Hammonds House Museum presents
Beau McCall: Divas, Blues, and Memories
Curated by: Souleo
February 13 - June 28, 2026 | Hammonds House Museum
Discover our rich history of exhibitions celebrating artists’ ideas, culture, innovation, and human expression. From groundbreaking installations to community favorites, these past exhibitions reveal the vibrant narratives that shape our institution and inspire a diverse community of collectors, educators, students, families, and art enthusiasts.
Billie’s Blues, circa 1995-2025 | Photo credit: Spencer Imbrock
Hammonds House Museum presents
Beau McCall: Divas, Blues, and Memories
Beau McCall: Divas, Blues, and Memories draws from three distinct series that together celebrate music’s role as a source of inspiration, cathartic emotional solace, and marker of significant life experiences.
Anchoring the exhibition are McCall’s music-themed collages. McCall created each one by hand using his personal archival photos and papers, along with images from his button-embellished artwork. Once completed, the works were scanned and printed on metal for luminosity. Divided into two categories, the collages pull from his Diva Worship and REWIND: MEMORIES ON REPEAT series. The former features portraits of both famous and underrepresented divas–of all gender identities–whose music inspired, empowered, and captivated McCall, particularly during his coming-of-age in the 1970s LGBTQ+ community.
The John Rhoden Sculpture Garden was created through an historic collaboration between the John Rhoden Collection at PAFA—under the leadership of Dr. Brittany Webb, Evelyn and Will Kaplan Curator of Twentieth‑Century Art—and the Hammonds House Museum, led by Halima Taha, Inaugural Artistic Chair. This partnership united scholarly stewardship and curatorial leadership to establish a permanent cultural space dedicated to advancing public engagement with Rhoden’s work and legacy, particularly among intellectually and culturally diverse audiences.
The sculptures on view are gifts from the John Walter and Richanda Phillips Rhoden Collection at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts (PAFA). The John Rhoden Sculpture Garden was established on September 20, 2024.
