Art
Email
Print
Strong Women Speak: Exhibitions in Asheville and at Salem College address survival in a man's world, facing religious-political issues
Journal Photo by Jennifer Rotenizer
Kathleen Ramich's sculpture titled Maverick Ambush parodies the political campaign of John McCain and Sarah Palin.
ADVERTISEMENT
Published: January 25, 2009
ASHEVILLE -- Accounts of life at Black Mountain College -- the small, arts-centered school that existed near Asheville from 1933 to 1957 -- indicate that it was ahead of its time in many respects, leading to its enduring reputation as a bastion of the American avant-garde.
Published testimonies by some of Black Mountain's female students and teachers reveal that they sometimes had to contend with sexist, macho attitudes from their male counterparts at the college, just as they typically did from men in the larger society. Nonetheless, many of these women refused to let gender prejudices intimidate them in their pursuit of meaningful, creative lives, to judge from the evidence in an intriguing exhibition at the Black Mountain College Museum + Arts Center through Feb. 14.
"The Shape of Imagination: Women of Black Mountain College" showcases examples of the creative work produced by a number of these women and celebrates other aspects of their lives at Black Mountain and in the years since the college closed.
Among the more revealing documents in this hybrid of art show and historical display is an excerpt from a recent memoir by New York writer Martha King about her experience as a Black Mountain student in 1955. "Black Mountain style was also a gust of profound expressively female freedom for me," she wrote. "Babies didn't mean exile in a suburban kitchen surrounded by proper equipment. Black Mountain women improvised their clothing, cooked exotic peasant food, tied nursing babies to their waists with Mexican scarves."
The show includes other written documents and photographs showing aspects of daily life at Black Mountain and original artworks in a variety of other mediums, including some that were made at the college and others that are far more recent. The entire show will hold the attention of viewers especially interested in the college, but it's noteworthy in particular for its more broadly appealing paintings, drawings and other visual artworks. Highlights among the latter include Sue Weil's collaged drawing of blue chairs on an orange background; Elaine de Kooning's charcoal portrait of President Kennedy; Cynthia Homire's panoramic sketch of overlapping nude figures; Fannie Hillsmith's painting of an ornate chair; and abstract compositions by Ruth Asawa, Ati Gropius Johannsen, Adele Suska LaBrecque, Pat Passlof, Dorothea Rockburne and Cora Kelley Ward.
Their contributions to the show are augmented by works in various craft mediums by Bacia Edelman, Elizabeth Schmitt Jennerjahn, Karen Karnes, M.C. Richards and Mim Sihvonen, among others.
"The Shape of Imagination" is the first installment of a year-long project the Black Mountain College Museum + Arts Center has launched to celebrate the artistic and academic accomplishments of women who were at Black Mountain College through exhibitions, performances, films, readings and panel discussions.
At Salem College
Back in Winston-Salem, 16 local women artists take on the charged issues of politics and religion in a lively, provocative exhibition on view through Friday at Salem College's Fine Arts Center. Titled "Reflections: Politics and Religion in Art," the show is highlighted by works that engage timely, controversial issues. Not surprisingly, it's replete with ironic and/or symbolic treatments of familiar religious and patriotic icons.
The United States flag figures prominently in a number of works, including color photographs by Susan Barmon, Sheila Robinette, Teresa Sims and Diana Green. But the most cleverly pointed use of the flag here is in Jayne Bamberg's Sorted by Allah, a white T-shirt imprinted across the front with a squarish, stylized version of the stars and stripes. Superimposed on the flag image in bold blue and gold Arabic-style lettering is the admonition "KILL 'EM ALL/LET ALLAH SORT 'EM OUT."
Christian crosses are also integral to several works here, including two by Anne Kesler Shields. Her Cross Purposes I is a feminist-theme assemblage in which a plastic novelty bottle designed to resemble a voluptuous, bikini-clad "bathing beauty" is mounted, as if crucified, on a black cross with a miniature human skull at its base. Cross Purposes II is a cruciform configuration of seven enlarged black-and-white photos appropriated from commercial magazines, all of which center on stark images of masked or veiled figures.
The show's most ambitious sculptural piece is Kathleen Ramich's Maverick AmBush, which parodies the ill-fated presidential campaign of John McCain and Sarah Palin. It portrays them as a pair of child-size, robot-like figures welded together from found metal hardware and machine parts, equipped with ancillary objects including a mock branding iron carrying the initials of former President George W. Bush.
"Reflections" also contains works of special interest by Cynthia Aldrich, Vkcki Bethel, Amy Funderburk, Bridget Raitz, Benita Van Winkle and Mary Ann Zotto.
Arts community's loss
Speaking of self-empowered women artists, I'll take this opportunity to briefly add my voice to the chorus recently lamenting the untimely death of Kelly Peterson and remembering her vital contributions to Winston-Salem's arts scene.
A talented artist and designer, Peterson was only 41 when she died of breast cancer on Jan. 10, as previously reported in the Journal. Her efforts on behalf of downtown revitalization -- including her pioneering role in promoting the Downtown Arts District -- have already been enumerated and praised in the Journal.
Over the roughly 15 years of my friendship with Kelly, I was invariably impressed with her art (I hope we'll eventually see a posthumous retrospective) and charmed by her sparkling, upbeat personality. She was luminous, and many of us had the good fortune to absorb some of the light she emanated.
Four days after she died, several hundred of us gathered at the Millennium Center to honor and celebrate her memory. For an event marking the early death of a loved one, it was a surprisingly uplifting, even inspirational occasion -- a highly appropriate tribute, in other words. I left feeling deeply grateful to Kelly and to everyone else who was present.
■ "The Shape of Imagination: Women of Black Mountain College" is on view through Feb. 14 at the Black Mountain College Museum + Arts Center, 56 Broadway, Asheville. For more information, call 828-350-8484.
■ "Reflections: Politics and Religion in Art" is on view through Friday at Salem College's Fine Arts Center, running concurrently with a show of posters by the collective of anonymous feminist artist-activists known as the Guerilla Girls. The Fine Arts Center is on the Salem campus near the intersection of Salem Avenue and Stadium Drive. For more information, call 336-721-2636.
Email
Print
