are lovely, simple captured moments in a life.

The lithographs of John T. Biggers, a Gastonia native, are strong visual reminders of family and yet stand alone as incredible works of art. Many famous artists are represented in this collection, including Romare Bearden and Elizabeth Catlett. (Bearden, a Charlotte native, will be celebrated throughout the city starting in September.) The hand-written notes to the Hewitts on some work is a reminder of the importance of history and relationships between artists and patrons. Don’t miss this historic show.

“Jeanne Moutoussamy-Ashe — An Anthology: Faces, Places and Spaces” represents the artist’s personal expression of visual literacy or a vocabulary of light. Moutoussamy-Ashe’s photographs transport you all over the world and invite a closer look at faces, places and spaces that inspired her through the years. This anthology of photographs is about culture, human spirit, texture and light. Arranged in specific groupings, as well as powerful juxtaposition of images, these are photos that grab you with their formal elements, but they don’t let go. There are too many outstanding photographs to name, but the images in her “Spaces” series are burning in my memory, especially “Tables and Chairs” and “Burned Window.”

Finally, the exhibition “Live and In Stereo(type)” is one that forces the viewer to confront some difficult ideas about black stereotypes and our current culture. (Please note this show contains mature themes.) Marcia Jones and Fahamu Pecou are the first artists-in-residents in a new collaboration with the Harvey B. Gantt Center for African-American Arts + Culture and the McColl Center for Visual Art. The residency program supports artists of color who are inspired by African-American culture; committed to artistic investigation; and are interested in community engagement.

This work is a powerful commentary on a number of issues and being true to the goals of this program, this show stirred some public interest. Thursday, July 21 at 6:30 p.m., there will be a free round-table discussion about this exhibition that is open to the public.

Harvey B. Gantt Center for African-American Arts + Culture 551 S. Tryon St., Charlotte, N.C. 28202 Exhibition Galleries hours Sunday: 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. Monday: Closed Tuesday through Saturday: 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Admission: $8 to $5 (Children 5 and under and members are free) All three exhibitions run through August 21, 2011: John & Vivian Hewitt Collection of African-American Art Jeanne Moutoussamy-Ashe — An Anthology: Faces, Places and Spaces Live and In Stereo(type)  (Note this show contains mature themes. Thursday, July 21 at 6:30 p.m. will be a free round-table discussion that is open to the public.)