Calendar of Events

Artsville and the Ferguson YMCA Partner as a New Arts Resource for Candler

Announcing Expressionistic Landscape Watercolors by Cynthia Llanes

Saturday, January 13 thru Monday, March 4

Seeking a spot to bring art exhibits, discussions and workshops to Candler, Artsville Collective
has partnered with the Ferguson Family YMCA for a full schedule of year-round events. Kicking
off 2024 will be watercolors from Cynthia Llanes, an expressionistic landscape artist whose work
has become a favorite in the region and commissioned paintings appear in many collections.
The exhibit “Fluid Expressions” seeks to celebrate the sheer joy and excitement that
watercolor brings to the creative process, offering insight into the unique characteristics
of watercolor as a medium. Says Llanes, “Fluid Expressions” invites viewers to revel in
the joy of watercolor and its uncanny ability to capture subtle nuances in landscapes.”
To hear more from Llanes about her work and what captivates her in nature, meet her
at the Ferguson Y for a group presentation, demo and discussion on Monday,
February 5 from 11 am to noon. To learn more from area artists, circle the first
Monday of every other month when Artsville Collective sponsors Art Talks at the
Candler Y.
Llanes’ career as a committed art-preneur has built her brand dramatically since
showing at Artsville Collective in the RAD in 2022. Her versatility in oil and watercolor is
displayed in depth at her new space in the River Arts District. Cynthia Llanes Fine Art
Gallery and Studio is located at Riverview Station, 191 Lyman, Second Floor Studio 324
or cynthiallanesartist.com.
It is not necessary to be a Y member to attend art exhibits and talks and all are
encouraged to bring friends. More than a place to exercise, the YMCA is a community
resource for folks of all ages and backgrounds. The Candler Y also offers nutrition
consulting, childcare, discussions, outdoor activities, and family events. Visit the
Ferguson Family YMCA at 31 Westridge Market Place, Candler NC 28715 or call
828-575-2940.

Baker Exhibit Center

In an age of complex environmental challenges, why not look to the ingenuity of nature for solutions? The forms, patterns, and processes found in the natural world—refined by 3.8 billion years of evolution—can inspire our design of everything from clothing to skyscrapers. This approach to innovation, called biomimicry, is becoming increasingly popular.

Nature’s Blueprints is supported in part by The North Carolina Arboretum Society, The Laurel of Asheville, RomanticAsheville.com Travel Guide, and Smoky Mountain Living Magazine.

So you want to learn some basic drawing skills? Join us at TFAC for a week of adult art camp. Artist and educator Clara Rogers follows up on her highly successful adult art camp – So You Think You Can’t Draw – with a deeper dive into artistic discovery with Just the Basics. Our class will be February 19 – 23 from 9:30 to 12:00. All supplies will be provided.

The focus of the week-long class will be portraits, landscapes and still life. Participants will learn how to draw a face, use palette knives to paint landscapes, and how to ‘draw what you see’ as Clara guides you through a deeper exploration of still life.

Just the Basics will be offered February 19-23 from 9:30 am – noon. All art supplies will be provided. The class will fill up fast, so secure your spot early!

Historians estimate that skilled Black artisans outnumbered their white counterparts in the antebellum South by a margin of five to one. However, despite their presence and prevalence in all corners of the pre-industrial trade and craft fields, the stories of these skilled workers go largely unacknowledged.

Borrowing its title from a Black culture and politics magazine of the same name, Hammer and Hope celebrates the life and labor of Black chairmakers in early America. Featuring the work of two contemporary furniture makers – Robell Awake and Charlie Ryland – the pieces in this exhibition are based on the artists’ research into ladderback chairs created by the Poynors, a multigenerational family of free and enslaved craftspeople working in central Tennessee between the early nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.

Through the objects featured in Hammer and Hope, Awake and Ryland explore, reinterpret, and reimagine what the field of furniture-making today would look like had the history and legacy of the Poynors – and countless others that have been subject to a similar pattern of erasure – been celebrated rather than hidden. Hammer and Hope represents Awake and Ryland’s attempts, in their own words,  “at fighting erasure by making objects that engage with these long-suppressed stories.”‍

Robell Awake and Charlie Ryland are recipients of the Center for Craft’s 2022 Craft Research Fund Artist Fellowship. This substantial mid-career grant is awarded to two artists to support research projects that advance, expand, and support the creation of new research and knowledge through craft practice.

The Museum recognizes Western North Carolina youth for their original artworks Award winners will be featured in a student exhibition in the Museum’s Van Winkle Law Firm Gallery and Multipurpose Space from January 24–March 25, 2024. All regional award recipients will be honored at a closing reception on March 21. The Asheville Art Museum and the Asheville Area Section of the American Institute of Architects (AIA) are the Western North Carolina (WNC) regional Affiliate Partners of the National Scholastic Art Awards. This ongoing community partnership has supported the creative talents of our region’s youth for 44 years. The WNC regional program is open to students in grades 7–12, ages 13-18, across 24 counties. “I’m thrilled to witness the incredible talent showcased in the 2024 Western North Carolina Scholastic Art Awards exhibition,” said Susan Hendley, School & Teacher Programs Manager at the Asheville Art Museum.  “This is a celebration of original works by students across the WNC region and highlights the profound impact of arts education.” The regional program is judged in two groups: Group I, grades 7–9 and Group II, grades 10–12. Out of more than 500 total art entries, over 200 works have been recognized by the judges; Gold and Silver Key awards are featured in this exhibition, with select Honorable Mentions displayed digitally. The 2024 regional judges include Victoria Bradbury, Associate Professor and Chair of New Media at UNC Asheville, Andrew Davis, Studio Technician and instructor at Winthrop University, and Jenny Pickens, a native Asheville artist and educator. Those works receiving Gold Keys have been submitted to compete in the 101st Annual National Scholastic Art Awards Program in New York City. Of the Gold Key Award recipients, five students have also been nominated for American Visions, indicating their work is the Best in Show of the regional awards. One of these American Visions Nominees will receive an American Visions Medal at the 2024 National Scholastic Art Awards. Visit the Museum’s website for more information about the student exhibition. Thanks to our sponsors, Jon and Ann Kemske, Russell and Ladene Newton, and Frugal Framer. Download Student Artworks

Images: Left: Minna Wright Citron, Squid Under Pier, 1948, color etching, soft-ground, and engraving on paper, edition 42/50, 15 x 17 7/8 inches, 2010 Collections Circle purchase, Asheville Art Museum. © Estate of Minna Citron/Licensed by VAGA at ARS, New York. Right: Dorothy Dehner, Woman #2, 1954, watercolor and ink on paper, 22 3/4 x 18”, courtesy of Dolan Maxwell.

The Asheville Art Museum is pleased to announce the upcoming exhibition American Art in the Atomic Age: 1940–1960, which explores the groundbreaking contributions of artists who worked at the experimental printmaking studio Atelier 17 in the wake of World War II. Co-curated by Marilyn Laufer and Tom Butler, American Art in the Atomic Age which draws from the holdings of Dolan/Maxwell, the Asheville Art Museum Collection, and private collections will be on view from November 10, 2023–April 29, 2024.

Atelier 17 operated in New York for fifteen years, between 1940 and 1955. The studio’s founder, Stanley William Hayter (1901–1988) established the workshop in Paris but relocated to New York just as the Nazi occupation of Paris began in 1940. Hayter’s new studio attracted European emigrants like André Masson, Yves Tanguy, and Joan Miró, as well as American artists like Dorothy Dehner, Judith Rothschild, and Karl Schrag, allowing for an exchange of artistic ideas and processes between European and American artists.

The Asheville Art Museum will present over 100 works that exemplify the cross-cultural exchange and profound social and political impact of Atelier 17 on American art. Prints made at Atelier 17—including those by Stanley William Hayter, Louise Nevelson, and Perle Fine—will be in conversation with works by European Surrealists who were working at the studio in the 1940s and 1950s. The exhibition will also feature a selection of domestic mid-century objects that exemplify how the ideas and aesthetics of post-war abstraction became a part of everyday life.

The Asheville Gallery of Art is excited to present its February exhibit, “Reflections,” which features the virtuoso works of three new gallery artists: Carol Fetty, Annie Gustley, Sandra Brugh Moore. This exhibit of visual poetry runs February 1 to 28.

Exhibition and Public Programming

Vera B. Williams, an award-winning author and illustrator of children’s books, started making pictures almost as soon as she could walk. She studied at Black Mountain College in a time where summer institutes were held with classes taught by John Cage and Merce Cunningham. Williams studied under the Bauhaus luminary Josef Albers and went on to make art for the rest of her life. At the time of her death, The New York Times wrote: “Her illustrations, known for bold colors and a style reminiscent of folk art, were praised by reviewers for their great tenderness and crackling vitality.” Despite numerous awards and recognition for her children’s books, much of her wider life and work remains unexplored. This retrospective will showcase the complete range of Williams’ life and work. It will highlight her time at Black Mountain College, her political activism, and her establishment, with Paul Williams, of an influential yet little-known artist community, in addition to her work as an author and illustrator.

Author and illustrator of 17 children’s books, including Caldecott medal winner, A Chair for My Mother, Vera B. Williams always had a passion for the arts. Williams grew up in the Bronx, NY, and in 1936, when she was nine years old, one of her paintings, called Yentas, opens a new window, was included in an exhibition at the Museum of Modern Art. While Williams is widely known for her children’s books today, this exhibition’s expansive scope highlights unexplored aspects of her artistic practice and eight decades of life. From groundbreaking, powerful covers for Liberation Magazine, to Peace calendar collaborations with writer activist Grace Paley, to scenic sketches for Julian Beck and Judith Malina’s Living Theater, to hundreds of late life “Aging and Illness” cartoons sketches and doodles, Vera never sat still.

Williams arrived at Black Mountain College in 1945. While there, she embraced all aspects of living, working, and learning in the intensely creative college community. She was at BMC during a particularly fertile period, which allowed her to study with faculty members Buckminster Fuller and Josef Albers, and to participate in the famed summer sessions with John Cage, Merce Cunningham, M.C. Richards, and Robert Rauschenberg. In 1948, she graduated with Josef Albers as her advisor and sculptor Richard Lippold as her outside examiner. Forever one of the College’s shining stars, Vera graduated from BMC with just six semesters of coursework, at only twenty-one years old. She continued to visit BMC for years afterward, staying deeply involved with the artistic community that BMC incubated.

Anticipating the eventual closure of BMC, Williams, alongside her husband Paul Williams and a group of influential former BMC figures, founded The Gate Hill Cooperative Artists community located 30 miles north of NYC on the outskirts of Stony Point, NY. The Gate Hill Cooperative, also known as The Land, became an outcropping of Black Mountain College’s experimental ethos. Students and faculty including John Cage, M.C. Richards, David Tudor, Karen Karnes, David Weinrib, Stan VanDerBeek, and Patsy Lynch Wood shaped Gate Hill as founding members of the community. Vera B. Williams raised her three children at Gate Hill while continuing to make work.

The early Gate Hill era represented an especially creative phase for the BMC group. For Williams, this period saw the creation of 76 covers for Liberation Magazine, a radical, groundbreaking publication. This exhibition will feature some of Williams’ most powerful Liberation covers including a design for the June 1963 edition, which contained the first full publication of MLK’s “Letter from Birmingham Jail.” Williams’ activism work continued throughout her life. As president of PEN’s Children Committee and member of The War Resisters league, she created a wide range of political and educational posters and journal covers. Williams protested the war in Vietnam and nuclear proliferation while supporting women’s causes and racial equality. In 1981, Williams was arrested and spent a month in a federal prison on charges stemming from her political activism.

In her late 40’s, Williams embarked in earnest on her career as a children’s book author and illustrator, a career which garnered the NY Public Library’s recognition of A Chair for My Mother as one of the greatest 100 children’s books of all time. Infinitely curious and always a wanderer at heart, Williams’ personal life was as expansive as her art. In addition to her prolific picture making, Williams started and helped run a Summerhill-based alternative school, canoed the Yukon, and lived alone on a houseboat in Vancouver Harbor. She helped to organize and attended dozens of political demonstrations throughout her adult life.

Her books won many awards including the Caldecott Medal Honor Book for A Chair for My Mother in 1983, the Boston Globe–Horn Book Award– Fiction category– for Scooter in 1994, the Jane Addams Honor for Amber Was Brave, Essie Was Smart in 2002, and the NSK Neustadt Prize for Children’s Literature in 2009. Her books reflected her values, emphasizing love, compassion, kindness, joy, strength, individuality, and courage.

Images:

Cover of Vera B. Williams’ A Chair for My Mother, published in 1982.

Vera B. Williams, Cover for Liberation Magazine, November 1958.

Follow the Terriers on Twitter at @WoffordBaseball

Artsville and the Ferguson YMCA Partner as a New Arts Resource for Candler

Announcing Expressionistic Landscape Watercolors by Cynthia Llanes

Saturday, January 13 thru Monday, March 4

Seeking a spot to bring art exhibits, discussions and workshops to Candler, Artsville Collective
has partnered with the Ferguson Family YMCA for a full schedule of year-round events. Kicking
off 2024 will be watercolors from Cynthia Llanes, an expressionistic landscape artist whose work
has become a favorite in the region and commissioned paintings appear in many collections.
The exhibit “Fluid Expressions” seeks to celebrate the sheer joy and excitement that
watercolor brings to the creative process, offering insight into the unique characteristics
of watercolor as a medium. Says Llanes, “Fluid Expressions” invites viewers to revel in
the joy of watercolor and its uncanny ability to capture subtle nuances in landscapes.”
To hear more from Llanes about her work and what captivates her in nature, meet her
at the Ferguson Y for a group presentation, demo and discussion on Monday,
February 5 from 11 am to noon. To learn more from area artists, circle the first
Monday of every other month when Artsville Collective sponsors Art Talks at the
Candler Y.
Llanes’ career as a committed art-preneur has built her brand dramatically since
showing at Artsville Collective in the RAD in 2022. Her versatility in oil and watercolor is
displayed in depth at her new space in the River Arts District. Cynthia Llanes Fine Art
Gallery and Studio is located at Riverview Station, 191 Lyman, Second Floor Studio 324
or cynthiallanesartist.com.
It is not necessary to be a Y member to attend art exhibits and talks and all are
encouraged to bring friends. More than a place to exercise, the YMCA is a community
resource for folks of all ages and backgrounds. The Candler Y also offers nutrition
consulting, childcare, discussions, outdoor activities, and family events. Visit the
Ferguson Family YMCA at 31 Westridge Market Place, Candler NC 28715 or call
828-575-2940.

Baker Exhibit Center

In an age of complex environmental challenges, why not look to the ingenuity of nature for solutions? The forms, patterns, and processes found in the natural world—refined by 3.8 billion years of evolution—can inspire our design of everything from clothing to skyscrapers. This approach to innovation, called biomimicry, is becoming increasingly popular.

Nature’s Blueprints is supported in part by The North Carolina Arboretum Society, The Laurel of Asheville, RomanticAsheville.com Travel Guide, and Smoky Mountain Living Magazine.

Historians estimate that skilled Black artisans outnumbered their white counterparts in the antebellum South by a margin of five to one. However, despite their presence and prevalence in all corners of the pre-industrial trade and craft fields, the stories of these skilled workers go largely unacknowledged.

Borrowing its title from a Black culture and politics magazine of the same name, Hammer and Hope celebrates the life and labor of Black chairmakers in early America. Featuring the work of two contemporary furniture makers – Robell Awake and Charlie Ryland – the pieces in this exhibition are based on the artists’ research into ladderback chairs created by the Poynors, a multigenerational family of free and enslaved craftspeople working in central Tennessee between the early nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.

Through the objects featured in Hammer and Hope, Awake and Ryland explore, reinterpret, and reimagine what the field of furniture-making today would look like had the history and legacy of the Poynors – and countless others that have been subject to a similar pattern of erasure – been celebrated rather than hidden. Hammer and Hope represents Awake and Ryland’s attempts, in their own words,  “at fighting erasure by making objects that engage with these long-suppressed stories.”‍

Robell Awake and Charlie Ryland are recipients of the Center for Craft’s 2022 Craft Research Fund Artist Fellowship. This substantial mid-career grant is awarded to two artists to support research projects that advance, expand, and support the creation of new research and knowledge through craft practice.

Lace up your running shoes, grab your winter hat, and join us for the 9th Annual Chilly Challenge 8K & 1-Mile Chili Chase on Saturday, February 24, 2024. Run or walk with us to benefit North Buncombe Middle School!

Beginning in January 2024, ASAP (Appalachian
Sustainable Agriculture Project) will partner with Blue Ridge Women in Agriculture and MountainWise
to expand Double SNAP for Fruits and Vegetables programs to more farmers markets, farmstands,
and groceries in Western North Carolina. This group has established the WNC Double SNAP Network
in order to bring together existing programs and expand to new sites, making SNAP incentives more
accessible throughout the region.
SNAP programs that center local food and farms can significantly improve individual and community
health. They make fresh fruits and vegetables more accessible, keep food dollars in the local
economy, and connect participants with positive food and social environments in their communities.
“ASAP, Mountainwise, and Blue Ridge Women in Agriculture currently operate successful SNAP
incentive programs at 26 sites, which connect participants with fresh food and farms in their
communities,” said Mike McCreary, ASAP’s Farmers Market Program Manager. “By combining efforts
and resources, we’ll not only be able to deepen the impact of our existing programs, but also create
adaptive programs that meet the needs of communities that don’t currently have access.”

The first phase of the project focuses on strengthening existing programs across sites operating
January through March, including:

● Asheville City Winter Market, 52 N. Market St., Saturdays, 10 a.m.–1 p.m.
● Winter King Street Market, 252 Poplar Grove Rd., Saturdays, 10 a.m.–1 p.m.
● Columbus Winter Market, 35 Locust St., 1st and 3rd Saturdays, 10 a.m.–1 p.m.
● High Country Food Hub, 252 Poplar Grove Rd., Boone, online ordering with Wednesday pick-up,
12–6:30 p.m.
● Jackson County Winter Farmers Market, 110 Railroad Ave., Sylva, 10 a.m.–1 p.m.
● Jarrett Brothers IGA, 191 Main St., Rosman, daily, 7 a.m.–9 p.m.
● North Asheville Tailgate Market, 275 Edgewood Rd., Saturdays, 10 a.m.–1 p.m.
● River Arts District Farmers Market, 350 Riverside Dr., Asheville, 3–5:30 p.m.
● Rutherford County Winter Farmers Market, 146 North Main St., Rutherfordton, 1st and 3rd
Saturdays, 10 a.m.–1 p.m.
● Saluda Winter Market, 64 Greenville St., 2nd and 4th Saturdays, 10 a.m.–1 p.m.
● Transylvania Farmers Market, 200 E. Main St., Brevard, Saturdays, 10 a.m.–12 p.m.
● Weaverville Tailgate Market, 60 Lakeshore Dr., Saturdays, 3–6 p.m

Beginning in January 2024, ASAP (Appalachian
Sustainable Agriculture Project) will partner with Blue Ridge Women in Agriculture and MountainWise
to expand Double SNAP for Fruits and Vegetables programs to more farmers markets, farmstands,
and groceries in Western North Carolina. This group has established the WNC Double SNAP Network
in order to bring together existing programs and expand to new sites, making SNAP incentives more
accessible throughout the region.
SNAP programs that center local food and farms can significantly improve individual and community
health. They make fresh fruits and vegetables more accessible, keep food dollars in the local
economy, and connect participants with positive food and social environments in their communities.
“ASAP, Mountainwise, and Blue Ridge Women in Agriculture currently operate successful SNAP
incentive programs at 26 sites, which connect participants with fresh food and farms in their
communities,” said Mike McCreary, ASAP’s Farmers Market Program Manager. “By combining efforts
and resources, we’ll not only be able to deepen the impact of our existing programs, but also create
adaptive programs that meet the needs of communities that don’t currently have access.”

The first phase of the project focuses on strengthening existing programs across sites operating
January through March, including:

● Asheville City Winter Market, 52 N. Market St., Saturdays, 10 a.m.–1 p.m.
● Winter King Street Market, 252 Poplar Grove Rd., Saturdays, 10 a.m.–1 p.m.
● Columbus Winter Market, 35 Locust St., 1st and 3rd Saturdays, 10 a.m.–1 p.m.
● High Country Food Hub, 252 Poplar Grove Rd., Boone, online ordering with Wednesday pick-up,
12–6:30 p.m.
● Jackson County Winter Farmers Market, 110 Railroad Ave., Sylva, 10 a.m.–1 p.m.
● Jarrett Brothers IGA, 191 Main St., Rosman, daily, 7 a.m.–9 p.m.
● North Asheville Tailgate Market, 275 Edgewood Rd., Saturdays, 10 a.m.–1 p.m.
● River Arts District Farmers Market, 350 Riverside Dr., Asheville, 3–5:30 p.m.
● Rutherford County Winter Farmers Market, 146 North Main St., Rutherfordton, 1st and 3rd
Saturdays, 10 a.m.–1 p.m.
● Saluda Winter Market, 64 Greenville St., 2nd and 4th Saturdays, 10 a.m.–1 p.m.
● Transylvania Farmers Market, 200 E. Main St., Brevard, Saturdays, 10 a.m.–12 p.m.
● Weaverville Tailgate Market, 60 Lakeshore Dr., Saturdays, 3–6 p.m.

Saturdays from 10:30 AM – 12 PM

The Museum recognizes Western North Carolina youth for their original artworks Award winners will be featured in a student exhibition in the Museum’s Van Winkle Law Firm Gallery and Multipurpose Space from January 24–March 25, 2024. All regional award recipients will be honored at a closing reception on March 21. The Asheville Art Museum and the Asheville Area Section of the American Institute of Architects (AIA) are the Western North Carolina (WNC) regional Affiliate Partners of the National Scholastic Art Awards. This ongoing community partnership has supported the creative talents of our region’s youth for 44 years. The WNC regional program is open to students in grades 7–12, ages 13-18, across 24 counties. “I’m thrilled to witness the incredible talent showcased in the 2024 Western North Carolina Scholastic Art Awards exhibition,” said Susan Hendley, School & Teacher Programs Manager at the Asheville Art Museum.  “This is a celebration of original works by students across the WNC region and highlights the profound impact of arts education.” The regional program is judged in two groups: Group I, grades 7–9 and Group II, grades 10–12. Out of more than 500 total art entries, over 200 works have been recognized by the judges; Gold and Silver Key awards are featured in this exhibition, with select Honorable Mentions displayed digitally. The 2024 regional judges include Victoria Bradbury, Associate Professor and Chair of New Media at UNC Asheville, Andrew Davis, Studio Technician and instructor at Winthrop University, and Jenny Pickens, a native Asheville artist and educator. Those works receiving Gold Keys have been submitted to compete in the 101st Annual National Scholastic Art Awards Program in New York City. Of the Gold Key Award recipients, five students have also been nominated for American Visions, indicating their work is the Best in Show of the regional awards. One of these American Visions Nominees will receive an American Visions Medal at the 2024 National Scholastic Art Awards. Visit the Museum’s website for more information about the student exhibition. Thanks to our sponsors, Jon and Ann Kemske, Russell and Ladene Newton, and Frugal Framer. Download Student Artworks

Images: Left: Minna Wright Citron, Squid Under Pier, 1948, color etching, soft-ground, and engraving on paper, edition 42/50, 15 x 17 7/8 inches, 2010 Collections Circle purchase, Asheville Art Museum. © Estate of Minna Citron/Licensed by VAGA at ARS, New York. Right: Dorothy Dehner, Woman #2, 1954, watercolor and ink on paper, 22 3/4 x 18”, courtesy of Dolan Maxwell.

The Asheville Art Museum is pleased to announce the upcoming exhibition American Art in the Atomic Age: 1940–1960, which explores the groundbreaking contributions of artists who worked at the experimental printmaking studio Atelier 17 in the wake of World War II. Co-curated by Marilyn Laufer and Tom Butler, American Art in the Atomic Age which draws from the holdings of Dolan/Maxwell, the Asheville Art Museum Collection, and private collections will be on view from November 10, 2023–April 29, 2024.

Atelier 17 operated in New York for fifteen years, between 1940 and 1955. The studio’s founder, Stanley William Hayter (1901–1988) established the workshop in Paris but relocated to New York just as the Nazi occupation of Paris began in 1940. Hayter’s new studio attracted European emigrants like André Masson, Yves Tanguy, and Joan Miró, as well as American artists like Dorothy Dehner, Judith Rothschild, and Karl Schrag, allowing for an exchange of artistic ideas and processes between European and American artists.

The Asheville Art Museum will present over 100 works that exemplify the cross-cultural exchange and profound social and political impact of Atelier 17 on American art. Prints made at Atelier 17—including those by Stanley William Hayter, Louise Nevelson, and Perle Fine—will be in conversation with works by European Surrealists who were working at the studio in the 1940s and 1950s. The exhibition will also feature a selection of domestic mid-century objects that exemplify how the ideas and aesthetics of post-war abstraction became a part of everyday life.

The Asheville Gallery of Art is excited to present its February exhibit, “Reflections,” which features the virtuoso works of three new gallery artists: Carol Fetty, Annie Gustley, Sandra Brugh Moore. This exhibit of visual poetry runs February 1 to 28.

Exhibition and Public Programming

Vera B. Williams, an award-winning author and illustrator of children’s books, started making pictures almost as soon as she could walk. She studied at Black Mountain College in a time where summer institutes were held with classes taught by John Cage and Merce Cunningham. Williams studied under the Bauhaus luminary Josef Albers and went on to make art for the rest of her life. At the time of her death, The New York Times wrote: “Her illustrations, known for bold colors and a style reminiscent of folk art, were praised by reviewers for their great tenderness and crackling vitality.” Despite numerous awards and recognition for her children’s books, much of her wider life and work remains unexplored. This retrospective will showcase the complete range of Williams’ life and work. It will highlight her time at Black Mountain College, her political activism, and her establishment, with Paul Williams, of an influential yet little-known artist community, in addition to her work as an author and illustrator.

Author and illustrator of 17 children’s books, including Caldecott medal winner, A Chair for My Mother, Vera B. Williams always had a passion for the arts. Williams grew up in the Bronx, NY, and in 1936, when she was nine years old, one of her paintings, called Yentas, opens a new window, was included in an exhibition at the Museum of Modern Art. While Williams is widely known for her children’s books today, this exhibition’s expansive scope highlights unexplored aspects of her artistic practice and eight decades of life. From groundbreaking, powerful covers for Liberation Magazine, to Peace calendar collaborations with writer activist Grace Paley, to scenic sketches for Julian Beck and Judith Malina’s Living Theater, to hundreds of late life “Aging and Illness” cartoons sketches and doodles, Vera never sat still.

Williams arrived at Black Mountain College in 1945. While there, she embraced all aspects of living, working, and learning in the intensely creative college community. She was at BMC during a particularly fertile period, which allowed her to study with faculty members Buckminster Fuller and Josef Albers, and to participate in the famed summer sessions with John Cage, Merce Cunningham, M.C. Richards, and Robert Rauschenberg. In 1948, she graduated with Josef Albers as her advisor and sculptor Richard Lippold as her outside examiner. Forever one of the College’s shining stars, Vera graduated from BMC with just six semesters of coursework, at only twenty-one years old. She continued to visit BMC for years afterward, staying deeply involved with the artistic community that BMC incubated.

Anticipating the eventual closure of BMC, Williams, alongside her husband Paul Williams and a group of influential former BMC figures, founded The Gate Hill Cooperative Artists community located 30 miles north of NYC on the outskirts of Stony Point, NY. The Gate Hill Cooperative, also known as The Land, became an outcropping of Black Mountain College’s experimental ethos. Students and faculty including John Cage, M.C. Richards, David Tudor, Karen Karnes, David Weinrib, Stan VanDerBeek, and Patsy Lynch Wood shaped Gate Hill as founding members of the community. Vera B. Williams raised her three children at Gate Hill while continuing to make work.

The early Gate Hill era represented an especially creative phase for the BMC group. For Williams, this period saw the creation of 76 covers for Liberation Magazine, a radical, groundbreaking publication. This exhibition will feature some of Williams’ most powerful Liberation covers including a design for the June 1963 edition, which contained the first full publication of MLK’s “Letter from Birmingham Jail.” Williams’ activism work continued throughout her life. As president of PEN’s Children Committee and member of The War Resisters league, she created a wide range of political and educational posters and journal covers. Williams protested the war in Vietnam and nuclear proliferation while supporting women’s causes and racial equality. In 1981, Williams was arrested and spent a month in a federal prison on charges stemming from her political activism.

In her late 40’s, Williams embarked in earnest on her career as a children’s book author and illustrator, a career which garnered the NY Public Library’s recognition of A Chair for My Mother as one of the greatest 100 children’s books of all time. Infinitely curious and always a wanderer at heart, Williams’ personal life was as expansive as her art. In addition to her prolific picture making, Williams started and helped run a Summerhill-based alternative school, canoed the Yukon, and lived alone on a houseboat in Vancouver Harbor. She helped to organize and attended dozens of political demonstrations throughout her adult life.

Her books won many awards including the Caldecott Medal Honor Book for A Chair for My Mother in 1983, the Boston Globe–Horn Book Award– Fiction category– for Scooter in 1994, the Jane Addams Honor for Amber Was Brave, Essie Was Smart in 2002, and the NSK Neustadt Prize for Children’s Literature in 2009. Her books reflected her values, emphasizing love, compassion, kindness, joy, strength, individuality, and courage.

Images:

Cover of Vera B. Williams’ A Chair for My Mother, published in 1982.

Vera B. Williams, Cover for Liberation Magazine, November 1958.

TWIN PEAKS DAY

Diane, 11:30 a.m. February 24th.
Entering the town of Twin Peaks.

Join us for Twin Peak’s Day! At DSSOLVR Asheville

Featuring:
Murder Mystery Scavenger Hunt: (11:30 AM – 3:00 PM)
Complimentary Coffee
Mount Patisserie’s Pastries:
The Lynchpins Live Set (5:00 PM – 8:00 PM):
The Red Room Photo Booth
Limited Edition Merch!
Art Pop-ups
Release of Cherry Pie Coffee Donut Stout!

This one-day workshop is a great way to delve into the planographic process known as lithography! Students will learn about the history of lithography, the basics of the process, and what materials to use. Students will create their grease-loving imagery, process their plates, and create prints from gesture drawings to photo-based reproductions. This class is ideal for beginners and seasoned printers alike as it uses a polymer plate alternative to the traditional stone process.

For this Adult Studio, two scholarships are available for Black, Indigenous, and people of color. Please fill out the application on the event page, and a Museum staff member will notify applicants about their status via phone.

Step into the mysterious world of Twin Peaks at DSSOLVR! Join us for a day of intrigue starting at 11:30 AM, with a mind-bending Murder Mystery Scavenger Hunt from 12 to 3 PM. Immerse yourself in the eerie atmosphere with complimentary coffee, delectable donuts, and a chance to showcase your style in our costume contest.

Twin Peaks Day at DSSOLVR features!

☕ Complimentary Coffee:
🍩 Mount Patisserie’s Spellbinding Pastries:
🎵 The Lynchpins Live Set (5:00 PM – 8:00 PM):
🔴 The Red Room Photo Booth
👻 Limited Edition Merch!
🎨 Art Pop-ups
🍺 Release of I’m Gone. Long Gone. Cherry Pie Coffee Donut Stout:
🎭Costume Contest