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Exploring the Permanent Collection with a Work of the Week
THIS WEEK:
March 15 - 21, 2010
Oscar Bailey, Ed Ruscha, 10 Times, Tampa,
FL,
1970, Photograph, Black and White
Silver Gelatin Print, 6.25 x 43.5 inches. Museum Purchase with funds provided
by 2007 Collectors' Circle member Frances Myers in memory of Nat. C. Myers. Asheville Art Museum Collection. 2007.31.91.
Oscar Bailey has worked in a variety of photographic styles, but his most
inventive work was done with a panoramic camera made in 1915, the Cirkut camera.
These cameras were made between 1904 and 1943 to photograph large groups of
people and vast landscapes. The camera is driven by a complex, windup mechanism
that rotates one direction while the film travels the other way at the same
speed, producing a picture about five feet long that covers just over 360
degrees. This photograph, Ed Ruscha, 10
Times, Tampa, FL, was taken with a Cirkut panoramic
camera and it shows 10 views of the American Pop Artist Ed Ruscha holding 10
different books of his work.
Bailey is a founding member of the Society for Photographic Education, and
he started a photographic program at the University
of South in Tampa,
FL in 1969, where he taught until he retired
to Yancey County,
here in Western North Carolina.
This celebrity portrait is currently on display in the Museum's newest
exhibition Limners to Facebook: Portraiture from the 19th to the
21st Century, which explores the history of Portraiture (it is also part of our Website's front page banner). The Museum is dedicated to
collecting contemporary photography as part of its long term collecting
strategies, and this unique panoramic work reflects the Museum's varied
photographic collection.
For more information on this work and artist, visit our Permanent Collection
online!
The Asheville
Art Museum's Permanent Collection
now totals more than 2,500 works of art and nearly 5,000 architectural
drawings. The Museum has established its expertise in the collection of
American art of the 20th and 21st century.
As the Museum enters its 61st year,
it has put together two large exhibitions that are centered on the works it has acquired in the last 60 years with a close look at
its permanent collection, highlighting collecting strategies, honoring art
donors, showcasing specific pieces in its collection and planning for the
future. The collecting focus of the Museum steers its educational, exhibition,
and research activities, preserving important aspects of our national and
regional heritage through strategic collecting. Journey with me as we explore
the Asheville Art Museum's permanent collection with
an in depth look at a Work of the Week.
March 8 - 14, 2010
(photo no longer available) William Wegman, Red Detachment,
2006, Polaroid photograph, 24.25 x 20.75 inches. 2007
Collectors' Circle Purchase. Asheville
Art Museum Collection.
2007.33.02.96
William Wegman is best
known as an art photographer noted for compositions of his Weimaraner
dogs in various costumes, poses and scenarios. Wegman received international
attention for his images of his first Weimaraner dog, Man Ray.
Man Ray became so popular that the Village Voice named the dog "Man of the
Year" in 1982.
This work is currently in the Museum's newest exhibition Limners
to Facebook: Portraiture from the 19th to the 21st Century ,
which includes formal
portraits, self-portraits, portraits of animals and portraits of friends,
models and celebrities. In this case, Wegman's photo captures both a portrait
of an animal and a celebrity.
In creating these photographs Wegman balances humor with
strong formal composition. Interestingly, Wegman says that it is often the
technical problems that prove more challenging than working with the dogs.
The Museum is dedicated to collecting contemporary
photography, and in this work,
Wegman uses a specific way of photographing his subject. In 1978, Wegman was
invited to use the newly developed Polaroid 20 x 24 inch camera. This camera
produces large format "contact" prints renowned for their color and detail, but
only produces one unique print at a time. Red
Detachment is an example of his continued work with the Polaroid 20 x 24
camera.
March 1 - 7, 2010
Annie Leibovitz, Laurie Anderson YMCA New York City,
1983, Cibachrome photograph, 10.38 x10.38 inches. Gift of R.K. Benites. Asheville Art Museum Collection. 2005.12.03.94.
Annie Leibovitz is a photographer whose work has included magazine, fashion and advertising
photography. She is best known for her portraits of
celebrities, who range from political figures to musicians and
athletes. From 1970 to 1983, she was the chief photographer for the magazine Rolling Stones,
and in the
early 1990's she founded the Annie Leibovitz Studio in New York City.
As a portrait photographer, Leibovitz emphasizes some aspect of each
subject's public persona. Using
the whole of the subject's body, typically captured in the midst of
physical action, Leibovitz achieves her effects with flair--often
outrageous--setting her work
apart from that of other portrait artists.
This portrait of Laurie Anderson is currently in the Museum's newest exhibition
Limners to Facebook: Portraiture from the 19th to the 21st Century, which
includes formal portraits, self-portraits, portraits of animals and
portraits of friends, models and celebrities. This celebrity portrait
is of Laurie Anderson, a performance artist and musician. Anderson
autographed the mat framing this work upon visiting the Museum in 2008
in conjunction with the Museum's exhibition Time is of the Essence.
One of the Museum's collecting focuses is on photography and we are
delighted to have a photograph by this important contemporary art
photographer in our collection. Come in to the Museum to see what
Anderson wrote on the portrait Leibovitz took of her!
February 22 - 28, 2010
Pierre Daura, Chickens,
circa 1963, watercolor and tempera painting on paper, 15.25 x 12.13 inches. Asheville Art Museum Collection, Gift of Martha R.
Daura, 1998.17.08.22
Pedro Francisco Daura y Garcia was born and raised in Spain. He was
formally educated at the School
of Fine Arts where his
teachers included Pablo Picasso's father, Jose Ruiz Blasco. At the age of
fourteen, he sold work in his first exhibition. While working on a mural in
Normady in 1923, Daura fell and permanently damaged his left hand, rendering it
useless for the remainder of his life, yet he still continued to paint and
sculpt.
In the 1920's, Daura met and married an American art student, Louise Blair,
who was from Virginia.
They had a daughter, Martha. After traveling to Virginia around 1935 to visit his wife's
relatives, his paintings of Virginian landscapes were well received upon his
return. Soon after, he joined the Republican army in Spain
as a volunteer against the forces of Franco, was wounded in battle and returned
to France
to recuperate. After refusing to return to Spain
after the war, both he and Martha lost their Spanish citizenship and the family
was forced to move to France.
In 1939, they traveled back to Virginia but were
unable to return to France
because of WWII. After gaining American citizenship, the family moved to a
village at the foot of the Allegheny Mountains in Virginia where Daura and Louise lived until
their deaths.
Daura's Chickens was painted around
1963, near the end of his life, while living in Virginia. It is painted in the American
Scene-Rural style, where artists depicted scenes of typical American life and
landscapes, reflecting the country's nationalism and isolationism in the face
of the social changes between the wars. Daura's overall style can be
characterized as "romantic realism, combined with a gentle expressionism
and imaginative abstraction."
This watercolor is on display in the Museum's exhibition Looking Back: Celebrating 60 Years of Collecting at the Asheville Art Museum , in the
Urban and Rural Gallery. Daura's daughter Martha donated this work to the Museum.
Come into the Museum to see this vibrant work in person to welcome the Spring
and say farewell to Winter!
February 15 - 21, 2010
Ati Gropius Johansen, Sample for Marzipan Annie,
circa 1957, ink and
watercolor on rice paper, 14.13 x 9.88 inches, Black Mountain College Collection, Gift of the Artist, 2008.46.16.41
Beate ‘Ati' Gropius Johansen is the daughter of Bauhaus founder Walter
Gropius. She is a book illustrator and designer; primarily focusing on
graphics in the form of children's
book illustrations, her work can be seen in over 40 published books.
Two works by Johansen, including this one, are now on display as part of the Museum's new exhibition, Nouns: Children's Book Artists Look at People, Places and Things, which examines original book illustrations from artists who are committed to
the genre of children's books. Johansen painted these as samples to give to prospective publishers in order to
gain employment. During her subsequent career, she specialized in children's book illustrations, resulting in
over 40 books published under the name Ati Forberg.
From the summer of 1943 to the summer of 1946, Johansen attended Black
Mountain College, studying mostly under Josef
Albers. After leaving BMC, Ati completed her graduate work at the
Chicago
Institute of Design. The Museum is dedicated to collecting work by
artists who studied at Black Mountain College as part of its long term
collecting strategy. Although it lasted only 24 years, from 1933-57,
and enrolled fewer than 1200 students, Black Mountain College launched
a remarkable number of the artists.
Come to the Museum to see this exciting new exhibition on Children's Book Artists, or join us for one of the many programs scheduled in conjunction with this show. Bring your children and snuggle up with a book in the gallery for your own story time session; books and chairs provided!
For
more information on this work and artist, or to see the other image in
the show by Ati Gropius Johansen, visit our Permanent Collection online!
February 8 - 14, 2010
Sulton Rogers, Untitled Pregnant Woman in Red Dress,
not dated, carved and painted wood,
13 x 5 x 6.5 inches, Asheville Art Museum Collection, Museum Purchase, 2006.11.01.32
Sulton Rogers, Untitled
Man with Pink Shirt and Green Pants,
not dated, carved and painted wood,
12.5 x 4 x 6 inches, Asheville Art Museum Collection, Museum Purchase, 2006.11.02.32
In our last week on sculpture, these two figures needed to be paired
together to give you a taste of the uniqueness of Sulton Rogers. An
Outsider Artist, Sulton Rogers was taught wood carving by his father
when
he was 13. His first name is often misspelled as "Sultan." Rogers'
woodcarvings are best described as fanciful, grotesque and occasionally
erotic.
Outsider artists
generally lack any formal training and borrow heavily from styles
throughout
the history of art. Their works can be childlike and spontaneous in
appearance.
They also typically create detailed flat spaces using bright colors.
Outsider Art and Sculpture are collecting focal points for the Museum.
These sculptures are currently on display in the Museum's exhibition Looking
Forward: New Works and New Directions for the Permanent Collection, which is in its LAST week at the Asheville Art Museum. Come in this week to see these works!
For more information on this artist and these works, Untitled Pregnant Woman in Red Dress and Untitled
Man with Pink Shirt and Green Pants , visit our Permanent Collection online!
February 1 - 7, 2010
Virgil Ledford, Bear,
circa 2008, walnut wood, 8.75
x 11 x 4.25 inches, Asheville Art Museum Collection. Museum purchase
with funds provided by 2009 Collectors' Circle members Russell and
Ladene Newton.
As a child, Virgil Ledford listened to stories
about his great-grandfather Murphy, who "could carve anything he wanted."
Ledford grew up in Western North Carolina and attended Cherokee High School,
where he studied woodcarving with Amanda Crowe. He credits her with teaching
him how to create his own unique designs while basing them in the culture of
his people.
Ledford is one of the best-known of the living
Cherokee carvers, and he has made a living as a woodcarver for many years. In
Virgil's own words, "I didn't know it was going to be my livelihood. It's a God
given talent. I just made it work for me."
Last year, Virgil Ledford was in two exhibitions at the Asheville Art Museum, Cherokee Carvers:
Tradition Renewed, organized by the Museum and Tradition/Innovation: American
Masterpieces of Southern Craft and Traditional Art, organized by the Southern
Arts Federation. This carving is a fine example of Ledford's work, using simple
forms to express the character and essence of the bear.
The art of the Cherokee is one of the areas
identified in the Museum's collections growth plan, outlining areas the Museum
is collecting in depth. It also continues our discussion of sculptural pieces
in the Museum's permanent collection; look at the last few weeks for a more on sculpture.
This piece was recently purchased by the 2009
Collectors' Circle members Russell and Ladene Newton during the annual
Collectors' Circle Selection Dinner. The
Museum's Collector's Circle is a group art lovers who meet regularly to
learn about personal art collecting and to support the Museum's permanent
collection through the annual purchase of works of art. Contact us to learn more
about this prestigious group!
January 25 - 31, 2010
Clyde Jones, untitled critter,
1991, wood, 12.75 x 37.25 x 13
inches, Gift of Randy Siegel, Asheville Art Museum Collection, 2009.14.01.38
For almost thirty years, Clyde
Jones has been making creatures out of wood with chainsaws, decorating them
with found objects. A North Carolina native,
Clyde lives and works in Bynum, NC, south of Carrboro and Chapel
Hill. He was born in 1938 or 39, he thinks, but it does
not really concern him. His property is littered with his works, hundreds of whimsical
creatures that he does not like to sell but loves to share with children,
teaching them to make their own. Clyde and his critters have traveled across
the nation and throughout the world, but as a true Outsider Artist, Clyde does not concern himself with the conventional art
world and so his craft is not influenced by recognition within it.
Outsider Art has been established
as a collecting focal point for the Museum and is discussed in the Museum's
Collection Growth Plan. Outsider art is originally created for the artist and
not an institution, society or market. The value is determined by the creator,
not the observer. Outsider art has been traditionally understood as work that falls
outside mainstream culture usually because of one or more factors such as
class, race, mental handicap or imprisonment.
This sculpture, untitled critter, is currently in the Museum's exhibition Looking Back: Celebrating 60
Years of Collecting at the Asheville Art Museum and was recently
installed as part of the exhibition's rotation early this month. Come see it
before journeying out to see Clyde's forest of
creatures.
January 18- 24, 2010
Dorothy
Gillespie, Triangled Celebration,
1985, aluminum, 144 x 60 x 60 inches, Gift of Nationwide
Life Insurance Company, Asheville Art Museum Collection,
1991.17.33
Dorothy Gillespie's sculpture is a permanent fixture in the Asheville
Art Museum's foyer, hanging above the library frieze and hovering over
the heads of guests in the Holden Community gallery. Composed of three
separate pieces, Gillespie redesigned this sculpture to fit in its
current location. At its previous location, in Chapel Hill, two of the
units were connected together so there were two segments hanging down,
one long and one short. Today, three large pieces hang down from the
ceiling as you walk in to the Asheville Art Museum. Don't forget to
look up!
Dorothy Gillespie was born in 1920 in Virginia, and at the age of 90 years old, she is still
working in New York
City. She is best known for her distinctive, brightly
colored metal abstractions and her permanent sculptures. Working in the style of
Pattern and Decoration,
Gillespie's use of bright colors invoke the decorative aspects found in many
craft pieces at the Museum. Pattern and Decoration, primarily based in the
United States, was a reaction against Minimalism; artists working in this style
were often influenced by Feminist Art and created works that utilized domestic
materials or made reference to the domestic environment.
One of the Asheville Art
Museum's collecting focuses is on large sculptural
pieces. This work starts our discussion on sculpture found at the Museum.
Visit
us to see this amazing work of art, visible from many different vantage points
within the Museum.
For more information about this work and artist, visit
our Permanent Collection online!
January 11- 17, 2010
Helen West Heller, Isometric Architect,
1941, woodcut, 7.87 x 5.75 inches. Gift
of Thelma Lowenstein, Asheville
Art Museum Collection, 1993.08.01.65
Helen West Heller (1885-1955), also known as Helen Barnhart, was a
participant in the WPA Federal Art Project. In 1949 she won the First Purchase
Prize from the Library of Congress, and she was the author of "Migratory
Urge," a text cut in wood. Her interest in nature motifs and love of wood
is evident in her woodcuts and paintings. In Helen West Heller's own words,
"I build up contrasts and similitudes of ideas as well as opposed areas,
forms, tonalities, and colors."
Isometric
Architect was placed in the Museum's exhibition Looking Back: Celebrating 60
Years of Collecting at the Asheville Art Museum as part of the Museum's
rotation of works on paper last week. This exhibition on the Museum's permanent
collection has been in the gallery for over six months. Because of concerns about
light exposure and other factors, the Museum rotates works on paper after a
period of time so these pieces can ‘rest'. Even if you have already seen it,
come in to see all of the new works in this exhibition and notice the continued
comparisons and contrasts made by the Curators in each of the four galleries: Alone
and Together, Geometric and Organic, Seen and Unseen, Urban
and Rural.
This piece is part of the American
Scene-Urban movement that came to prominence in the 1930-50's. These artists
sought to capture the plight of the individual in the urban arena. Their works
often depicted the loneliness of the city and were in contrast to the more
conservative American Scene-Rural artists of this time.
January 4 - 10, 2010
Lorna Blaine Halper, Spiral Man,
not dated, cast bronze, 32.88 x 12.33 inches, Gift of the
Artist, Asheville Art Museum Black Mountain College Collection, 2008.03.12.33
The spiral motif is important
throughout Lorna Blaine Halper's career. The form is evident in early works like At the
Opera (1948), eventually transforming this visual form into a "spiral guy"
who became a "lifelong companion" enabling her to do "zillions of things."
According to Halper, "I can fly to the moon with the spiral guy."
This motif was explored by Halper at Black Mountain
and led her into new materials, like the cast
bronze work, Spiral Man, on view in Lorna Blaine Halper: The Space Between. Lorna Blaine Halper: The Space Between
is a solo exhibition currently on display at the Asheville Art Museum
in the Holden Community Gallery. Admission to this gallery is free; an
exhibition publication is available for purchase in the Museum Shop.
Lorna Blaine Halper attended Black Mountain
College from 1945 to 1948
where she studied with Josef Albers, Fannie Hillsmith, Robert Motherwell and
Ilya Bolotowsky. She married a former student and member of the faculty, Tasker
Howard, and they moved to New York.
After Tasker's early death, she remarried novelist and critic Albert
Halper.
As part of its collecting focus, the Asheville
Art Museum is dedicated to collecting work
by Black Mountain College (BMC)
artists. BMC, located just outside of Asheville, was a unique
school that used an interdisciplinary and experimental approach to arts
education. Although it lasted only 24 years, from 1933-57, and enrolled
fewer
than 1200 students, BMC launched a remarkable number of the
artists. Lorna Blaine Halper has gifted all of the works of art to the
Asheville Art Museum for her solo show. Her gift of such a sizeable
body of work
representing the full range of her artistic career enables visitors to
experience
a BMC artist in depth. It also allows the Museum to continue to
preserve and
education the public on this unique institution for generations to
come.
According to Cole Hendrix, Assistant Curator and curator of
the show Lorna Blaine Halper: The Space Between , "for me, the Spiral Man seems to a force of liberation for Halper. I
imagine much of the work in the show to be about line and it's potential. In
earlier works, line seems contained, bound as it were. Then it begins to move
and bend and challenge the boundaries of the picture plane and our sense of
space. When Lorna takes that early spiral form (At the Opera) and transforms it
into a figure, she gives line life and in a symbolic way, that line becomes a
(super) human force."
For
more information on this work and artist, visit our Permanent Collection
online!
December 28, 2009 - January 3, 2010
Susan Weil, Leaf
Hands,
2007, blueprint, 78 x 71 inches. Asheville Art
Museum, Black Mountain College Collection. 2009 Collectors
Circle Purchase.
Throughout her career, Susan Weil has continually pushed
the limits of painting. Her work defies traditional notions of the medium
instead of hovering over the line between painting and sculpture. Since her
career began in the 1940's, Weil has continuously reinvented her style but her
work has always contained common threads exploring questions of space, time and
movement.
In Leaf
Hands, Weil returns to a medium she used in the late 1940's and early
1950's with her then husband, Robert Rauschenberg. In 1948 Weil and Rauschenberg
attended Black
Mountain College. While at BMC, Weil and
Rauschenberg began experimenting with blueprint paper. The blueprints used light
sensitive paper and a sunray lamp to capture large scale silhouettes.
The Museum
has long been interested in collecting work by artists who taught or studied at
Black
Mountain College. With the recent partnership
between the Museum and Mary Emma Harris and the development of the AAM
Collection Growth Plan, expanding our collection of BMC work has become a top
priority. Leaf Hands is a
monumental work by a seminal BMC artist. BMC was a unique school that used an
interdisciplinary and experimental approach to arts education. Although it
lasted only 24 years, from 1933-57, and enrolled fewer than 1200 students, Black
Mountain College launched a remarkable number of the artists who spearheaded the
avant-garde in America of the 1960's.
This piece
was recently purchased by the Museum's 2009 Collectors' Circle during their
annual purchase party. This was a rare opportunity to acquire a truly
significant work and we are grateful to the members of the Collectors' Circle
for making the acquisition possible. The
Museum's Collector's Circle is a group art lovers who meet regularly to
learn about personal art collecting and to support the Museum's permanent
collection through the annual purchase of works of art. Contact us to learn more
about this prestigious group!
For
more information on this work and artist, visit our Permanent Collection
online!
December 21 - 27, 2009
 Lonnie Holley, Teaching My Child How to See Grandmother's
Mask,
1992, Acrylic Painting, 27.38 x 26.25 inches. Gift of Delphia
Lamberson and Hoke Smith Holt, Asheville Art Museum Collection, 2002.01.04.24
Lonnie Bradley Holley was
the seventh of 27 children. Never completing the seventh
grade in school, he says he educated himself by reading "National
Geographic" magazines.
Holley began his artistic life in 1979 by carving tombstones
for his sister's two children who died in a house fire. He used blocks of a
soft sandstone-like by-product of metal casting which had been discarded in
piles by a foundry. He believes that
divine intervention led him to the material and moved him to produce artwork.
Inspired to create, Holley made other carvings and assembled
them in his yard along with various found objects.
Outsider art has been traditionally understood as work that
falls outside mainstream culture usually because of one or more factors such
as class, race, mental handicap or imprisonment. As outsiders, the artists are
commonly unaffected by, isolated from, and most importantly uninfluenced by Art
as a grandiose identity. Outsider art is originally created for the artist and
not an institution, society or market. The value is determined by the creator, not
the observer. Outside artists tend to be moved by their own relationships,
faith, personal histories, external forces and immediate environments. As with certain other Outsider artists, Holley
began producing art after a personal tragedy and described himself as giving
way to a greater force - that "divine intervention" he mentions.
For more information on this work and artist, visit our Permanent Collection online!
December 14 - 20, 2009
 Georgia Blizzard, I am Just a Little Pebble in the Sand,
late 20th century, earthenware, 4.5 x 6.25 x 5.75
inches. Asheville
Art Museum Collection,
Museum Purchase, 2006.06.02.85
Georgia Blizzard's (1919-2002) work falls under the rubric
of Outsider art. Outsider artists are commonly unaffected by, isolated from,
and most importantly, uninfluenced by art as a grandiose identity. Many Outsider artists begin making work as
adults, often after an illness or personal tragedy; such is the case with
Georgia Blizzard who was born in Saltville,
Virginia May 17, 1919. Her family moved to Plum Creek when she was a
small child and she and her sister played along the creek. Too poor to have
store-bought playthings, they learned to use the creek's clay to make their
dolls, dishes, animals and other toys.
During World War II Georgia Blizzard worked in a munitions factory, and later in a textile
mill. In 1958 she became ill and had to have a lung removed. To help supplement the meager family income,
she and her sister made and sold Indian relics. Finally, Georgia
began to make her own pots, fired and colored with bark, leaves or mud. Her pieces were very personal often providing
her with a way to free herself from private demons and sorrows. Her works, frequently depicting local or
family characters from her memory, have a pre-Columbian quality. I am
Just a Little Pebble in the Sand reflects her concerns with human and
personal insignificance.
Georgia Blizzard produced less than 100 pots per year and is
highly sought after by individuals and institutions interested in American Folk
and Outsider artists.
This piece is currently in the Museum's exhibition Looking Forward: New Works and New Directions for the Permanent Collection.
Its inclusion in this exhibition points to the Museum's dedication in
collecting Outsider Art as part of its long-term collection
growth plan. Visit the other Works of the Week from this month for a continued discussion on Outsider Art.
December 7 - 13, 2009
 Mattie Lou O'Kelley, Rooms
1978, 24 x 30 inches, oil painting. Asheville Art Museum Collection, Gift of Randy Siegel, 2002.17.02.21
Like many Outsider artists, Mattie Lou O'Kelley began her artistic
endeavors late in life; she didn't start painting until she was 50.
Born in Georgia,
she grew up on a farm in the rural community of Maysville, the seventh of eight
children. As a girl, she helped around the house and farm, quilting blankets
and canning vegetables, among other chores. Mattie attended school only to the
ninth grade because she was needed at home. She never married and lived a
quiet, reclusive life after the death of her parents. She worked at a variety
of jobs: a seamstress, a cafeteria cook, and later as a worker in a mop yarn mill.
At the age of 50, Mattie retired from the mill and four years later ordered
canvas and oils from the Sears and Roebuck Catalog. Her subjects center on the life
she lived and commemorate the nostalgic scenes of her childhood. Her paintings brought her
both national and international recognition and she is often
compared with Grandma Moses.
Although many of O'Kelley's works celebrate a rural life, she
was also interested in the bustle of the city. The 1978 painting Rooms exemplifies the energetic and
engaging view from her studio apartment in New York City. This painting can be seen in the exhibition in
Gallery 1 as part of the Museum's exhibition, Looking Back: Celebrating 60
Years of Collecting at the Asheville Art Museum. Looking Back
celebrates the Asheville
Art Museum's collection and highlights some of
the Museum's holdings in Southeastern and Western North
Carolina artists. As part of its
collecting strategy, one of the Museum's collecting focuses is on
Outsider Art. Since many Outsider
artists are Southern it is fitting that the Asheville
Art Museum have a strong
collection. Although similar in style, Outsider Art is not Folk Art;
Outsider artists are completely removed from the mainstream and
their art is made purely for themselves. For more on this contrast,
scroll down to last week's piece. More on Outsider Art next week!
November 30 - December 6, 2009
Kate Clayton (Granny)
Donaldson, Cow Blanket
1936, Crocheted wool appliqués on a wool background, 30.7 x
35 inches. Asheville
Art Museum Collection, Gift
of Peggy Dodge, 1976.62.71
Kate Clayton (Granny) Donaldson was born in 1864 in Marble,
a small town in Western North Carolina between Bryson City
and Murphy. She was a traditional
artisan using the basic methods of crocheting and
appliqué, but moved beyond tradition with these colorful folk art cow blankets,
as they came to be called. The motif usually
consisted of a crocheted man, woman and sometimes children, with a flower pot,
various animals and a tree of life. A member of the Southern Highland
Handicraft Guild saw one of her blankets and encouraged Donaldson to make
more. Her pieces were generally made and
sold in the 1920's and 30's.
This piece is currently on display in the Museum's exhibition Looking Back: Celebrating 60 Years of Collecting at the Asheville Art Museum. The
exhibition is divided into four sections; this piece is in the room Alone and Together, which juxtaposes pieces from the collection to facilitate further investigation and dialogue of the artworks. Looking Back celebrates the Asheville
Art Museum's collection and highlights some of
the Museum's holdings in Southeastern and Western North
Carolina artists, including documenting and preserving works from the region's unique craft culture.
As part of its
collecting strategy, one of the Museum's collecting focuses is on Outsider Art, many pieces of which come from the South.
Although similar, Outsider Art is different from Folk Art.
Outsider artists are completely removed from the mainstream and
their art is made purely for themselves. In contrast, many of the Folk
artists remain within the mainstream of the art world, even if
they fail to practice its style. Generally they accept its subjects,
technique
and even its values, because they hope for public, if not official
recognition.
Their work often comes out of an artistic or craft tradition and their
creations are within the boundaries of a community and a culture.
Granny Donaldson said, in a 1959
interview with John Parris one year before her death, "I can't rightly
tell you how I come to make the first one. Nobody taught me or showed me. I
never got the ideas from anybody and I never copied one for the good reason I'd
never seen one, much less heard tell of one."
Yet according to Allen Eaton in Handicrafts of the Southern Highlands,
Donaldson saw a similar blanket used in Italy to drape over the backs of
cows during festivals and created her own version. No matter what the correct account may be,
Granny Donaldson's Cow Blankets are
her own personal invention and have become folk art classics.
You decide if this piece can be considered Outsider Art. Tune in next week for a continued discussion on Outsider Art.
For more information on this work and artist, visit our Permanent Collection online!
November 23 - 29, 2009

Stoney Lamar, Blue Tree Shoes,
2009, Mixed media sculpture, walnut, milk paint and steel, 74
x 17 x 8 inches. Asheville Art Museum Collection, Museum purchase with funds
provided by John and Robyn Horn & Blue Spiral 1, 2009.26.30.
Stoney Lamar (1951- ) received his BS degree in industrial
arts (wood technology) from Appalachian State University. A friend's
borrowed
lathe led him away from his original goal of designing and building
furniture and into
sculpted woodturning. His apprenticeship with Mark and Melvin Lindquist
freed him from many self-imposed restrictions and limitations
of traditional lathe approaches.
This piece is one of the most recent works to be added to the Asheville Art Museum's
Permanent Collection. It is currently on display in the Museum's exhibition Looking
Back: Celebrating 60 Years of Collecting at the Asheville Art Museum , and it is
a testament to the Museum's focus on collecting fine craft by regional artists
as part of its long term collecting strategy. The Museum is also dedicated to
collecting large sculptural pieces.
This sculpture was purchased through the generosity of John
and Robyn Horn and Blue Spiral 1, including owner John Cram. These individuals
have enabled the Museum to strengthen its Permanent Collection through their generous
support. Individuals, and their gifts to the Museum, significantly contribute
to the Museum's growth; support like this piece allow the Museum to become a stronger
steward to the community of regionally and nationally significant art so that
it may educate and preserve it as cultural artifacts for generations to come.
This is one you have to see in person! Walk around it and see how it changes.
November 16 - 22, 2009
Sally Gall, Spill,
1999, photograph, black and white silver gelatin print,30 x 29.75
inches. Asheville Art Museum Collection, Gift of the Artist, 2008.17.9.
Sally Gall has been taking photographs for over 25 years. Her
stunning images have the ability to create moods that invoke strong
emotional reactions from the viewer. Her artistic photographs embody
mystique, romance and longing. While she made a name for herself for
her black and white photographs, Gall has just recently begun to take
photos in color.
The Asheville Art Museum received this photograph last year as a gift from the artist and it is currently in the exhibition Looking Forward: New Works and New Directions for the Permanent Collection.
Its inclusion in this exhibition points to the Museum's dedication in
collecting contemporary photography as part of its long-term collection
growth plan.
Sally Gall received a BFA in photography from the Rhode Island School
of Design in 1978. She has taught and lectured extensively in the US
and abroad. Her public collections include the Guggenheim Museum, The
Whitney Museum, the Cleveland Museum of Art, the San Francisco Museum
of Modern Art, The Museum of Fine Arts in Houston and many others.
Gall is represented by Julie Saul Gallery in New York where she recently closed her tenth solo show.
November 9 - 15, 2009
Kent Washburn, untitled
1967, silver gelatin print, 10.63 x 13.5 inches, Gift of Mrs. Helen L. Gumpert, 1967, 1967.1.05.91
Kent Washburn moved to Asheville,
North Carolina
and worked as an administrative assistant with the Redevelopment Commission. In
1966 he shot 46 photographs for the Commission's Urban Redevelopment project to
document the residents and living conditions of the East
Riverside district of Asheville. Washburn left Asheville
soon after and pursued a career in law, later becoming a District Court Judge
in Burlington, North Carolina.
These photographs are now part of the Asheville Art Museum's
collection. Many of them were exhibited at the Museum in October 1966
and
again in May 2004. Individual works have
been used in several of our exhibitions including the current
exhibition Looking Back: Celebrating 60 Years of Collecting at the Asheville Art Museum.
The
Asheville Art Museum collects pieces that are
reflective of the local community as part of its collecting strategy.
November 2 - 8, 2009
 Anthony Lord, Adjustable
Floor Lamp,
circa 1930, wrought iron, 63 x 26 inches, Gift of the Artist, 1981, 1981.01.57.
Anthony (Tony) Lord was a well-known Asheville architect and community
leader. He was also a fine iron worker
and from 1929 - 1937 he owned and managed a blacksmith shop on Flint Street in Asheville. Lord, as he was
often called, graduated in architecture from Yale. After graduating he joined
his father's architectural practice but there was little work for an architect
in the years following the Depression and Lord concentrated on his iron work. He
stated that he'd always had an interest in smithing, but he also had help from
the Boone brothers, a family of fine blacksmiths. Lord named his business Flint
Architectural Forgings and although he made a few items for personal use most
of his work is permanently attached to buildings - from Asheville homes, to the Yale campus and the
National Cathedral. This
wrought iron lamp is adjusted by squeezing the coiled metal spring and raising
or lowering. It is signed F A F (Flint Architectural Forgings).
Anthony Lord was an architect and an artist, but he was also a strong
advocate for keeping trees in downtown Asheville, and his efforts,
including a 1945 donation of two trees for
Pritchard Park, eventually led to the formation of the city's Tree
Commission. In 1984, the Asheville Art Museum held a show of his
watercolors, ironwork and
architecture. Among other honors, the Lord Auditorium at the Buncombe
County Library is named for him.
This lamp
illustrates Lord's extraordinary skill and attention to detail and is indicative
of the Museum's collecting focus on fine craft from Western
North Carolina. It is currently located in the Museum's exhibition Looking Forward: New Works and New Directions for the Permanent Collection
which highlights the exceptional growth of the Permanent Collection and showcases some of the areas in which the Museum
has collected in depth.
October 26 - November 1, 2009
 Mark Peiser, Crane Road Spring, PWV 236,
1980, blown glass, torch-worked imagery, 11.5 x 6 x 6
inches. Gift of Dr. and Mrs. George
Ovanezian, 2004, 2004.18.03.50.
This week, Mark Peiser will be awarded a North Carolina Award, the highest civilian honor the state bestows,
for his significant contributions to the state and nation in the field of fine arts. Read more about it on the NC Department of Cultural Resources Newspage. Congratulations!
In 1967 Mark Peiser chanced upon a glass course at the
Penland School of Crafts in Penland North Carolina.
The Penland experience was life-changing and by 1969 he was the first resident
craftsman in glass and purchased nearby land to build his home and studio.
Peiser has been in the forefront of the studio glass movement for over 40
years. He is a consummate glass student constantly exploring and learning about
its capabilities. Peiser has had several
distinct periods in his career. From his early Experimental works, through his Paperweight
Vase series and his Inner Space
pieces to his Forms of Consciousness
and today his Cold Stream Cast Glass
he continues to push the glass envelope.
Peiser has received many grants and awards and has appeared
in numerous exhibitions over the years. He was a founder of the Glass Art
Society and has been a member of the Art Alliance for Contemporary Glass, the
American Craft Council, the International
Sculpture Center,
and the Board of Directors at the Penland School of Crafts.
Crane Road Spring
is one of Peiser's Paperweight Vase series and illustrates his amazing skill
with glass and imagery. In 1979 Mark Peiser took some time off to consider his
career in glass. He spent the fall and winter in Ballston Spa, New York
where nearly every day he passed a grove of fenced birch trees on Crane Road. At the
first of the year he returned to Penland and glassblowing. Although he
never saw Crane Road
in the spring his mind conjured the scene to create this piece. This work is
illustrated in the catalog from his solo exhibition at the Asheville Art Museum
in 2003 Looking Within: Mark Peiser, the Art of Glass. The
donors, Dr. and Mrs. George Ovanezian, had lent Crane Road
to the Museum for the exhibition. When it ended they gifted Crane Road Spring
and two other Paperweight Vases to the museum.
Peiser also has a piece on display in the Museum's current
exhibition Looking Forward: New Works and New Directions for the
Permanent Collection. Peiser's work in the Permanent Collection
reflects the Museum's focus on collecting Western North Carolina crafts.
"Look hard at his work, for history will certainly judge it
among the most significant contribution to the medium in years to come." -Dan Klein, Independent Scholar and Author
October 19-25, 2009
Bacia Edelman, Teapot,
2008, stoneware, 6.75 x 11.25 x 4.5 inches. Asheville Art Museum Collection, Gift of the
Artist, 2008.26.01.82
This teapot was finished in 2008 and is of stoneware clay,
hand-built with a lichen glaze over many layers of colored engobes. Edelman's work consists of functional and non-functional
teapots and vessels, but she uses experimental glazes and firing
techniques.
As Melanie Herzog states about Edelman in her book on cermanics, "Teapots hold a particular interest for Edelman. As a formal
challenge, the pot, lid, handle, spout and their interrelationships present
appealing and endless potential for exploration and manipulation...
While her pots pay homage to functional vessel
traditions, she does not limit herself to producing functional pieces. For
Edelman, function is optional."
Edelman, who died last month at the age of 84,was born in Boston,
Massachusetts in 1926. She attended Black Mountain College in the
summer of 1946. After leaving BMC, Edelman received her BFA from the
Rhode Island School of Design, her MFA from Alfred University School of
Ceramics in 1950, and then studied at the Akademie Fhr Angewandte Kunst
in Vienna, Austria between 1952-53. Edelman has also taught at the
University of Illinois.
This piece is currently on display in the Appleby Memorial
Gallery as part of the Museum's exhibition Looking Forward: New Works and New Directions for the Permanent Collection
which highlights the exceptional growth of the Permanent Collection in
recent years and showcases some of the areas in which the Museum
has collected in depth.
One of the areas in the Museum's collecting focus is work by Black
Mountain College
artists. Black Mountain
College, located just outside of Asheville, was a unique school that used an interdisciplinary and experimental
approach to arts education. Although it lasted only 24 years, from
1933-57, and enrolled fewer than 1200 students, Black Mountain College launched a
remarkable number of the artists. Works from the previous two weeks in our Work of the Week series are also by artists connected to Black Mountain College.
For more information about this work and artist, visit our Permanent Collection online!
Source
: Herzog, Melanie. “Bacia Edelman: Function is Optional” Ceramics:
Art and Perception. No. 71, 2008. 67- 72
October 12-18, 2009
 Ruth Asawa, Untitled (S.372),
circa, 1954, iron wire, 30 x 24 x 24
inches. Asheville
Art Museum Collection, Gift
of Lorna Blaine Halper, 2007.27.09.33
This wire sculpture is part of a series begun in the 1950's
utilizing a form within a form technique in which the smaller, inner spheres
are connected to the outer spheres in a continuous surface that progresses
inside to outside. Asawa feels that the form within a form is one of the most
important concepts in her work.
Ruth Asawa was
the fourth of seven children born to Japanese immigrant farmers. Following the
attack on Pearl Harbor when Ruth was 16, she and her family were sent to internment camps in New
Mexico and Arkansas. There, Ruth spent her free
time studying drawing and painting with professional artists who were also
interned.
After attending Milwaukee
State Teachers
College from 1943-46, she enrolled at Black Mountain
College. There she
studied with Josef Albers, Buckminster Fuller and Ilya Bolotowsky.
In the summer of 1947, on a trip to Mexico, Asawa learned techniques for
crocheting baskets that she experimented with to make her wire sculptures.
This piece is on display in Gallery 6 at the Museum as part of Ruth Asawa: Drawing in Space, a solo show featuring Asawa's looped wire sculptures and paintings
done at Black Mountain College. It was given to the Asheville Art
Museum in 2007 by Lorna Blaine Halper, another alumna of BMC who will be featured in a
show that opens in December at the Museum.
Black Mountain
College, located just outside of Asheville, was a unique school that used an interdisciplinary and experimental
approach to arts education. Although it lasted only 24 years, from
1933-57, and enrolled fewer than 1200 students, Black Mountain College launched a
remarkable number of the artists. The
Museum is dedicated to collecting and preserving the art of Black Mountain
College as part of its collecting
strategy so that its regional and national context can be fully explored.
For more information about this work and artist, visit our Permanent Collection online!
October 5-11, 2009
Buckminster Fuller,
Geodesic Dome Blueprints,
1981, mylar and paper, 25 x 35.5
inches. Asheville
Art Museum Collection. Museum
purchase with funds provided by 2006 Collectors' Circle members Rob Pulleyn,
Cherry and Paul Lentz Saenger, 2006.31.64
Buckminster Fuller was expelled
from Harvard for being an irresponsible and disinterested student!
This blueprint, from the Portfolio Inventions: Twelve Around One,
explores what Buckminster
Fuller is best known for, the creation of geodesic domes. Fuller's first
successful dome was built at Black Mountain College with the help of his
students in 1949, and he later went on to design the United States Pavilion at
the Montreal Worlds' Fair Expo in 1967.
This painting is currently in Gallery
4 as part of the Museum's exhibition, Looking
Back: Celebrating 60 Years of Collecting at the Asheville Art Museum. Black Mountain
College, where Fuller was a
teacher, was a unique school that used an interdisciplinary and experimental
approach to arts education. Although it lasted only 24 years, from
1933-57, and enrolled fewer than 1200 students, Black Mountain College launched a
remarkable number of the artists who spearheaded the avant-garde in America of
the 1960s. The
Museum is dedicated to collecting and preserving the art of Black Mountain
College as part of its collecting
strategy so that its regional and national context can be fully explored. Come
to the Museum to learn more about the Museum's collecting strategies through
its exhibition Looking Forward: New Works and New
Directions for the Permanent Collection.
This 2006 acquisition was made
possible by Collectors' Circle members Rob Pulleyn and Cherry and Paul Lentz Saenger. The Museum's Collectors' Circle
is a group art lovers who meet regularly to learn about personal art collecting
and to support the Museum's permanent collection through the annual purchase of
works of art. Contact us to learn more about collecting art!
For more information about this work and artist, visit our Permanent Collection online!
September 28 - October 4, 2009
Roger Brown, Plants That Glow in the Dark, Tra-La,
1986, oil and glow-in-the-dark paint on canvas, 48 x 72 inches.
Asheville Art Museum Collection. Museum purchase
with funds provided by the Chaddick Foundation, the 2006 Collectors' Circle,
R.K. Benites and Dr. Michael J. Teaford, 2007.08.20
This large painting glows in the dark! Plants That Glow in the Dark, Tra-La
uses Brown’s signature dark, almost silhouetted figures patterned as migrant
workers in a field. With the lights turned out, glow-in-the-dark paint emerges
as nuclear power plant silos showing the man-made dangers lurking in the
landscape.
Roger Brown was
a leader in the stylistic American art movement of the 1960s and 1970s
known as Chicago
Imagism.
This painting is currently in the Museum's exhibition,
Looking Back:
Celebrating 60 Years of Collecting at the Asheville Art Museum. In 2006, the Museum purchased this painting with a grant from the
Chaddick
Foundation, funds from the Museum’s Collectors’ Circle
and additional pledges from Collectors’ Circle members R.K. Benites and Dr. Michael J. Teaford.
The Museum's Collector's Circle is a group art lovers who meet
regularly to learn about personal art collecting and to support the
Museum's permanent collection through the annual purchase of works of
art. Contact us to learn more about this prestigious group.
For more information about this work and artist, visit our Permanent Collection online!
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