November 20, 2009 – February 6, 2010

On Friday, November 20th from 6:00 – 9:00 pm, the Black Mountain College Museum + Arts Center (BMCM+AC) will open its new exhibition PAST PRESENCE and will welcome Martha and Basil King to Asheville. The Kings both attended Black Mountain College as teenagers in the 1950s and have pursued lives in the arts ever since. Both are published poets and writers, and Basil is also a widely collected painter. Beginning at 7:30 pm Martha and Basil will read selected works and Basil will present and discuss his paintings.

The Exhibition: PAST PRESENCE
The new exhibition at BMCM+AC will explore five important aspects of the Black Mountain College story: the Early Years, the Weaving Workshop, the Summer of 1948, the Print Shop, and the Final Years. Though it closed over 50 years ago, BMC continues to resonate with vitality, influence and ideas relevant to our time. The impact of Black Mountain College, through its experimental educational community and the people who made up that community, is still being discussed, debated and filtered through the hearts and minds of contemporary thinkers, educators and artists. This past has presence. As was so convincingly demonstrated at RE-VIEWING BLACK MOUNTAIN COLLEGE, the recent conference co-sponsored by BMCM+AC and UNCA, contemporary artists, educators, writers and academics are actively engaged with the ideas, practices and individuals associated with BMC. The progressive ideas that formed the foundation of the college seem more relevant than ever as our society continues to struggle with disparate views about education.

RELATED PROGRAMMING

• PRESENTATION + READING
Friday, November 20 – 7:30 – 9:00 p.m.
2 LIves After Black Mountain: Martha and Basil King
BMC alumni Martha and Basil King will give a reading and visual presentation following the opening reception for PAST PRESENCE. Martha is a writer and Basil is a poet and a painter. The prolific duo, based in New York, continue to actively write and paint, publish and exhibit. In the tradition of Marsden Hartley, Basil is a painter who writes, and a writer who paints, often about other art and artists. In the past 10 years, Martha has published 4 books of prose fiction and 1 of poetry.

• PRESENTATION + SCREENING
Thursday, December 3, 7:30 pm
Stan Vanderbeek: Avant-garde Filmmaker + Teacher
Johanna Vanderbeek will present and discuss the underappreciated films of her late husband Stan. Combining animation, painting and collage with a Dadaist sensibility, Vanderbeek made films in the 1950s and 60s that were beautifully original. “Clearly a Renaissance Man, Vanderbeek has been a vital force in the convergence of art and technology, displaying a visionary ‘s insight into the cultural and psychological implications of the Paleocybernetic Age.” Gene Youngblood in Expanded Cinema
$7 / $5 for BMCM+AC members + students w/ID

• PERFORMANCE – 2 NIGHTS!
Friday + Saturday, January 22 + 23, 2010, 8:00 pm
Asheville Fringe Arts Festival – Audio Arts
In a fringey partnership with BMCM +AC, the festival will have a venue focused on sonic experimentation. Musicians, performers and composers will premiere and showcase new music and avant-garde ambient sounds. Get an earful!
$12 / $10 for BMCM+AC members, seniors + students w/ID

Citation:
Hazel Larsen Archer
Quiet House Doors, ca. late 1940s
Gelatin Silver Print
Black Mountain College Museum + Arts Center Collection