March 2014

Winthrop University in Rock Hill, SC, Features Exhibit Focused on Black Mountain College and Charles Ladson

Winthrop University in Rock Hill, SC, is presenting Black Mountain College: Shaping Craft + Design, curated by Katie Lee Koven and organized by the Black Mountain College Museum + Arts Center (BMCM+AC) in Asheville, NC, on view in the Winthrop University Galleries’ Rutledge Gallery, through Mar. 28, 2014. On view concurrently in the Elizabeth Dunlap Patrick Gallery will be works by painter Charles Ladson.

From the 1930-50s, Black Mountain College in North Carolina was a liberal arts institution whose teaching of craft and design was heavily influential not only to American artists, craftspeople and designers, but in developing art and design curricula throughout the world.

Though the college was not considered an “art school” under today’s current definition, the focus on arts allowed the college community to explore different disciplines and opportunities. European and American artists, such as Josef and Anni Albers, John Cage and Merce Cunningham, took refuge at the college, with many artistic high points tracing their roots back to the school. This exhibition brings together a selection of objects made by Black Mountain College faculty and students to inspire new ways of thinking about the role of BMC on the fields of studio craft and design from the middle of the 20th century through today.

Charles Ladson of Georgia creates large hauntingly beautiful canvases of skewed everyday scenes, landscapes and emotionless figures, tilting us into his surrealistic world. Ladson’s images, formed with architectural precision, gestural layering of paint and muted tones, resonate with an eerie, stillness and dream-like effect. Works on display will include “Outhouse” and “Pyramid.”

Ladson earned his BFA from the School of the Visual Arts in New York and an MFA from the Lamar Dodd School of Art.

Other gallery events are in the Lewandowski Student Gallery, unless otherwise noted: Mar. 10-21 - Sculpture Exhibition, and from Mar. 31 through Apr. 18 - The BFA Senior Exhibition.

For further information check our SC Institutional Gallery listings, call the Galleries at 803/323-2493 or e-mail Karen Derksen, Galleries director, at (derksenk@winthrop.edu).

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