Opening reception: Friday, July 10, 6:00 – 8:00 p.m.
Free for BMCM+AC members / $3 non-members
On Friday, July 10th from 6:00 – 8:00 pm, the Black Mountain College Museum + Arts Center (BMCM+AC) will open the third of three exhibitions celebrating the women of Black Mountain College and their many accomplishments in the visual arts, literature, dance and academia. This final exhibition in the series concentrates on the work of a single artist, Dorothea Rockburne and her Astronomy Drawings. The exhibition is accompanied by a 24 page color catalogue.
A student at Black Mountain College in the 1950s, Dorothea Rockburne is a highly influential contemporary artist whose innovative work incorporates ideas based in mathematics and astronomy. Throughout her interesting career she has exhibited widely and received many prestigious awards including a Guggenheim Fellowship and a National Endowment for the Arts Award. She was inducted into the American Academy of Arts and Letters, Department of Art, in 2001 and received the National Academy Museum Artist’s Lifetime Achievement Award in 2009. Her work is included in numerous public collections including: The Museum of Modern Art, Fogg Art Museum, Harvard Museum of Art, Whitney Museum of American Art, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, High Museum of Art, Albright-Knox Art Gallery, Brooklyn Museum, Houston Museum of Fine Arts, and The Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum. Rockburne participated in the first Happening at Black Mountain College (1952) and was part of that scene in the 1960s in New York along with Claes Oldenburg, Robert Rauschenberg and others.
Dorothea Rockburne’s Astronomy Drawings exemplify how the seemingly disparate worlds of art and science can merge with grace and clarity. She describes their genesis: “A friend had given me a very good small telescope, which I could mount on the hood of my car. I would drive to the beach at night and study the stars…The Astronomy Drawings are an exciting direction my work has taken, which, in a way, came as a complete surprise. They combine nature, geometry, topology, and painting in an easy and natural way. The transition to move from certain higher forms of geometry, which I had used in former work, to astronomy just seems to flow. I have been working that way ever since.”
Rockburne credits her deep interest in the intersection of art, nature and mathematics to Black Mountain College mathematics professor Max Dehn. A friend and associate of Albert Einstein, Dehn was a beloved member of the BMC community.
Dorothea Rockburne: Astronomy Drawings was curated by Ann H. Murray, Professor of Art History and Director of the Beard and Weil Galleries at Wheaton College where the show originated. After it closes at BMCM+AC it will travel to the New York Studio School.
For an article about Dorothea Rockburne and her work please go to this website: http://www.audienceasheville.com/dorothea-rockburne-dance-of-the-spheres
RELATED PROGRAMMING
PRESENTATION
7:30 pm, Thursday August 13
Scientific Foundations in Art and Music
Michael J. Ruiz, Ph.D.
Professor of Physics, UNC Asheville
Two fundamental characteristics of western art and music are linear perspective and the cycle of fifths. The scientific foundations of these will be discussed, along with demonstrations of how these provide an added dimension to art. The presentation will include multimedia with animation, video and sound clips.
Michael J. Ruiz is a professor of physics at UNC Asheville with a doctorate in theoretical physics. He is also a pianist and composer. His innovative multimedia teaching techniques have been featured on CNN.
$7 / $5 for BMCM+AC members + students w/ID
PRESENTATION
7:30 pm, Thursday, September 24
Visualizing world views:
Explorations at the boundaries of perception
David McConville, Media Artist + Researcher
Is it possible to effectively communicate an experience of reality? David McConville proposes a pragmatic framework for considering the unique perspectives we each have on the nature of reality. He demonstrates how integrating artistic and scientific approaches can experientially illuminate sensory limitations while raising awareness of the ways in which we create our own unique “maps” of reality. Gaining a deeper appreciation of how worldviews are formed is essential if humanity is to successfully address the interconnected challenges of the 21st century.
$7 / $5 for BMCM+AC members + students w/ID
CONFERENCE
October 9 – 11 at the University of North Carolina Asheville
Re-Viewing Black Mountain College
The legacy of Black Mountain College continues to influence contemporary culture in multiple realms. This conference aims to investigate its history as well as the multiple paths of influence, actual and possible, identifiable in the contemporary world and beyond.
Keynote speaker: Dorothea Rockburne
A student at Black Mountain College in the 1950s, Dorothea Rockburne is a highly influential contemporary artist whose innovative work incorporates ideas based in mathematics and astronomy. Throughout her interesting career she has exhibited widely and received many prestigious awards including a Guggenheim Fellowship and a National Endowment for the Arts Award. She was inducted into the American Academy of Arts and Letters, Department of Art, in 2001 and received the National Academy Museum Artist’s Lifetime Achievement Award in 2009.
Conference co-sponsor: University of North Carolina Asheville
Check our website for updated conference information: www.blackmountaincollege.org
Citation:
Dorothea Rockburne
Tacoma Bridge Resonance, 1998
Caran d’Ache Neocolor II on indigo pigment 90% cotton 5% abaca 5% line paper and translucent abaca paper
33” x 29 1/2”
Courtesy of Dorothea Rockburne and Greenberg Van Doren Gallery
For more information contact Alice Sebrell at 828-350-8484.
Support for this project has been generously provided by: Helga and Jack Beam and Don and Cynthia Carson
