Perspectives on Jacob Lawrence and Black Mountain College

The relocation of Black Mountain College Museum + Arts Centers ushers in a new season of fantastic showings, beginning with an exhibition featuring a large collection of widely-sourced works by Jacob Lawrence.

The show is entitled "Between Form and Content: Perspectives on Jacob Lawrence and Black Mountain College," and a new article by Alli Marshall offers a critique:

When Jeff Arnal stepped into the role of executive director at Black Mountain College Museum + Arts Center just about two years ago, one of his first initiatives was to apply for a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts. The subsequent $25,000 Art Works award from the NEA, along with $60,000 from the Mr. and Mrs. Raymond J. Horowitz Foundation for the Arts, was earmarked for the curation of...read more.

2 Articles and an Exhibition Highlight the Women of Back Mountain College

"The Spiral Headed Man" sculptural installation by Lorna Blaine Harper (Image: Max Eternity)

Anni Albers is perhaps the best known woman to have passed through Black Mountain College (BMC).  She was one of the original "weavers" at the Bauhaus in Germany, where here husband, Josef Albers, also taught and practiced.  And there are other notable women who graced the halls and grounds of BMC who have received a fair amount of recognition through the years, like photographer Hazel Larsen Archer, and one of my personal favorites, a painter and sculptor named Lorna Blaine Halper whose work was included in a feature article I wrote in 2015 about the Asheville Art Museum.

In recent years, BMC has garnered more attention in the press and the world of art history, in no small part due to the hefty book, Leap Before You Look by Helen Molesworth, and touring exhibition curated by Molesworth and Ruth Erickson, as well as the many years of tireless work carried out at the Black Mountain College Museum + Art Center.

And earlier this year, 2 new articles continue the trend of celebrating BMC, of which both highlight the contributions of women.  Appearing this spring at Artsy.net was a piece entitled "8 Pioneering Women Artists of Black Mountain College," and in July at Hyperallergic an article entitled "Revisiting the Legacy of Women at Black Mountain College" speaks to an exhibition in Maine at the Yvette Torres Fine Art, entitled "Women of Black Mountain College: Nevertheless They Persisted."

Shared History: Black Mountain College + Arts Museum Celebrates 25th Anniversary

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This summer in Asheville, North Carolina, The Black Mountain College +Arts Museum celebrated their 25th Anniversary with an exhibition entitled Shared History.  Having gained funding for a new and larger location a few years ago, the Shared History exhibition will be the last at their present site.

From the BlackMountainCollege.org website:

2018 marks the 25th anniversary of the founding of BMCM+AC. As the last exhibition to be held in our 56 Broadway gallery before the move to 120 College St. on Pack Square Park in downtown Asheville, Shared History highlights not just the museum’s origins, programs, exhibitions, partnerships, {Re}HAPPENINGs, conferences, and notable collection pieces, but the many ways that this organization has created a space for connection and creativity, fulfilling its original promise to BMC alumni to be not merely a museum memorializing the past, but a center geared towards building community in the present and fostering forward-thinking creativity.