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Rocky Mount, N.C.—The Four Sisters Gallery at North Carolina Wesleyan College has just acquired the 1997 oil by Matt Cooper titled "Country Gods." This new acquisition is the result of a successful year-long fundraising effort by Gallery Friends and their associate donors, Julia Congleton-Bryant; Margaret Early; Dr. Nancy Jane Farmer; Belinda Faulkner; Mr. and Mrs. Michael Halpern; Dr. Everette James; Knox, Kornegay, and Bennett, Attorneys at Law; Rhonda MacFarland; Dr. and Mrs. Ian Newbould; and Pattie Tobler. Wesleyan College is grateful to the Gallery Friends for their dedicated effort and generosity to add this meaningful artwork to College’s permanent collection.

"Country Gods" depicts a prayer circle of African-Americans outside a burned-out country church. In the foreground is a pick-up truck with fresh lumber for rebuilding. This powerful image pays tribute to the endurance and resolve of Eastern Carolina communities of faith.

Matt Cooper is a self-taught African-American artist from Littleton, N.C. He has achieved both a critical reputation and following of art collectors for his uncompromising and sometimes difficult images that comment on society and justice. He was recently recognized in the Raleigh News and Observer Weekend Journal and is represented by Gallery C in Raleigh.

The Four Sisters Gallery is dedicated to continuing the collecting legacy of the late Robert Lynch by acquiring significant artworks by contemporary self-taught visionary and "outsider" artists from the Coastal Plain. "Country Gods" will be on special public display in an exhibition titled New Acquisitions at the Four Sisters Gallery in the Thomas Pearsall Building on the Wesleyan College campus. Gallery hours are Monday through Friday, 9-5, and Saturdays, 9-noon.

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