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Seven New Exhibitions Opening at BRAHM!

The Blowing Rock Art and History Museum (BRAHM) has seven exhibitions opening to the public this Winter: The Permanent Collection, Elliott Daingerfield, Ward Nichols: Look Again, A Retrospective of Eliot Clark, The Sculptor’s Voice, Truth Beneath These Hills: Uncovering the History and Heritage of Mining in Western North Carolina, and Origins: Works by Chastan Swain, Christopher Lin, Samuel Brown, and Nicholas Osetek, all of which will be open to the public by Dec. 3. 
“The change of exhibits is a bittersweet time,” says Executive Director Lee Carol Giduz. “There is a sense of loss as paintings, sculptures, and photos, which have come to feel like old friends, leave our galleries. There are a number of works that I will truly miss when I walk the galleries and find them gone. Yet, with those works leaving comes the opportunity to greet new works, develop new favorites and form relationships with the works of art arriving in the galleries.”
The community is invited to view the opening of these exhibitions during the Winter Exhibition Celebration on Thursday, Dec. 3 from 5:30 – 7 p.m. The reception is free, and the Museum will provide refreshments, a cash bar, and live music throughout the evening.
List of Exhibition
Selections from the Collection, on-going exhibition opening Nov. 27
The museum has dedicated three exhibition spaces to its Permanent Collection. Works in the collection range from prominent American Impressionists, such as Elliott Daingerfield and William Charles Anthony Frerichs, to works by more locally based artists, including as Philip Moose and Herb Cohen. The opening display is guest-curated by Jonathan Stulhman, Senior Curator of Modern, American, and Contemporary Art at the Mint Museum, Charlotte.
Elliott Daingerfield, on-going exhibition opening Nov.14
The work of American Impressionist Elliott Daingerfield remains closely tied to the history of the Blowing Rock Art & History Museum. A generous donation of his paintings and drawings from Cora Ann and Lamont Hudson created the framework upon which this Museum was founded. Until recently, this preliminary collection was stored in the Museum’s vault, but with this exhibition, the Museum will honor and reintroduce selections from its founding collection of Daingerfields and several additional Daingerfields acquired since then. Works on view for the grand opening of Elliott Daingerfield were selected by guest curator Jonathan Stulhman, Senior Curator of Modern, American, and Contemporary Art at the Mint Museum, Charlotte. Through fall 2016, the exhibition will feature Daingerfield paintings collected by the artists’ grandson, Joseph Dulaney.
Ward Nichols: Look Again
Nov. 14,  – March 26
A native of West Virginia, Ward Nichols (b. 1930) made his home nearby in North Wilkesboro, NC. His hyper-realistic paintings are visualized from photographs he takes of everlasting landscapes, abandoned structures and everyday objects. Spend a little more time with his paintings, however, and Nichols offers rewards through quirky details, such as humorous compositions, nonfunctional door hinges and hidden eyes that lock unexpectedly with the viewers. Ward Nichols: Look Again encourages visitors to ponder the mundane and experience the beautiful within it.
A Retrospective of Eliot Clark
Nov. 27 – March 26
Eliot Candee Clark (1883-1980) was born in New York and was poised to become a prominent artist at a young age. After a rock was thrown at his head and cracked his skull at age eight, he became bedridden for a time and immersed himself in his art. After his recovery, he exhibited at the New York Watercolor Club, the Society of American Artists and the National Academy of Design, where he eventually became an active member, exhibitor, and president (1956 – 1959). Influenced by his father and mother, both artists, Clark graduated high school at 15 and traveled the world, from France and India to Georgia and North Carolina, and painted plein air along the way. He became best known for his naturalistic landscapes, but was also a skilled writer and published several books on artists and arts organizations of his age. Clark died at the age of 97 in his second home in Charlottesville, Virginia, but his paintings remain in collections across the country, including the Metropolitan and Smithsonian. The works on display at the Museum are loaned by Lamont Hudson, a close friend of Clark, and show a broad range of his work.
The Sculptor’s Voice
Nov. 21 -Feb. 20
Responding to popular demand, The Sculptor’s Voice, BRAHM’s first retrospective of contemporary sculpture, is being revisited and will reopen on Nov. 21. This second look at the exhibition, guest curated by Bill Brown, Jr., will remain on view through Feb.20 and will feature one new work of art from each of our five exhibiting artists: John Acorn of Pendleton, SC; Rick Beck of Spruce Pine, NC; Tinka Jordy of Hillsboro, NC; Hanna Jubran of Grimesland, NC; and Corrina Sephora Mensoff of Atlanta, GA.
Truth Beneath These Hills: Uncovering the History and Heritage of Mining in Western North Carolina
Dec.3 – April 23
Geologists have a saying: “Whatever cannot be farmed, must be mined.” Few regions demonstrate this better than Western North Carolina. From the Native Americans who first uncovered minerals and gems thousands of years ago to the miners who today excavate materials crucial to the Silicon Age, mining has profoundly shaped the technology, environment, culture, and community of the High Country. The exhibition is guest curated by the following graduate students of Dr. Andrea Burns at Appalachian State University: Kathryn Burke, Jessica Cottle, Caitlin Finlayson, Jackson Osborne, Bonnie Roane, Carson Sailor, Colby Stevens, Jimmie Vaughn, and Nicholas White.
The Alexander Community Gallery will also be open and features artwork by four students of the Department of Art at Appalachian State University. The exhibition, Origins: Works by Chastan Swain, Christopher Lin, Samuel Brown, and Nicholas Osetek, will be open through Jan.
General admission to the Blowing Rock Art & History Museum is $7 for adults and $6 for students, seniors, active military, and $4 for children ages 5 and up. Donations are accepted for full admission to the Museum on Thursdays. Located at 159 Chestnut Street on the corner of Chestnut and Main in Blowing Rock, NC, the Museum is open 10 a.m. – 5 p.m. TuesdaySaturday with extended hours to 7 p.m. on Thursday. The Museum is closed on Sunday and Monday. For more information, please call (828) 295 – 9099 or visit www.blowingrockmuseum.org.
Eliot Clark. Cold Spring Harbor, 1915. Oil on board.
Eliot Clark. Cold Spring Harbor, 1915. Oil on board.
Elliott Daingerfield. Portrait of Anna Grainger Daingerfield and Unidentified Figure. Oil on canvas.
Elliott Daingerfield. Portrait of Anna Grainger Daingerfield and Unidentified Figure. Oil on canvas.
Permanent Collection, Blowing Rock Art & History Museum.
Gustave Wiegand. By the Lake, c. 1905. Oil on canvas.
Ward Nichols. Old Blue. Oil on canvas. Photograph
Ward Nichols. Old Blue. Oil on canvas. Photograph