January 27 – May 27, 2012
To purchase the exhibition catalog click here.
Opening Reception
Friday, January 27, 2012, 5:30 – 7:30 p.m.
Free for BMCM+AC members + students w/ID, $3 non-members
The Black Mountain College Museum + Arts Center is pleased to announce the upcoming exhibition, Pat Passlof: Selections 1948-2011 focusing on the work of painter Pat Passlof, an accomplished Black Mountain College alumna, member of the New York School and under-recognized figure in the development of Abstract Expressionism. The exhibition will open at the museum in downtown Asheville on January 27, 2012 with a reception from 5:30 – 7:30 p.m. A companion show will open at the Fine Art Museum at Western Carolina University the night before. This collaboration between the two museums will enable us to show a significant number of works by Passlof, from her early work made while a student of Willem de Kooning at BMC to her final paintings made in 2011. Ms. Passlof recently passed away at the age of 83.
The simultaneous exhibitions will be accompanied by a 64-page catalog with an essay by celebrated art critic Eleanor Heartney, and a selection of Passlof’s writings and correspondences. Eleanor Heartney is a Contributing Editor to Art in America and Artpress and has written extensively on contemporary art issues for many publications.
Pat Passlof was a student at Black Mountain College during the Summer Institute of 1948, when she studied closely with Willem de Kooning, Josef Albers, Buckminster Fuller, M.C. Richards and Merce Cunningham. Passlof’s time at BMC was central to her development as an artist. After BMC, she continued her studies with de Kooning as his private student in New York City.
In some circles, Pat is known first for her role as the wife of painter Milton Resnick, an association which has, to some degree, eclipsed her own prolific career as a painter. However, before the beginning of her relationship with Resnick, Passlof’s influence on the New York School was strong. She was a driving force behind the cooperative exhibitions of the Tenth Street galleries, organizing collective outreach efforts and galvanizing collaboration. A regular at the “Club,” Passlof quietly absorbed the constant dialogue of its members and continued those discussions with her contemporaries. To create a space for this second generation of voices, Passlof founded a junior Club on Wednesday nights, which was quickly ousted upon the discovery that their numbers had grown to over fifty in just three short weeks. Despite challenges such as these, Passlof persevered and left her mark as a practicing painter, teacher and writer–a path that she continues to forge today.
Selections1948-2011 will honor Passlof’s lifelong commitment to painting and provide much-needed recognition of her work as a teacher and writer about art. The show will feature a selection of 43 paintings by Passlof, representing over 60 years of her career, from her time at Black Mountain College to her most recent work. The exhibition will occupy two NC venues simultaneously, featuring Passlof’s work both at the Black Mountain College Museum + Art Center’s storefront museum in downtown Asheville and at the Fine Art Museum Western Carolina University on their Cullowhee campus.
PROGRAMMING DURING THE EXHIBITION
PRESENTATION
Tues., March 6, 7:30 p.m.
$10 / $5 for BMCM+AC members + students w/ID
Out of the Shadows: the Changing Place of Women Artists in Our Times
Award-winning author and art critic Eleanor Heartney will speak about painter Pat Passlof in relation to the changing place of women in the arts over the last fifty years or so.
Eleanor Heartney is a Contributing Editor to Art in America and Artpress and has written extensively on contemporary art issues for many publications. She is the author of the catalog essay for the publication that accompanies Pat Passlof: Selections 1948 – 2011 and co-author of After The Revolution: Women who Transformed Contemporary Art.
READING
Friday, March 23, 7:30 p.m.
$7 / $5 for BMCM+AC members + students w/ID
An evening with writers Brenda Flanagan and Joseph Bathanti
Known internationally for her dramatic presentations of her stories and poems, Brenda Flanagan teaches Creative Writing, Caribbean and African American Literatures and Literary Analysis at Davidson College. She has received numerous awards for her writing and serves frequently as a cultural ambassador for the US Department of State, with recent visits to the Middle East, Africa and Asia. She will read from her upcoming book about singer Nina Simone.
Joseph Bathanti is a professor of Creative Writing at Appalachian State University and co-director of the Visiting Writers series there. Born and raised in Pittsburgh, PA, he came to North Carolina as a VISTA Volunteer in 1976 to work with prison inmates. Through this work he developed a deep friendship with BMC alumnus Fielding Dawson who was Chairman of the P.E.N Prison Writing Committee. Most recently, his collection of short stories, The High Heart, winner of the 2006 Spokane Prize was published by Eastern Washington University Press. Bathanti has been nominated for Pushcart Prizes in short fiction, poetry and creative nonfiction. He is the recipient of two Literature Fellowships from the North Carolina Arts Council, The Samuel Talmage Ragan Award and many others.
WOMEN IN THE ARTS MOVIE MARATHON!
Friday, May 18, 7:30 p.m. at BMCM+AC, 56 Broadway
$5, FREE members & students w/ID
Sat., May 19, 10:00-Noon, 2:00-4:00 p.m. and 6:00-8:00 p.m. at 67 Broadway, the Lark Books parking deck, FREE,
Presented in collaboration with the City of Asheville Cultural Arts Division and Lark Books.
Don’t miss our Women in the Arts Movie Marathon featuring some of the best films about women artists of our time. Kick things off Friday night at the BMC Museum + Arts Center and then all day Saturday (free!) under the weather-safe roof of the Lark Books parking deck. Bring your own comfy chair or use ours. Easel Rider, The Mobile Art Lab, will make it happen. Please check our website for the schedule of films: www.blackmountaincollege.org
Support for this project has been generously provided by the following: the North Carolina Arts Council, a division of the Department of Cultural Resources; The Elizabeth Harris Gallery; The Beattie Foundation; The Mary Duke Biddle Foundation; Lark Books; and the City of Asheville Cultural Arts Division. Special thanks to Elizabeth Harris, Miles Manning, David Loncle, Robert A. Ellison Jr., Bill Page, Denise Drury and Marya Roland.
The Black Mountain College Museum + Arts Center preserves and continues the unique legacy of educational and artistic innovation of Black Mountain College for public study and enjoyment. We achieve our mission through collection, conservation, and educational activities including exhibitions, publications, and public programs.
