Past Exhibitions, 2009

Click here for past exhibitions from 2008 and prior >>

Cheers! Handcrafted Glass Stemware

May 30-June 6, 2009

Cheers! features a grand gathering of drinking vessels focusing on the accomplishments and "voices" of individual artists such as Wendy Besett, Jeff Crandall, Shane Fero, John Geci, Kenny Pieper, Charles Savoie and many other contemporary glass craftsmen. Exploiting the inherent properties of glass-transparency, fluidity, sharpness, fragility and reflection-the objects in this exhibition are mysterious, sensuous and colorful.

The Three Potters: Bringle, Hewitt and Stuempfle

Wheel-thrown and hand built work, some 30-40 pieces, by master artists Cynthia Bringle, Mark Hewitt and David Stuempfle will constitute this very special inaugural exhibition. The potters will be on hand for public programs and studio instruction.

Architectural Ceramics | Outdoors

July 7-August 1, 2009

A selection of large-scale vessels, curated by landscape architect Marcia S. Weber, was on display outdoors near The Bascom's headquarters building and on its new pastoral Nature Trail. Weber selected work by North Carolina artists Chad Brown, Daniel Johnston and Matt Jones. These clay works complemented the Mountains in Bloom garden festival, July 7-11.

Helen Frankenthaler and the Color Field Painters

June 18-August 15, 2009
The Bascom's own 1978 Frankenthaler untitled 96-inch-high stain painting will create a vibrant centerpiece for this exhibition that will also include loans of paintings by Hans Hofmann, Morris Louis, Robert Motherwell, Kenneth Noland, and Jules Olitsky from museums and private collectors. This will be a celebration of not only non-objective imagery and mid-20th c. modernism, but also it pays homage to Frankenthaler herself who recently celebrated her 80th year.

Moulthrops: Three Generations of Woodturners

July 18-August 29, 2009

Some 45 post-1950 turned wood works will be displayed in a grand 17 x 40 foot loft gallery that is appointed with rough-hewn posts and beams and clean white walls. Some works will be on loan from the artists and other pieces from collectors. This show of lathe-made pieces will convey the widely acclaimed talents of Matt and Phillip and their late father Edward, who comprise an esteemed family of Georgia craftsman. Critics have long said that Ed Moulthrop (1916-2003), trained as an architect, self taught as a craftsman, changed the course of woodworking in America.

Cat Chow: Beyond Fiber Art

Sept. 5-October 10, 2009

The artist's site specific installation will be on view in The Bascom's new loft gallery. Chow (born 1973; www.cat-chow.com) produces mixed media pieces and draws on her training in fashion design. With work sometimes incorporating zippers, measuring tapes, fish line, and buttons, her pieces are an ode to repetition and scale and a tension between the conceptual and the material. (Among her favorite artists are Eva Hesse, Louise Bourgeois, and Sol LeWitt.) This NYC artist is being touted by art critics and in major publications. The New Yorker called her one of the most interesting and compelling young talents to come along in years.

Produced for Heart of the High Country TV show, courtesy of Time Capsule Video

Southern Landscapes by Lamar Dodd and Will Henry Stevens

August 22-October 17, 2009
Bascom guest curators have selected paintings, pastels and drawings by the American masters Will Henry Stevens (1881-1946) and Lamar Dodd (1909-1996) that exemplify an affinity for nature as embodied in landscape. Stevens and Dodd were famous university teachers and still have a tremendous following among artists, art students and art collectors. Stevens won fame as an instructor at the H. Sophie Newcomb Memorial College in New Orleans, Louisiana, part of Tulane University, and Dodd at The University of Georgia, Athens, where the Lamar Dodd School of Art bears his name. The landscape theme is in tribute not only to Stevens' love of the highlands of Appalachia and lowlands of Louisiana and Dodd's love of Monhegan Island, Maine, and the red-clay terrain of Georgia, but also to the Highlands-Cashiers Land Trust's 100th anniversary. The Trust's mission of preserving natural areas, scenic beauty and green spaces echo the visions of Stevens and Dodd. 

Produced for Heart of the High Country TV show, courtesy of Time Capsule Video

Dave Russell: Stacked Stone Sculpture | Outdoors

August 6-October 30, 2009

 Dave Russell, sculptor, says that Western North Carolina is blessed with good rocks; granite is one example of a plentiful material. He is drawn to rocks that have the edges, irregularities and "grippiness" that he needs for making his signature stacked stone sculptures. Russell collects stones from farms, dumps, riverbeds and many other locations (with permission from owners) and makes stacked assemblages from these found rocks. The parts of his works are held together with gravity and friction. His pieces form arches or sometimes pedestals or totem shapes. By day, Dave is the letters editor for the Asheville Citizen-Times. He sees his sculpture as turbocharging nature, or making moments in time that would not ordinarily occur. Watch for his stone installations along The Bascom's nature trail and around the campus. These stacked stone works of art celebrate the unblemished green spaces that form the landscape west and north of The Bascom's new headquarters building; signal the art center's commitment to ecology and "green" practices; and celebrate the wealth of regional and national artists who produce works that compliment the landscape.

Members Invitational

October 16-November 7, 2009
Featuring work by current members of The Bascom.

Produced for Heart of the High Country TV show, courtesy of Time Capsule Video

The Shopping Bag: Exemplary Art and Design

November 14-December 18, 2009
The bags chosen for this special exhibition, celebrating the coming holidays, will be on loan to The Bascom from The Newark (NJ) Public Library, whose rich and robust holdings boast hundreds of unforgettable, iconic carry-alls.

American Art Today, Juried Works

October 24-December 18, 2009
Dr. Annette Blaugrund, former director, National Academy of Design Museum and Art School, serves as juror of this exhibition, featuring established and emerging artists in the southeast and beyond. Cash awards will be made. Click here for a list of artists selected for the juried exhibition. Click here to view text of Dr. Blaugrund's gallery talk.

Produced for Heart of the High Country TV show, courtesy of Time Capsule Video

Best in Show
Dana Brown for "Passages," a watercolor

First place
Tracy Deniszcuk for "Spirit Cradle I," mixed media

Second place
Denise Stewart-Sanabria for "Donut Distress," oil on canvas

Third place
Sean Meyers for "Dhuhr Salah," photography on canvas

Fourth place
Sallie Taylor for "Seven Eggs and Shadows," oil on canvas

Honorable mentions
James Cornell for "Teapot," high fire stoneware
Kellie Hamilton for "Nuts and Bolts," digital photography
Jo Ridge Kelley for "Emblazed," oil on canvas
Leila Martin for "Maasai Warriors," oil on canvas
Lee Sipe for "Vessel no.199," copper wire

Juror's Honorable Mention
Jerome Grimmer for "Grounded," acrylic on canvas