March 28, 2016

"Interlude" Celebrates the Spirit of Black Mountain College Innovative Arts

April 8-29, 2015  Interlude  The Media Arts Project (MAP) and Black Mountain College Museum + Arts Center (BMCM+AC) announce Interlude, a month-long series of contemporary art events to be held in and around BMCM+AC’s galleries in downtown Asheville. 

photo courtesy Black Mountain College Museum+Arts Center
Inspired by Albers’ break from the norm, Interlude is a break with their own tradition and will be held in lieu of {Re}HAPPENING, the annual weekend art event at the former Black Mountain College site at Lake Eden. Interlude is a platform for artists of multiple disciplines to carry out experimental and non-traditional practices emphasized by the scholars of Black Mountain College. 

The event will activate a variety of spaces in downtown Asheville through music, dance, poetry, video, installation, conversation, and participatory events.


Get links for lodging, dining and more local information on our Asheville NC Visitor Guide


March 24, 2016

This Week at The Blowing Rock Art and History Museum

March 24, 2016 from 5:00 to 6:30 PM - Exhibit Reception for "Artifacts: A Tradition of Collection, photographs by Lou Murrey". Artifacts explores the use of photography as a method to collect and preserve interactions, traditions, and histories within a cultural landscape and documentary photography in Appalachia. The photographs serve as narrative windows into the everyday lives of people living in the Appalachian Mountains, while being mindful of the legacy of documentary photography within the region.


Afternoon Art Club, every Tuesday - this week features Daffodils.  3:30 - 4:30, registration required.

Doodlebug Club every Thursday - this week features Springtime!  1 - 2 PM and 3:30 - 4:30 PM, Registration required.

The Blowing Rock Art and History Museum (BRAHM) is located at 159 Chestnut Street in Blowing Rock NC.

March 23, 2016

Recorded Matter: Ceramics in Motion Exhibit at The Center for Crafts and Creative Design

Now - May 21, 2016; Tuesday through Saturday, 10 AM to 6 PM at the Center for Crafts and Creative Design, 67 Broadway Street in Asheville NC: Recorded Matter: Ceramics in Motion showcases the work of eleven artists who effortlessly integrate video into their studio practice. Others use video to document a process that is perhaps more important to them than finished, fired objects. All of these pieces have a life of their own on the Internet, where they can be shared in ways that physical objects cannot.


Cover Image: Ben Harlecourtesy of CCCD

Associated events:

February 11, 6:30 PM: Showing/Making: Curator's Talk with Garth Johnson. This 60-minute multimedia lecture by Garth Johnson explores the work of a new generation of young artists who grew up with easy access to video and social media. Recent years have seen an explosion of work that uses video to not only document process, but to show the use (and abuse) of the work and extend their studio practice. Warning: THIS LECTURE CONTAINS AN EROTIC POETRY READING that may be unsuitable for some audiences. 

April 21, 6:30 PM: Artist's Talk with Thomas Schmidt. Discussion with Recycled China co-founder Thomas Schmidt.

AAAC_logo_colorRecorded Matter: Ceramics in Motion is organized and curated by Arizona State University Art Museum Ceramics Research Center Curator, Garth Johnson. This program is funded in part by the N.C. Arts Council’s Grassroots Arts Program through the Asheville Area Arts Council. 

March 18, 2016

Communicating Through Craft: A Profile of Aaron Hughes

this post written by Sarah Parkinson and submitted by Penland Sketchbook

Art, activism, performance, protest—for Aaron Hughes, the lines between them are blurred and insignificant. “All my work is about creating stories and sharing stories,” he explains. “I’m trying to find space for people to bridge the divides we have in our world through art and through stories.”

from “21 Days to Baghdad/Chicago,”  collection
As a veteran who served in Iraq and Kuwait for fifteen months in 2003-2004, Aaron is sharply aware of those divides. His deployment introduced him to a rougher and more complex world than he’d known growing up in the Midwest. “I felt like the ideas from my upbringing, my religion, my country didn’t make sense anymore,” he remembers. “But what did make sense was art. I felt like art was something I could invest in and believe in and put my energy into. It was something creative and not destructive.”

Aaron came home from his deployment determined to use art as a tool to generate conversations and connections about difficult topics like war, trauma, and oppression. In 2006 he graduated from the University of Illinois with a BFA in painting, and in 2009 he received his MFA in Art Theory and Practice from Northwestern University. Then he went on to work with organizations such as the National Veterans Art Museum, Iraq Veterans Against the War, and the Center for Artistic Activism.

In the summer of 2013, Aaron came to Penland for the first time with a Windgate Charitable Fund Scholarship. “I had spent so much time helping others to tell their stories and listening to other people’s stories that I had neglected any kind of personal work I needed to do,” Aaron explains. “I applied to Penland as a part of my transition back to focusing on my own art practice.”

Aaron Hughes artist and Veteran
He has returned to Penland each summer since to take classes in the printmaking and letterpress studios. “One reason I’m super invested in the printmaking program is that I’m interested in the way printmaking and politics can help to popularize language, stories, and movements,” he says. The connection is clear for Aaron: “Your ability to communicate lies in your ability to execute a craft. That’s what I’ve been gaining each time I come to Penland—the opportunity to develop my craft and to improve my communication skills.”

Aaron readily admits, however, that his time at Penland has been about more than gaining skills in the studio. “Penland is a generous space for me as a veteran,” he explains. “It’s a place of transformation and growth and learning. I’ve been encouraging other veterans to apply there because it’s such a healing, generative space.”

When he’s at Penland, Aaron describes himself as a “studio hound.” “I just want to make, make, make, make, make,” he laughs. But Aaron also values the quieter, more contemplative moments on campus. He describes the short walk back from dinner to the print studio: “There’s a little bench that’s halfway. I’ve often enjoyed sitting there, embracing the evening as it approaches and watching the Appalachian dusk. It’s so beautiful—transcendently beautiful. And I just sit in between all this creativity and embrace the present moment of being there. I feel like that’s healing. That’s wholesome for anybody.”

The Penland Sketchbook is the Blog for  
Penland School of Crafts in Penland NC 

 

March 17, 2016

Art Break Tomorrow at The Asheville Art Museum

March 18, 12:00 PM at The Asheville Art Museum, 2 South Pack Square in downtown Asheville NCMake It Speak: Stories from the Vault. Free with membership or Museum admission 

Asheville Art Museum in Pack Square downtown
For this Art Break, Assistant Curator Carolyn Grosch will give a behind-the-scenes look at the Vault Visible exhibition and current curatorial projects leading up to the Museum’s major construction project. As the Museum undertakes the processes of inventory, packing and moving before the expansion, staff members are making new discoveries about the Museum’s collection every day. In this Stories From the Vault series, curators, educators and special guests tell tales of connoisseurship, conservation, collecting and conundrums as they delve into the recesses of the storage vaults.

March 16, 2016

Southern Highland Craft Guild Kicks Off Spring with Glass and Metal Day at The Folk Center

April 2, 2016, 10 AM - 4 PM at The Folk Art Center, Milepost 382 on the Blue Ridge Parkway in Asheville NC:   Glass and Metal Day.  With Spring around the corner, things are starting to heat upat the Folk Center.

Kicking off the season of educational events is the first Glass & Metal Day at the Folk Art Center. Several of the newest Guild members will be participating, both on the anvil and blowing glass. Earlier this month The Center hosted New Member Orientation for their growing family of artists, and will be sharing more about them with you.

The auditorium will be full of talented craftsmen and women skilled in metalsmithing and jewelry, alongside glass blowers and their kiln. With two of the five original media of craft, nearly 20 Guild members will be bringing the heat.

Through the course of the year, The Folk Art Center hosts a range of events. From Spinning Circles to Dulcimer players, The "Center" is aptly named as a central place of sharing the best of mountain craft and art. To keep up with these happenings, they have created a new online calendar -  CLICK HERE TO SEE MORE EVENTS. 

March 15, 2016

This Week at The Blowing Rock Art and History Museum (BRAHM)

March 15, 2016 from 11 AM - 12 PM - COFFEE WITH THE CURATOR FEATURING WARD NICHOLS. Guests are invited to converse and pose questions while enjoying complimentary coffee.

Ward Nichols: Look Again
March 16, 2016 from 3:30 PM to 5:00 PM - GONE FISHIN', Art for the Trout Derby with instructor Carol Childers

Gone Fishin' art for the Trout Derby
March 17, 2016 from 11:00 AM to 12:00 PM - SCHOLARS & SCONES FEATURING ALICE WRIGHT. Two-thousand Years of Mica Mining in Western North Carolina With Assistant Professor in the Department of Anthropology at Appalachian State university Alice Wright

Scholars and Scones with Alice Wright

March 19, 2016 from 1:00 PM to 4:00 PM - HOME MOVIE DAY.  First Annual Home Movie Day of the High Country. Bring your family films (super 8, 8 mm and 16 mm) to BRAHM where the films, and those of others, will be projected onto a large screen. Spend a Saturday afternoon walking down memory lane with us! You do not have to bring film to enjoy Home Movie Day - please feel free to come and enjoy the films of others. Archivists who specialize in film preservation and conversion will be on hand, as will snacks, bingo, and door prizes.

First Annual Home Movie Day at BRAHM

March 20, 2016 at 2:00 PM - MINI-MATINEE. A Baroque Adventure featuring a delightful collection of dance music from the Baroque era. This performance will encourage audience participation and movement — a great way to get children excited about music.

Mini-Matinee with Baroque Dance Music

Regularly scheduled Museum programs:
Afternoon Art Club - Every Tuesday 3:30 - 4:30 pm Registration required. This week featuring Architecture.
Doodlebug Club - Every Thursday 1 - 2 pm & 3:30 - 4:30 pm Registration required. This week features St. Patrick's Day

The Blowing Rock Art and History Museum is located at 159 Chestnut St in Blowing Rock NC

March 8, 2016

WIngate Fellowship Grant Artist Talks at Asheville's Center for Craft, Creativity and Design

February 26, 6 - 7:30 PM at the Center for Crafts, Creativity and Design, 67 Broadway Street in Asheville NC: Windgate Fellowship Project Grant Artist Talks with Andrea Donnelly, Aaron McIntosh, and Mark Reigelman II.

To celebrate the 10th Anniversary of the Windgate Fellowship Award in 2015, marking $1.5 million awarded to 100 emerging craft artists nationwide, CCCD expanded the program to include three $10,000 project grants awarded to previous Windgate Fellows. The 2015 Windgate Fellow Project Grant recipients are Andrea Donnelly (Richmond, VA), Aaron McIntosh (Baltimore, MD), Mark Reigelman II (Brooklyn, NY). Donnelly, McIntosh, and Reigelman will travel to Asheville, NC on February 26 to deliver a series of rapid fire artist talks and project updates, including:

Smokers - Mark A. Reigelman II, Brooklyn, NY.  Smokers looks at mysterious and commonplace symbols of the city, transforming one of New York's many steam emitting pipes with a meticulously fabricated mini cabin that rests on top.

The Crown Jewel Project - Andrea Donnelly, Richmond, VA. The Crown Jewel Project explores questions of the false dichotomy of conceptual versus functional weaving, looking at value, object, art and labor using "scarf" as conceptual canvas.

Invasive - Aaron McIntosh, Baltimore, MD. Invasive subverts the negative characterization of invasive species and uses queer kudzu as a demonstrative tool of visibility, strength, and tenacity in the face of presumed "unwantedness".

March is Youth Art Month in Madison County

Opening FRIDAY MARCH 4th 4:30 – 7:00 PM: YOUTH ART MONTH is a group show featuring art by Madison County Students and special performances on opening night.  FREE and open to the public.

In celebration of Youth Art Month, Madison County Schools will be showcasing young talent in a district-wide visual and performing arts show located at the Madison County Arts Council Building on Main Street in Marshall NC. On March 4th, there will be an opening reception featuring live performances and artwork from K-12 drama, dance, band, choir, and art students not to be missed. Elementary Music Students will sing their way into your hearts starting at 4:30pm. At 5:10, Madison High School Drama will tempt us with a short segment of their upcoming musical, A Pirate’s Life for Me! Madison Middle School Dance & Drama will begin performing at 6:15 interspersed with performances by Madison Middle School Band and Choir students. The talented High School Jazz Band will entertain throughout the evening with musical charts that will keep your toes tapping. Hands-on art activities, including print-making and face-painting, will be also be organized by Madison Middle School and High School Art for your enjoyment. During the many wonderful performances, displays, and activities, free refreshments will also be provided. 

The visual arts exhibit will continue to be on display throughout the entire month of March.

courtesy Madison Art Council