Tour and Behind the Scenes: Walter B. Stephen and William Waldo Dodge Jr.

Within the Asheville Art Museum’s Collection reside decorative arts by two of the most beloved and well-known Arts and Crafts style artists of Western North Carolina: Walter B. Stephen and William Waldo Dodge Jr. Join Alexis Meldrum, curatorial assistant, for a private tour of the current exhibition Walter B. Stephen Pottery: Cameo to Crystalline where you will see the early cameo works of Nonconnah pottery, learn about Stephen’s experimentations in glaze, and examine his later pottery from Pisgah Forest, which opened just outside of Asheville in 1926.  Many Pisgah Forest objects feature American folk imagery, from covered wagons and livestock to cabins and spinning wheels. Then join Whitney Richardson, associate curator, and get a behind the scenes preview of the silver chosen for the forthcoming exhibition Useful and Beautiful: Silvercraft by William Waldo Dodge. Opening his first handwrought silver shop in Asheville in 1924, Dodge promoted his line of household goods that reflected the Arts and Crafts values of handcraftsmanship. Get a close look at each of Dodge’s hallmarks and consider how his different designs supported William Morris’ saying, “have nothing in your house that you do not know to be useful or believe to be beautiful.”

Join us early or stay late to explore the Asheville Art Museum! Our landmark building on Pack Square features the best of American art of the 20th and 21st centuries, with a special look at art of Western North Carolina and Southern Appalachia.

Space is limited; registration is required. To register now, use the ticket link above or call 828.253.3227 x124.

Presented in partnership with the 35th National Arts & Crafts Conference at the Omni Grove Park Inn. Conference participants enjoy a 10% discount at the Museum’s rooftop Perspective Café.

About the curators:

• Whitney Richardson, the Museum’s associate curator, specializes in craft, decorative arts, and architecture of the 20th and 21st centuries. Most recently she curated Modernist Design at Black Mountain College and Huffman Gifts of Contemporary Southern Folk Art. She holds an undergraduate degree in architectural history from Columbia University, and a graduate degree in the history of design & decorative arts from Glasgow University where she wrote her thesis on furniture of the British Arts & Crafts Movement as depicted in fairytale illustrations.
• Alexis Meldrum, the Museum’s curatorial assistant, joined the Asheville Art Museum team as curatorial assistant at the start of 2021. She has since led the installation of Rural Avant-Garde: The Mountain Lake Experience, organized by Longwood Center for Visual Arts (VA), and curated the exhibition Walter B. Stephen Pottery: Cameo to Crystalline from the Museum’s Collection. Meldrum earned her undergraduate degree in art history and marketing from the University of Arkansas at Fayetteville. Meldrum holds her master of arts in art history from Texas Christian University, where she studied late-19th and early-20th century portraiture and studio scenes by American painter William Merritt Chase and Franco-Belgian painter Alfred Stevens.