Linda Lavin Donates Art Collection to Cameron Art Museum in North Carolina

Award winning actress and singer Linda Lavin has recently donated her personal art collection to Cameron Art Museum (3201 South 17th Street, Wilmington, North Carolina). As Lavin prepares to leave Wilmington - her home for many years - for New York City, she has gifted the museum with a collection that features many leading native American artists of the Southwest, as well as artists from the Bay area and New York City. Selections from Ms. Lavin’s collection are now part of the museum's current exhibition, The Transformative Power of Friendship, which tells an intertwined story of friendship and philanthropy. There will be a public exhibition opening reception on Sunday, November 11, 2012 from 3:00 pm to 5:00 pm, which will celebrate Ms. Lavin’s generosity and philanthropic leadership within the local community.

Linda Lavin won a Tony Award for her performance in Broadway Bound in 1987, as well as Drama Desk, Outer Critics and Helen Hayes Awards. Her also received Tony Award nominations were for The Last of the Red Hot Lovers, The Diary of Anne Frank, The Tale of the Allergist's Wife, Collected Stories and, most recently, The Lyons (Village Voice Obie Award). She is a three-time winner of the Drama Desk Award and two-time Golden Globe winner for her title role on the TV series "Alice." Her numerous film appearances include the recent Wanderlust with Jennifer Aniston, as well as the upcoming A Short History of Decay with co-stars Harris Yulin and Bryan Greenberg. She recently released her first CD, "Possibilities," an album of Broadway and jazz standards, on the Sh-K-Boom label and she frequently tours her concert act with musical director Billy Stritch. Her next concert will be at the Kennedy Center in Washington, DC on November 16tH. Linda was born, raised and educated in Portland, Maine, and graduated from the College of William and Mary, which recently conferred on her a Doctor of Arts degree. She and her husband, drummer Steve Bakunas have a beagle/jack named Mickey and a wonderful life.

Cameron Art Museum located in Wilmington, North Carolina in Pyramid Park, features long-leaf pine woodlands, outdoor sculptures, nature trails, an historic Civil War site and Clay Studio housed in the Pancoe Art Education Center. The main museum building includes two exhibition areas, the Weyerhaeuser lecture and reception hall, a full service museum café known as Café Johnnie, and a museum gift shop. Formerly named St. John’s Museum of Art, Cameron Art Museum is a cultural gathering place committed to arts education. The museum presents exhibitions and public programs of both historical and contemporary significance, with 6-8 changing exhibitions annually, in addition to outdoor, site-specific projects on its park property. The Museum's Permanent Collection of fine arts, crafts and design includes work by artists of national and international significance, including works by North Carolina artists. Selected works from the Permanent Collection are exhibited periodically in thematic exhibitions. The museum also presents lively, ongoing family and children's programs each month; Alzheimers “Connections” tours for patients and their caretakers; ongoing interdisciplinary public programs (lectures, music, films, literature, dance); adult and youth art education and healthy living classes at The Museum School and workshops, classes and demonstrations in ceramic arts at the Clay Studio, overseen by resident master artist Hiroshi Sueyoshi.

The museum is located at 3201 South 17th Street, Wilmington, North Carolina 28412.
For more information call (910) 395- 5999 or visit www.cameronartmuseum.com.