March Issue 2000
Two Exhibits Showing at the Asheville Art Museum in Asheville, NC
The Asheville Art Museum in Asheville, NC,
is proud to present Pictures of the Times: A Century of Photography
from the Asheville Citizen Times on view through Mar. 24.
Also on view is Remnants of Memory, a unique exhibition
of contemporary art that features 13 renowned, American artists
who reference cloth or fiber in their work as a catalyst to explore
issues related to memory on view through Apr. 8.
Pictures of the Times: A Century of Photography from the Asheville
Citizen Times presents more than 80 important images from
the archives of Western North Carolina's preeminent newspaper
and reflects the range of experiences, events and people in Asheville
and Western North Carolina throughout the 20th Century.
Now is an auspicious time to look back on this century. The exhibition highlights images for the news they portray and for the stories they tell about this region, then and now. The photographs exhibited examine daily news photography by exploring not only the momentous and exceptional, but also the typical and ritualistic. Asheville and its surrounding mountain region have witnessed immeasurable growth since 1900 and the exhibition presents images of people known and unknown, disasters and developments and excitement and sorrow from 1900 - 1999.
Pictures of the Times also explores the art and technology of photography- a field of artistic endeavor that is over 150 years old and changing by the minute. Photographers like all artists present us - through their work - with new ways of seeing ourselves and the world around us. While photography celebrated its 160th anniversary in 1999, it was only with the dawn of the twentieth century that improvements in cameras, film, artificial lighting and the development of half tone reproduction that photojournalism became an integral component of newspapers and magazines. The photographs in this exhibition were made with large format, 35mm and most recently with digital cameras. While the technology has changed dramatically, the role of the photojournalist-to capture the image of the event or person-remains constant.
The Asheville Art Museum is also proud to present Remnants of Memory, a unique exhibition of contemporary art that features 13 renowned, American artists who reference cloth or fiber in their work as a catalyst to explore issues related to memory. The works present fragments of memory and explore what is consciously and unconsciously chosen, retained and valued to reveal blueprints for individual and collective identity. The artists included in the exhibit are Matthew Benedict, Susie Brandt, Lia Cook, Leslie Dill, Ann Hamilton, Jane Lackey, Christine LoFaso, Merrill Mason, Darrell Morris, Elaine Reichek, Betye Saar, Lilian Tyrrell, and Anne Wilson.
As a medium, cloth is particularly well suited to the exploration of issues related to memory. Like cloth, memory is flexible, penetrable and changes with age. Personal and collective "histories" are woven to reflect events and experiences. The 13 artists in Remnants of Memory examine the extent to which such memories are given power and stature within our private lives and within society. Several of the works in the show twist outdated associations of textiles with "women's work" and nostalgic family heirlooms, questioning the validity of histories and expectations most of us have grown up with. Some artists use textile media to scrutinize the ways in which the perceptions of a cultural elite dominate society, while others compel us to recall a tactile sensations- the feel of fur, linen, hair - and to confront all our preconceptions attached to those materials.
Remnants of Memory is sponsored in part by FIBERARTS MAGAZINE.
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