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Hi! Happy weekend.

It’s early spring—North Carolina’s infamous stage of false starts; bouts of jacket weather followed by blooms and preternaturally warm days. It’s also a time of year with lots of culture turnover and new art exhibition openings. 

Here’s the INDY guide to spring exhibition highlights, featuring twenty-one current and upcoming shows to look out for. 

These include several big NCMA shows (Art in Bloom is coming soon, too!), a show at new Durham artist-run space PORTAL that has several workshop opportunities, as well as upcoming exhibits at galleries a day trip away (a whole slate of Andrew Wyeth paintings are at the Reynolda House in Winston-Salem through May!). There’s plenty of art news to keep an eye on throughout the year, too, like the Nasher’s new sculpture garden, which will open in October. 

What shows are you excited to get out and go see this spring? 

More INDY stories and culture news from around the Triangle below. Want to help keep local journalism going strong? Consider becoming one of our Press Club members—more info here. Thank you for reading! 

“There’s a little bit of old, a little bit of new,” Bill Smith says of menu items (pictured above) at Tonya’s Café. Photo by Lena Geller.

elsewhere in the culture section

Tonya Council, the granddaughter of Mama Dip’s founder Mildred Council, who died in 2018, is carrying on the family’s Chapel Hill (and far beyond) legacy with a new cafe. 

“I’m trying to keep the tradition going in my own kind of way,” Tonya Council told the INDY. “I’m not trying to fill those shoes. I’m just trying to keep the memory alive and get good food going.”

Her food—which has the Bill Smith stamp of approval—includes Council family classics, as well as new kinds of menu items, like sandwiches and flights (!) of cornbread. Read more about the cafe here. 

Did you know Pauli Murray was a dog lover? You can support The Pauli Murray Center with a fundraising pack walk tomorrow, or peruse other local events we recommend this week.

ICYMI: The White Lotus accents. “You don’t get the Sunday scaries afterward”: 50 Years of Irregardless. Rethinking prenups. Chatting with Tracy Deonn. 

— Sarah Edwards —
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Sarah Edwards is culture editor of the INDY, covering cultural institutions and the arts in the Triangle. She joined the staff in 2019 and assumed her current role in 2020.