A GENEROUS VISION: THE CREATIVE LIFE OF ELAINE DE KOONING
February 17, 2021 | Streaming – A conversation with Cathy Curtis, the author of the first biography written on the BMC artist, “A Generous Vision: The Creative Life of Elaine de Kooning”
{Re}HAPPENING 10
April 2, 2022 | Lake Eden {Camp Rockmont} | Featuring The Philip Glass Ensemble – The {Re}HAPPENING is an annual afternoon and evening event at the historic campus of Black Mountain College – 15 minutes from Asheville. It is part art event, part fundraiser, and part community instigator, providing a platform for contemporary artists to share their responses to the vital legacy of Black Mountain College.
FILMS@BMCM+AC: DON’T KNOW WE’LL SEE THE WORK OF KAREN KARNES
This documentary by award-winning filmmaker Lucy Massie Phenix is an intimate study of the work and life of master clay artist, Karen Karnes. It takes the viewer into her creative process, into the evolution of a single sculptural piece, and into Karnes’ body of work of over 60 years.
John Cage + the Rasa Aesthetic: Prepared Piano at BMCM+AC
Guest blog post from Casey Edwards On Thursday, August 2, 2019, the Black Mountain College Museum + Arts Center had the pleasure of hosting Guggenheim Fellow Amy Williams for a recital of John Cage’s famous Sonatas and Interludes for prepared piano, part of BMCM+AC’s...Alma Stone Williams Collection
Within the BMCM+AC Permanent Collection, we house a number of collections specific to alumni and faculty of the school, offering unique insight into what Black Mountain College was like from a wide range of perspectives. In this guest blog post from BMCM+AC Archival...Myths and Legends of Black Mountain College
We’re clearing up the rumors. In this case, fact is often more fascinating than fiction.
OPENING RECEPTION
Friday, January 24, 5:30-8pm Question Everything! The Women of Black Mountain College Curated by Kate Averett and Alice Sebrell. In the midst of modernism, when the foundations of culture were under question, prompted by war and global crises, women were able to make...MUSEUM STORE SUNDAY
Sunday, December 1 – 1pm to 5pm Be a patron! Black Mountain College Museum + Arts Center will be offering 10% off all merchandise and special discounts on select Jargon Society books on November 30 and December 1, the weekend of Museum Store Sunday. We will also...Elaine and Willem de Kooning + The Summer of 1948
When the summer of 1948 rolled around, Elaine and Willem de Kooning were relieved to take a break from the New York art scene which seemed to be taking from them much more than it was giving. On an invitation from Josef Albers, Willem came to Black Mountain College to...Unsung Women of the Bauhaus
It’s a story that is becoming more and more well known: female students, hoping to study art, design, and architecture, flocked to the Bauhaus when it opened its doors in 1933. Walter Gropius, when faced with this influx of female students, made the decision to...Materials, Sounds + Black Mountain College
Civilization seems in general to estrange men from materials, from materials in their original form. The process of shaping these is so divided into separate steps that one person is rarely involved in the whole course of manufacture, often knowing only the finished...{Re}HAPPENING 9 – featuring Arooj Aftab, Anjna Swaminathan & Rafiq Bhatia Trio; Kiranavalli Vidysankar, Sandhya Anand, and Vinod Seetharaman
March 30, 2019 – The annual {Re}HAPPENING brings together dozens of contemporary artists whose work responds to and extends the legacy of Black Mountain College visionaries such as John Cage, David Tudor, Merce Cunningham, M.C. Richards and Robert Rauschenberg. The 2019 {Re}HAPPENING celebrated the influence of non-western music on such legendary artists by showcasing contemporary musicians who continue the legacy of experimental music within a global context. Featured performers included Arooj Aftab, Anjna Swaminathan & Rafiq Bhatia Trio, Free Planet Radio and Kiranavali Vidyasankar, Sandhya Anand, Vinod Seetharaman.
PERFORMANCE: FRESH CUT ORCHESTRA + MELANIE CHARLES – WE INSIST! MAX ROACH’S FREEDOM NOW SUITE
Commission | February 22 + 23, 2019 | BMCM+AC {120 College Street} – A timely restaging of We Insist! Max Roach’s Freedom Now Suite, a seminal recording from the civil rights era. The piece was performed on February 22 + 23, 2019 by the NYC / Philadelphia-based ensemble Fresh Cut Orchestra with vocalist Melanie Charles. Recorded in the fall of 1960, the Freedom Now Suite was the most openly political jazz recording ever made, combining musical prowess with political dialogue. Nearly 60 years later, the issues posed by We Insist! are still relevant to our current political moment.
Presented as a part of Come Hear North Carolina, in partnership with the North Carolina Department of Natural & Cultural Resources and the North Carolina Arts Council. Additional support provided by UNC Asheville.
JOHNNY GANDELSMAN – BACH’S COMPLETE CELLO SUITES ON VIOLIN
December 12, 2019 | BMCM+AC {120 College Street} – Gandelsman is the one of the first to record or perform Bach’s complete cello suites on violin. This is Gandelsman’s second initiative towards adapting Bach’s compositions to violin, following his recordings of Bach’s Sonatas and Partitas in 2018. Having worked with incredible masters of various world music traditions, like Bela Fleck, Martin Hayes and Kayhan Kalhor, Gandelsman’s playing of the Suites is equally inspired by folk and fiddling traditions, as it is by historically informed performance.
ReVIEWING 11
September 20-22, 2020 {UNC Asheville} ReVIEWING Black Mountain College 11. Held at UNC Asheville’s Reuter Center, this annual conference explores the history and legacy of Black Mountain College through presentations, workshops, and performances. Keynote Speakers: Sara VanDerBeek artist and Chelsea Spengemann, Director of the Stan VanDerBeek Archive. Open to the public.
VIRTUAL BAUHAUS: VR EXPERIENCE
September 23 – October 7 Using Virtual Reality technology, Virtual Bauhaus offers visitors a one-of-a-kind experience, transporting them into the architectural space of the iconic Bauhaus Dessau building. Created and sponsored by Goethe-Institut....GALLERY TALK: THE MOON MUSEUM
Thursday, October 3 – 7pm The Moon Museum: Apollo XII’s Secret Art Mission. Hear about this first-ever ‘Space Art’ object, and how it secretly became a part of the Apollo XII lunar lander by author and art historian Jade Dellinger. The Moon Museum was the...FILMS@BMCM+AC: STAN VANDERBEEK
October 10, 2019 {120 College Street} An evening of short films by Stan VanDerBeek, including Science Friction (1959), Breathdeath (1963), Poemfield No. 2 (1966), and others.
PERSPECTIVES: TRACEY MORGAN
October 16, 2019 (120 College Street) – Explore our VanDerBeek + VanDerBeek exhibition along with an artist, historian, or scholar who will give perspective and context to the work from their particular point of view. Guest Speaker: Tracey Morgan, owner of Tracey Morgan Gallery, a contemporary art gallery specializing in photography, works on paper, sculpture, painting, and video.
PERFORMANCE: PAN HARMONIA
Saturday, November 2, 12:30 PM Peek behind-the-scenes of Asheville’s home-grown music collective celebrating its 20th season. Flutist Kate Steinbeck and guitarist Amy Brucksch will play music and speak about Pan Harmonia’s November concerts, “Women’s Work,” featuring...
