Opening reception: Friday, February 27, 6:00 – 8:00 p.m.

Free for BMCM+AC members / $3 non-members

On Friday, February 27th from 6:00 – 8:00 pm, the Black Mountain College Museum + Arts Center (BMCM+AC) will open the second of three exhibitions celebrating the women of Black Mountain College and their many accomplishments in the visual arts, literature, dance and academia. This second exhibition in the series concentrates on three women who changed the worlds of art, craft, design and education: Anni Albers, Ruth Asawa and M.C. Richards. The show includes, paintings, prints, weaving and ceramic works dating from the 1940s to the 19990s.

Anni Albers Study for Unexecuted Wallhanging, 1926, 1983 screenprint, from the portfolio “Connections” 21 1/8 x 14 1/8 inches Collection of The Josef and Anni Albers Foundation © 2009 The Josef and Anni Albers Foundation/Artists Rights Society New York

BMC faculty member, Anni Albers is known for her unique modernist graphic and textile designs, as well as her articulate aesthetic philosophy. Anni and her husband Josef Albers came by boat to BMC in the fall of 1933, shortly after the college opened. They came from the Bauhaus School of Design in Germany which was closed in 1933 with Hitler’s rise to power. The Alberses remained at BMC until 1949 and had a lasting influence on the college’s art and design curriculum. Anni founded BMC’s weaving workshop, and her teaching approach relied heavily on hands-on experimentation with materials and a focus on the industrial aspects of textile production. After BMC, Anni continued her work in textiles and received many commissions, becoming the most renowned textile artist of the 20^th century. She was the first textile artist to be given a one-person exhibition at the Museum of Modern Art in 1949. She also made a number of prints that demonstrate her impressive design sense in a two dimensional format. A portfolio of these prints is included in this exhibition.

Ruth Asawa BMC.88/Dogwood Leaf, No Date Watercolor on paper 11 x 15.75 inches Courtesy of the Josef and Anni Albers Foundation

At the age of 16, Ruth Asawa and her family were interned in a Japanese-American camp on the West Coast. After her release, she attended Milwaukee State Teachers College. At he suggestion of fellow students there, Ruth then came to BMC in the summer of 1946 and stayed until 1949. Over these three years her teachers included Josef Albers, Ilya Bolotowsky, Max Dehn, Buckminster Fuller and Merce Cunningham. In the summer of 1947 Ruth studied basket weaving in Mexico, which influenced her inventive experimentation with wire sculpture. A successful artist, she received many public art commissions in San Francisco, where she settled with her husband Albert Lanier, also a former BMC student, including San Francisco Fountain at the Grand Hyatt on Union Square, the Mermaid Sculpture at Ghirardelli Square and the Japanese-American Internment Memorial Sculpture at the Federal Building Plaza in San Jose, California. Ruth also became an avid supporter of arts education in San Francisco.

M.C. Richards Alphabet #3, 1994 Acrylic on paper 60.25 x 40.25 inches Collection of the Black Mountain College Museum + Arts Center Gift of Christina Cowan and Ada Lea Birnie

Mary Caroline (M.C.) Richards joined the faculty at BMC in 1945. There, she taught writing, translated plays, danced, studied pottery and founded The Black Mountain Review. Richards inspired many students by the way she approached art, spirituality, education, and the whole person. M.C. Richards became one of BMC’s most popular faculty members in the college’s later years. She wrote: “I have no criticism of Black Mountain, it was an entirely transforming, maturing and inspiring experience.” While at BMC, Richards played an essential part in maintaining community balance in the wake of Josef and Anni Albers’ resignation and the rise of Charles Olson as the college’s leader. Richards, a prolific writer and poet also pursued a career in pottery and wrote the influential book Centering in Pottery, Poetry and the Person. She directed plays at Black Mountain, and she translated Erik Satie’s play The Ruse of Medusa. Richards was among those who participated in the first “Happening,” entitled Theater Piece No. 1, a multi-media experimental performance orchestrated by John Cage in the school’s dining hall.

RELATED PROGRAMMING

Workshop

Saturday + Sunday, March 21^st and 22nd

9:00 – 4:00 with a lunch break

The Awakened Eye: Explorations in 3 Dimensions - This 2 day workshop, taught by Ati Gropius Johansen, is based on the legendary Bauhaus foundation design course. Using simple materials like paper and wire we’ll create dynamic new forms. Ati is a graduate of Black Mountain College where she studied with Josef Albers and daughter of Walter Gropius, founder and director of the Bauhaus School of Design in Germany.

Asheville BookWorks, 428 1/2 Haywood Road, West Asheville

$185 / $170 members of BMCM+AC + Interlude Editions (materials included)

Space is limited! 10% discount for registration by March 1^st

To register: 828-255-8444

Lecture/Presentation

Wednesday, April 1, 7:30 p.m.

Anni Albers + Ruth Asawa: Two Lives in Art - Brenda Danilowitz, chief curator of The Josef and Anni Albers Foundation will speak about Anni Albers and Ruth Asawa, two artists with extraordinary lives as innovative artists and dedicated educators.

Co-sponsored by Cloth Fiber Workshop

BMCM+MAC, 56 Broadway – Downtown Asheville

$7 / $5 BMCM+AC members + students w/ID

Multi-Media / Interdisciplinary Performance

Saturday, April 25, 9:00 pm

Black Whole – An immersion in video, sound and dance exploring the connections between life and landscape. Featuring Brooklyn-based dance artist Janice Lancaster and video projection designer Adam Larsen. “Theramin Garden” by Moog Music with Jason Daniello.

Co-sponsored by the City of Asheville, Moog Music + Centering on Children

Food Lion Skate Park, 3 Cherry St. – Downtown Asheville

$10 / $7 BMCM+AC members, city employees and students w/ID. Kids under 12 free

Film Screenings: Three Documentary films about the artists in Triangle

Thursday, June 11, 7:00 p.m.

M.C. Richards: The Fire Within by Richard Kane + Melody Lewis-Kane

Ruth Asawa: Of Forms and Growth by Robert Snyder

Josef and Anni Albers: Art is Everywhere by Sedat Pakay

Fine Arts Theatre, 36 Biltmore Ave.

$12 / $10 for BMCM+AC members + students w/ID

Total running time: 1 hr. 46 min. There will be two short intermissions between films.

For more information contact Alice Sebrell at 828-350-8484.