Museum Event Calendar

February 2011

Saturday + Sunday, February 5 + 6, 2:00 p.m. each day

Film Screening, Don’t Know, We’ll See: The Work of Karen Karnes

Free with Museum Membership or Admission

This film beautifully captures the work and life of ceramicist Karen Karnes, who worked nearly every day for over 50 years creating art. Filmmaker Lucie Massie Phenix has been a friend of Karen’s since the 1960s, so this portrait of her has a specialness that is unique in the genre of documentaries.

Held in conjunction with the exhibition A Chosen Path: The Ceramic Art of Karen Karnes.

Tuesday, February 8, 3:00 - 5:00 p.m.

Discussion Bound Reading Group, The Lost Painting: The Quest for a Caravaggio Masterpiece by Jonathan Harr

Free with Museum Membership or Admission

Pop into our monthly book discussion where we read and discuss books that relate to artwork in our galleries. Moderated by a member of the Museum’s staff or a volunteer, we exchange ideas and learn about books, art and each other! Bring your copy of the book. Each book is available for purchase through the Museum Shop as well as area bookstores. Suggestions for future books are most welcome! For information, contact Nancy Sokolove, Adult Programs Manager at 828.253.3227, ext. 120 or nsokolove@ashevilleart.org.

February’s read is an interesting blend of art history and detective story. Author Jonathan Harr focuses on the handful of scholars, including two students, who found evidence of the lost painting in question, Caravaggio’s “The Taking of Christ.”

Wednesday, February 9, 3:00 - 5:30 p.m.

Teacher Open House

FREE

Come by for a free afternoon to unwind and enjoy the Asheville Art Museum! Our open house is open to any North Carolina Educator. The event takes place in the WNC Teacher Resource Center of the Asheville Art Museum. Explore exhibitions and find out about programs for students. The afternoon includes refreshments, door prizes including free class tours and educator memberships to the school with the most attendance, discounts in the gift shop and free materials.



Friday, February 11, 12:00 - 1:00 p.m.

Art Break, The Director’s Cut I: 1995 – 2010 with Assistant Curator Cole Hendrix

Free with Membership or Museum Admission

A new era began at the Asheville Art Museum on December 13, 1995, when Pamela Myers started her tenure as Executive Director. With prior experience at institutions including the North Carolina Museum of Art, The Strong Museum, Museum of the City of New York and the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, she brought a wealth of knowledge, enthusiasm and new ideas to Asheville. This exhibition is a celebration of Pam’s 15 years guiding the Museum through a period of extraordinary growth. By highlighting works that have been added to the permanent collection over this period, the exhibition serves not only to show the growth of the Museum’s collection, but the many avenues in which individuals, institutions and others have come together under Pam’s leadership to make the Museum the success it is today. Gifts of art to the collection have always been an important part of the collection’s growth since the Museum’s inception. Join Cole Hendrix for a fascinating tour!



New Members’ Reception

Free with Membership

We love our new Members! This Sunday afternoon reception welcomes our New Members that have joined the Museum over the past year. This is a wonderful opportunity to meet fellow art lovers and learn more about the Museum. The Museum Shop will be offering a special 15% discount during the reception, instead of the usual 10% Member’s discount, as a thank you for joining the Museum family!



Saturday, February 19, 10:00 a.m. - 5:00 p.m.

Lecture + Tour, Whistler as Printmaker: From Realism to Impressionism and Beyond

$20 Museum Members; $25 Non-Members

The Forum in Pack Place and Asheville Art Museum

Now best known for his paintings, James McNeill Whistler was one of the most innovative and influential printmakers working in the second half of the 19th century. Kenneth Myers, Chief Curator and Curator of American Art at the Detroit Institute of Arts, will discuss the three major phases in Whistler’s career as a printmaker which culminated in the famous prints he completed in Venice in 1879 and 1880 and the great late etchings he completed in Amsterdam in 1889. After the talk, enjoy a reception and tour of The Director’s Cut I: 1995-2010.

Held in conjunction with the exhibition The Director’s Cut I: 1995-2010 and the Grove Park Inn Arts & Crafts Conference.



Sunday, February 20, 2:00 p.m.

Scholastic Art Awards Ceremony

FREE

Diana Wortham Theatre

The Asheville Art Museum, with the assistance of its volunteer docents, partners with the Asheville Area Section of the American Institute of Architects each year to sponsor the Western North Carolina Regional Scholastic Art Awards. Students in grades 7 – 12 from all across our region are invited to submit work for this special juried competition. The 2011 Western North Carolina Regional Scholastic Award recipients are honored at a ceremony on February 20 at 2:00 p.m. in the Diana Wortham Theatre and the exhibition of their artwork is on view at the Pack Place Community Gallery from January 28 – March 6, 2011. Regional Gold Key recipients’ work will be sent to the National Scholastic Art competition in New York City. For more information on the Scholastic Art Awards, please visit www.ashevilleart.org or www.artandwriting.org.

Sponsored by the American Institute of Architects and the Walnut Cove Member’s Association.



Friday, February 25, 12:00 - 1:00 p.m.

Art Break, A Chosen Path: The Ceramic Art of Karen Karnes with Ceramicist Megan Wolfe
Free with Membership or Museum Admission

The Asheville Art Museum is pleased to be one of five museums nationwide to host the first major retrospective of ceramic artist Karen Karnes (1925 – ). For more than 60 years Karnes has been at the forefront of the studio pottery movement. Over her long career, she has created some of the most iconic pottery of the late 20th and early 21st centuries. She has worked in some of the most significant cultural settings of her generation including North Carolina’s avant-garde Black Mountain College in the 1950s.

Karnes’s artistic output is recognized for its understated, quietly poetic surfaces and sublime biomorphic forms. From her dramatic salt-glazed pottery of the 1960s and 70s to her most recent complex joined sculptural pieces, Karnes consistently has challenged herself — with the unintentional consequence of irreversibly transforming the medium. She remains one of the medium’s most influential working potters and is a mentor to several generations of studio potters. Join ceramicist Megan Wolfe for a fun and interesting tour!

This exhibition was organized by Arizona State University Art Museum Ceramics Research Center, Tempe, Arizona, and curated by Curator of Ceramics Peter Held. A handsome exhibition catalogue with essays by Christopher Benfey, Garth Clark, Jody Clowes, Peter Held, Janet Koplos, Edward Lebow and Mark Shapiro is available for purchase in the Museum Shop. The exhibition is traveling to only five museums, including the Asheville Art Museum.



Continuing Events:

Every First Wednesday of the Month Museum Open Free to the Public
3:00 - 5:00 p.m.


Discussion Bound
Monthly Reading Group

January 11, February 8, March 8 + April 12

Four Tuesdays, 3:00 - 5:00 p.m.

Free with Museum Membership or Admission


Home School Program

For Students in Grades 1 – 5

February 8, March 8, April 12 + May 10

Four Tuesdays, 11:30 a.m. - 1:00 p.m.

$4 per student, per session

Each 90-minute session includes a guided tour of the Museum’s permanent collection or a special exhibition, plus a hands-on activity in the Museum’s studio. Museum admission for students and all materials necessary are included in the cost. Pre-registration is required.