X
c
Open Mondays 11am–6pm | Reserve tickets now
Contact Calendar Museum Store S
Asheville Art Museum

Asheville Art Museum

North Carolina museum exhibiting 20th century American art

Explore
D

Exhibitions

Collection

Learn

Calendar

Perspective Café

Museum From Home

Museum Store

Blog

About Us

Learn more about current and upcoming exhibitions.

EXPLORE EXHIBITIONS
>
Visit
D

Plan Your Visit

Tours

Perspective Café

Facility Rental

smARTguide

About Asheville

c

Museum Hours:

Open daily 11am–6pm. Late-night Thursdays until 9pm; closed Tuesdays. Pre-purchased online tickets are encouraged; walk-in tickets are also available.
m

Museum Location:

2 South Pack Square
Asheville, NC 28801
P

Museum Contact:

828.253.3227
mailbox@ashevilleart.org
Support
D

Membership

Give

Collectors’ Circle

Volunteer

Careers + Internships

Museum Members receive 12 months of free general admission.
BECOME A MEMBER
>
Become A Member!
Home > Exhibitions > Dear Lorna, Love Ray

Dear Lorna, Love Ray

Dates:
Ongoing
Location:
Digital

The Asheville Art Museum is pleased to present its first Digital Exhibition, organized by Alex Landry, summer 2022 curatorial intern for museum diversity. Dear Lorna, Love Ray features letters written by Ray Johnson to Lorna Blaine Halper while Johnson was a student at Black Mountain College. The letters reveal snippets of daily life at the college, Johnson’s experience of his growth as an artist, and early examples of Mail art, a movement that Johnson helped found.

Read below for a short statement from Landry on the project and click here to experience Dear Lorna, Love Ray.

“I like to think Ray Johnson came to me as opposed to the other way around. Poking out from between bulletins, posters, and other ephemera related to Black Mountain College were these doodles in handmade envelopes. Their edges were neatly cut and their contents carefully folded. Despite being composed of scraps and written on with crayons, their maker found them precious. These letters no doubt arose out of an entirely different Ray Johnson than the one we know today: the infamous prankster, the dodgy interviewee, the collagist. In 1947, Johnson was on the precipice of his career, unsure of his next move but excited to see the slow trickle of his network of friends growing across the country. As a young, queer graduate student trying to navigate and find my place in the art world, I find this Johnson profoundly relatable. It is my hope that this digital exhibition adds yet another layer of meaning to “New York’s most famous unknown artist,” to the grand amalgamation that is Ray Johnson.”
—Alex Landry, summer 2022 curatorial intern for museum diversity

VIEW DIGITAL EXHIBITION

This digitization project is supported in part by North Carolina Humanities, the state affiliate of the National Endowment for the Humanities.

 

Selected works from the exhibition

Envelope from Ray Johnson, Black Mountain College, to Lorna Blaine Halper, 101 East 85th Street, New York City, postmark March 4, 1947
•  Ray Johnson, Envelope from Ray Johnson, Black Mountain College, to Lorna Blaine Halper, 101 East 85th Street, New York City, postmark March 4, 1947
Envelope from Ray Johnson, Black Mountain College, to Lorna Blaine Halper, 101 East 85th Street, New York City, postmark March 7, 1947
•  Ray Johnson, Envelope from Ray Johnson, Black Mountain College, to Lorna Blaine Halper, 101 East 85th Street, New York City, postmark March 7, 1947
Envelope from Ray Johnson, Black Mountain College, to Lorna Blaine Halper, 101 East 85th Street, New York City, postmark March 8, 1947
•  Ray Johnson, Envelope from Ray Johnson, Black Mountain College, to Lorna Blaine Halper, 101 East 85th Street, New York City, postmark March 8, 1947
^
Back
to top
Asheville Art Museum

Sign up for e-News!

f
t
i

Explore

  • Exhibitions
  • Collection
  • Learn
  • Calendar
  • Store
  • Blog
  • About Us

Visit

  • Plan Your Visit
  • Perspective Café
  • Virtual Visits
  • Facility Rental
  • Accessibility
  • Program & Event Tickets
  • About Asheville
  • Contact

Support

The Asheville Art Museum's vision is to transform lives through art.
  • Membership
  • Give
  • Benefit Events
  • Collectors’ Circle
  • Volunteer
  • Careers
  • Internships

Location & Hours

c

Museum Hours:

Open daily 11am–6pm. Late-night Thursdays until 9pm; closed Tuesdays. Pre-purchased online tickets are encouraged; walk-in tickets are also available.
m

Museum Location:

2 South Pack Square
Asheville, NC 28801
P

Museum Contact

828.253.3227
mailbox@ashevilleart.org
© 2023 Asheville Art Museum
For Press
>
Copyright Information
>
Contact
>