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Summer Exhibition is BRAHM’s Biggest Celebration, Coming on May 24

“Night Windows” by John French Sloan is part of the Etchings and Lithographs of American Life, 1905-1943 exhibition that will be part of the 2018 Summer Exhibition Celebration.

By Hailey Blevins

Visit BRAHM, the Blowing Rock Art and History Museum, on Thursday, May 24 for the Summer Exhibition Celebration. A reception will be held from 5:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m., during which time visitors can enjoy drinks, Hors-d’oeuvres, and music while meeting museum staff, exhibiting artists and featured historians. Visitors can enjoy their selves while discussing the latest exhibition pieces with fellow cultural and art enthusiasts.

Blowing Rock Art and History Museum is located in Blowing Rock, NC and is open Tues-Sat 10 am to 5 pm and Sunday 12 pm to 4 pm.

The Summer Exhibition Celebration is one of BRAHM’s biggest gatherings. This year’s Celebration consists of several featured exhibitions: Etchings and Lithographs of American Life, 1905-1943, Handcrafted: North Carolina Clay, The Way Watauga Works, Annual Young at Art Student Spectacular, and Ten Years of Appalachian State Ceramics. These exhibitions allow “us the opportunity to explore this fascinating aspect of our own region’s history, and we hope that it will inspire many to become even more involved in the cultural life of our community,” says Willard Watson, Programs and Outreach Direction at BRAHM.

What makes this exhibition different from others is the amount of artists who will be present. According to Ashley, from BRAHM, this is due to the types of artists and works being exhibited, “with these sort of contemporary collections, or shows where we have contemporary artists, we get that opportunity…” Artists of the Etchings and Lithographs of American Life, 1905-1943, will not be at the exhibition since these works are from the 1930’s and 40’s.

One of these exhibitions, The Way Watauga Works, will be BRAHM’s first bilingual exhibition, with both English and Spanish oral transcriptions from its participants. The Way Watauga Works features oral histories from 31 people within the Watauga community, which visitors can listen to, along with portraits of each participant. This exhibition is a response to the Smithsonian’s latest exhibition, The Way We Worked. Ashley says, “the artists from The Way Watauga Works will also be here,” so not only can visitors listen to the oral histories, but they can also speak directly with the participants. BRAHM wants to be able to do more bilingual exhibitions like this one, so there may be more of these in the future.

Another of these exhibitions, Annual Young at Art Student Spectacular, will showcase works of students from Blowing Rock School in grades Kindergarten through third grade with artworks ranging from clay, watercolor, collage, and mixed media. The students whose artwork is displayed will be present as well. Ashley says, “Upstairs in our community room, we have our Young Art Spectacular… we open it up and invite all of the school kids who participate in the Young at Art.”

With its variety of works being exhibited, BRAHM’s Summer Exhibition Celebration is an event you can’t miss, especially since it’s free! The event is also family friendly, so gather your family and friends and head to BRAHM to enjoy this event’s featured exhibitions. BRAHM is hoping for a large turnout from both artists and the public.

Not able to make it to the Summer Exhibition Celebration? No worries! Check BRAHM’s website to see how long they will have these exhibits, although you’ll miss the chance to meet the artists. Be on the lookout for more events from BRAHM on their website, as they hold several different events over the summer.

For more information about this event visit blowingrockmuseum.org or call 828-295-9099.

“Gilded Hors d’oeuvres Tray” by Jacob Ford is made from clay and 22k gold. This piece is part of the Ten Years of Appalachian State Ceramics exhibition that will be a part of the 2018 Summer Exhibition Celebration.