Calendar of Events

The South has always been home to a blend of cultures — from Native Americans here by 14,000 years ago to Europeans 500 years ago, followed by Africans forced to migrate. By 1500, cultures in the South included Creek, Cherokee, Catawba, Choctaw, Chitimacha, and Coushatta, from Europe English, Scottish, Irish, and German, and Africans from Senegal to Congo. Baskets were integral in daily life, as agricultural equipment for gathering, sifting, storing, and serving the finished product or as receptacles for tools, clothes, sacred objects, and even infants.

Initially each culture had its own preferred basket material and method of manufacture — twilled rivercane for Native Americans, plaited oak for Europeans, and coiled grasses for Africans. Interaction between groups spurred adaptations to changing circumstances, such as the use of white oak by the Cherokee in the 1800s, as rivercane stands were decimated by European settlements. Native Americans also adopted the European picnic, flower, egg, and market baskets to sell in the 20th-century art market. Native and European Americans wove honeysuckle into baskets after 1854, when introduced from Japan. By the 17th century African Americans discovered bulrush along the coasts, coiling it into large, round “fanners” to winnow rice. Later bulrush was one medium among sweetgrass, pine needles, and palmetto, giving rise to the name “sweetgrass baskets” along the coast.

Baskets were woven not only for use in the fields and homes or for sale in art galleries but also as a connection to ancestors and spirits, as designs were said to come from inside one’s head, from memories of one’s mother’s motifs, or from the Creator. Indeed, working with one’s hands in nature to gather materials and to form them into a basket was considered spiritually and physically healthy, becoming a part of the practice of occupational therapy around World War I.

Today, basketweavers in the South from all three traditions are teaching the next generation to continue this art. Artists from across the region work with old and new materials in old and new forms, innovating for their legacy, for art’s sake, and for political causes, as embodied in the varied vessels in this gallery and epitomized in the virtuosic miniature examples in the case at right.

The Haen Gallery, located in downtown Asheville, North Carolina, is proud to present their 12th Annual Lynn Boggess Exhibition. The exhibit will run through November.

Lynn Boggess is one of the most unique and noteworthy American landscape painters of the 21st Century. He resides in West Virginia, a state whose diverse mountains, forests, and rivers provide abundant inspiration for the artist’s plein air paintings. In place of brushes he uses palette knives and trowels to thickly layer the broad sweeping strokes and exquisite fine detail that capture all the colors of the seasons in rushing rivers, snow covered hillsides, and thick forest vegetation. Mr. Boggess’ work is recognized internationally for its incredible three-dimensional texture, rendered solely in oils. These remarkable paintings combine elements of Abstract Expressionism and Photorealism to create a style that is totally unique and original.

The Haen Gallery in Asheville is located at 52 Biltmore Avenue between City Bakery and Chestnut. There is a parking garage at the Aloft hotel across the street, another garage just up the hill, as well as street parking.

The gallery is open Monday through Saturday 11am-6pm & Sunday 12-5pm. For more information: 828-254-8577 or www.thehaengallery.com. Gallery contacts: Chris Foley, Director; Leslie Logemann, Gallery Manager.

With locations in Asheville and Brevard, The Haen Gallery offers the work of established artists whose distinctive and unique style sets it apart from ordinary and imitative efforts. Visit the website at thehaengallery.com.

As Virginia Woolf said, “one cannot think well, love well, sleep well, if one has not dined well.” Food and water are essential for survival, but mankind’s relationship to food has transformed over time from one of sustenance to one laden with personal and cultural significance.

A Matter of Taste explores depictions of food and drink in art and reveals how images of fruits and vegetables can function as complex metaphors for excess, status, memory, and politics. Drawn from southern museums and private collections, this exhibition showcases over 35 paintings, decorative arts, and works on paper by artists such as Andy Warhol, Wayne Thiebaud, Henri Cartier-Bresson and Claes Oldenburg.

This show spans 400 years and multiple continents, revealing the evolving role of food and drink in various media and cultural contexts. While depictions of fruit and vegetables appeared in ancient times, still life painting as an independent genre dates to 16th-century Holland.

In 19th-century America, still life paintings remained popular but evolved in terms of subject matter, media, and message. Painters such as Thomas Wightman, George Forster, and De Scott Evans embraced Dutch still lifes and used food as commentary on the current political climate and the transient state of the human condition.

Illustrated newspapers led to an increase of cartoons by artists such as Winslow Homer and William Hogarth, who utilized food and drink as social satire. The 20th-century modern art movement further changed the perception of food. The culture of mass production enabled Pop artists to elevate seemingly mundane foodstuffs to high art. Yet, other contemporary artists explored the symbolic and nostalgic role of food seen in works by Tim Tate, Linda Armstrong, and Laquita Thomson.

Visitors will also experience an elaborately set dining table fit for a sumptuous feast. Dining became its own art form over time and communicated one’s social standing and wealth. Each of the table’s six place settings represent a different culture and offer a glimpse into global dining customs. Selective drinkware will accompany this section revealing how tea sets and even punch bowls reflected an owner’s prestige.

Tuesdays 3-5:30pm
October 23- December 11

A good casserole bakes and presents your food beautifully and certainly impresses at potlucks. But casseroles are complex forms to create and get just right. Join Cayce as he demystifies the process step-by-step, with plenty of one-on-one instruction. Techniques demonstrated will include throwing hollow, making a tight fitting lid, and plenty of variations for knobs and handles. Soon you will be creating beautiful, functional casseroles to use and enjoy for years to come.

Level: Intermediate and Advanced
Tuition: $310 + $50 Lab Fee

When reflecting on the current state of the environment, it seems that we have entered into times of seismic sorrows. Carbon emissions, water pollution, fracking, and changing climate patterns all point to a troubling reality with serious consequences for human and non-human populations. Through weavings, installations, sculpture, and print, artists Rena Detrixhe and Tali Weinberg (Tulsa, OK) explore the complex relationship between humans and the planet, offering insights, expressing grief, and creating space for resilience and change.

In Time of Seismic Sorrows is curated by Marilyn Zapf and organized by the Center for Craft. The Center for Craft is supported in part by the N.C. Arts Council, a division of the Department of Natural and Cultural Resources.

The South has always been home to a blend of cultures — from Native Americans here by 14,000 years ago to Europeans 500 years ago, followed by Africans forced to migrate. By 1500, cultures in the South included Creek, Cherokee, Catawba, Choctaw, Chitimacha, and Coushatta, from Europe English, Scottish, Irish, and German, and Africans from Senegal to Congo. Baskets were integral in daily life, as agricultural equipment for gathering, sifting, storing, and serving the finished product or as receptacles for tools, clothes, sacred objects, and even infants.

Initially each culture had its own preferred basket material and method of manufacture — twilled rivercane for Native Americans, plaited oak for Europeans, and coiled grasses for Africans. Interaction between groups spurred adaptations to changing circumstances, such as the use of white oak by the Cherokee in the 1800s, as rivercane stands were decimated by European settlements. Native Americans also adopted the European picnic, flower, egg, and market baskets to sell in the 20th-century art market. Native and European Americans wove honeysuckle into baskets after 1854, when introduced from Japan. By the 17th century African Americans discovered bulrush along the coasts, coiling it into large, round “fanners” to winnow rice. Later bulrush was one medium among sweetgrass, pine needles, and palmetto, giving rise to the name “sweetgrass baskets” along the coast.

Baskets were woven not only for use in the fields and homes or for sale in art galleries but also as a connection to ancestors and spirits, as designs were said to come from inside one’s head, from memories of one’s mother’s motifs, or from the Creator. Indeed, working with one’s hands in nature to gather materials and to form them into a basket was considered spiritually and physically healthy, becoming a part of the practice of occupational therapy around World War I.

Today, basketweavers in the South from all three traditions are teaching the next generation to continue this art. Artists from across the region work with old and new materials in old and new forms, innovating for their legacy, for art’s sake, and for political causes, as embodied in the varied vessels in this gallery and epitomized in the virtuosic miniature examples in the case at right.

The Haen Gallery, located in downtown Asheville, North Carolina, is proud to present their 12th Annual Lynn Boggess Exhibition. The exhibit will run through November.

Lynn Boggess is one of the most unique and noteworthy American landscape painters of the 21st Century. He resides in West Virginia, a state whose diverse mountains, forests, and rivers provide abundant inspiration for the artist’s plein air paintings. In place of brushes he uses palette knives and trowels to thickly layer the broad sweeping strokes and exquisite fine detail that capture all the colors of the seasons in rushing rivers, snow covered hillsides, and thick forest vegetation. Mr. Boggess’ work is recognized internationally for its incredible three-dimensional texture, rendered solely in oils. These remarkable paintings combine elements of Abstract Expressionism and Photorealism to create a style that is totally unique and original.

The Haen Gallery in Asheville is located at 52 Biltmore Avenue between City Bakery and Chestnut. There is a parking garage at the Aloft hotel across the street, another garage just up the hill, as well as street parking.

The gallery is open Monday through Saturday 11am-6pm & Sunday 12-5pm. For more information: 828-254-8577 or www.thehaengallery.com. Gallery contacts: Chris Foley, Director; Leslie Logemann, Gallery Manager.

With locations in Asheville and Brevard, The Haen Gallery offers the work of established artists whose distinctive and unique style sets it apart from ordinary and imitative efforts. Visit the website at thehaengallery.com.

As Virginia Woolf said, “one cannot think well, love well, sleep well, if one has not dined well.” Food and water are essential for survival, but mankind’s relationship to food has transformed over time from one of sustenance to one laden with personal and cultural significance.

A Matter of Taste explores depictions of food and drink in art and reveals how images of fruits and vegetables can function as complex metaphors for excess, status, memory, and politics. Drawn from southern museums and private collections, this exhibition showcases over 35 paintings, decorative arts, and works on paper by artists such as Andy Warhol, Wayne Thiebaud, Henri Cartier-Bresson and Claes Oldenburg.

This show spans 400 years and multiple continents, revealing the evolving role of food and drink in various media and cultural contexts. While depictions of fruit and vegetables appeared in ancient times, still life painting as an independent genre dates to 16th-century Holland.

In 19th-century America, still life paintings remained popular but evolved in terms of subject matter, media, and message. Painters such as Thomas Wightman, George Forster, and De Scott Evans embraced Dutch still lifes and used food as commentary on the current political climate and the transient state of the human condition.

Illustrated newspapers led to an increase of cartoons by artists such as Winslow Homer and William Hogarth, who utilized food and drink as social satire. The 20th-century modern art movement further changed the perception of food. The culture of mass production enabled Pop artists to elevate seemingly mundane foodstuffs to high art. Yet, other contemporary artists explored the symbolic and nostalgic role of food seen in works by Tim Tate, Linda Armstrong, and Laquita Thomson.

Visitors will also experience an elaborately set dining table fit for a sumptuous feast. Dining became its own art form over time and communicated one’s social standing and wealth. Each of the table’s six place settings represent a different culture and offer a glimpse into global dining customs. Selective drinkware will accompany this section revealing how tea sets and even punch bowls reflected an owner’s prestige.

When reflecting on the current state of the environment, it seems that we have entered into times of seismic sorrows. Carbon emissions, water pollution, fracking, and changing climate patterns all point to a troubling reality with serious consequences for human and non-human populations. Through weavings, installations, sculpture, and print, artists Rena Detrixhe and Tali Weinberg (Tulsa, OK) explore the complex relationship between humans and the planet, offering insights, expressing grief, and creating space for resilience and change.

In Time of Seismic Sorrows is curated by Marilyn Zapf and organized by the Center for Craft. The Center for Craft is supported in part by the N.C. Arts Council, a division of the Department of Natural and Cultural Resources.

The South has always been home to a blend of cultures — from Native Americans here by 14,000 years ago to Europeans 500 years ago, followed by Africans forced to migrate. By 1500, cultures in the South included Creek, Cherokee, Catawba, Choctaw, Chitimacha, and Coushatta, from Europe English, Scottish, Irish, and German, and Africans from Senegal to Congo. Baskets were integral in daily life, as agricultural equipment for gathering, sifting, storing, and serving the finished product or as receptacles for tools, clothes, sacred objects, and even infants.

Initially each culture had its own preferred basket material and method of manufacture — twilled rivercane for Native Americans, plaited oak for Europeans, and coiled grasses for Africans. Interaction between groups spurred adaptations to changing circumstances, such as the use of white oak by the Cherokee in the 1800s, as rivercane stands were decimated by European settlements. Native Americans also adopted the European picnic, flower, egg, and market baskets to sell in the 20th-century art market. Native and European Americans wove honeysuckle into baskets after 1854, when introduced from Japan. By the 17th century African Americans discovered bulrush along the coasts, coiling it into large, round “fanners” to winnow rice. Later bulrush was one medium among sweetgrass, pine needles, and palmetto, giving rise to the name “sweetgrass baskets” along the coast.

Baskets were woven not only for use in the fields and homes or for sale in art galleries but also as a connection to ancestors and spirits, as designs were said to come from inside one’s head, from memories of one’s mother’s motifs, or from the Creator. Indeed, working with one’s hands in nature to gather materials and to form them into a basket was considered spiritually and physically healthy, becoming a part of the practice of occupational therapy around World War I.

Today, basketweavers in the South from all three traditions are teaching the next generation to continue this art. Artists from across the region work with old and new materials in old and new forms, innovating for their legacy, for art’s sake, and for political causes, as embodied in the varied vessels in this gallery and epitomized in the virtuosic miniature examples in the case at right.

Thursdays 11am-1:30pm
October 18- December 13
No class November 22

Tile murals can beautifully enhance your kitchen, bathroom, or outside sidewalks and paths. Students will design their own ceramic tiles using the slab roller and press molds, then incorporate ideas and imagery through carving, sgraffito, Mishima, and ceramic decals. Underglazes, glazes, and firing will be covered. Finally, we will learn how to install these finished pieces indoor or outdoor.

Level: All Levels
Tuition: $310 + $50 Lab Fee

The Haen Gallery, located in downtown Asheville, North Carolina, is proud to present their 12th Annual Lynn Boggess Exhibition. The exhibit will run through November.

Lynn Boggess is one of the most unique and noteworthy American landscape painters of the 21st Century. He resides in West Virginia, a state whose diverse mountains, forests, and rivers provide abundant inspiration for the artist’s plein air paintings. In place of brushes he uses palette knives and trowels to thickly layer the broad sweeping strokes and exquisite fine detail that capture all the colors of the seasons in rushing rivers, snow covered hillsides, and thick forest vegetation. Mr. Boggess’ work is recognized internationally for its incredible three-dimensional texture, rendered solely in oils. These remarkable paintings combine elements of Abstract Expressionism and Photorealism to create a style that is totally unique and original.

The Haen Gallery in Asheville is located at 52 Biltmore Avenue between City Bakery and Chestnut. There is a parking garage at the Aloft hotel across the street, another garage just up the hill, as well as street parking.

The gallery is open Monday through Saturday 11am-6pm & Sunday 12-5pm. For more information: 828-254-8577 or www.thehaengallery.com. Gallery contacts: Chris Foley, Director; Leslie Logemann, Gallery Manager.

With locations in Asheville and Brevard, The Haen Gallery offers the work of established artists whose distinctive and unique style sets it apart from ordinary and imitative efforts. Visit the website at thehaengallery.com.

As Virginia Woolf said, “one cannot think well, love well, sleep well, if one has not dined well.” Food and water are essential for survival, but mankind’s relationship to food has transformed over time from one of sustenance to one laden with personal and cultural significance.

A Matter of Taste explores depictions of food and drink in art and reveals how images of fruits and vegetables can function as complex metaphors for excess, status, memory, and politics. Drawn from southern museums and private collections, this exhibition showcases over 35 paintings, decorative arts, and works on paper by artists such as Andy Warhol, Wayne Thiebaud, Henri Cartier-Bresson and Claes Oldenburg.

This show spans 400 years and multiple continents, revealing the evolving role of food and drink in various media and cultural contexts. While depictions of fruit and vegetables appeared in ancient times, still life painting as an independent genre dates to 16th-century Holland.

In 19th-century America, still life paintings remained popular but evolved in terms of subject matter, media, and message. Painters such as Thomas Wightman, George Forster, and De Scott Evans embraced Dutch still lifes and used food as commentary on the current political climate and the transient state of the human condition.

Illustrated newspapers led to an increase of cartoons by artists such as Winslow Homer and William Hogarth, who utilized food and drink as social satire. The 20th-century modern art movement further changed the perception of food. The culture of mass production enabled Pop artists to elevate seemingly mundane foodstuffs to high art. Yet, other contemporary artists explored the symbolic and nostalgic role of food seen in works by Tim Tate, Linda Armstrong, and Laquita Thomson.

Visitors will also experience an elaborately set dining table fit for a sumptuous feast. Dining became its own art form over time and communicated one’s social standing and wealth. Each of the table’s six place settings represent a different culture and offer a glimpse into global dining customs. Selective drinkware will accompany this section revealing how tea sets and even punch bowls reflected an owner’s prestige.

When reflecting on the current state of the environment, it seems that we have entered into times of seismic sorrows. Carbon emissions, water pollution, fracking, and changing climate patterns all point to a troubling reality with serious consequences for human and non-human populations. Through weavings, installations, sculpture, and print, artists Rena Detrixhe and Tali Weinberg (Tulsa, OK) explore the complex relationship between humans and the planet, offering insights, expressing grief, and creating space for resilience and change.

In Time of Seismic Sorrows is curated by Marilyn Zapf and organized by the Center for Craft. The Center for Craft is supported in part by the N.C. Arts Council, a division of the Department of Natural and Cultural Resources.

The South has always been home to a blend of cultures — from Native Americans here by 14,000 years ago to Europeans 500 years ago, followed by Africans forced to migrate. By 1500, cultures in the South included Creek, Cherokee, Catawba, Choctaw, Chitimacha, and Coushatta, from Europe English, Scottish, Irish, and German, and Africans from Senegal to Congo. Baskets were integral in daily life, as agricultural equipment for gathering, sifting, storing, and serving the finished product or as receptacles for tools, clothes, sacred objects, and even infants.

Initially each culture had its own preferred basket material and method of manufacture — twilled rivercane for Native Americans, plaited oak for Europeans, and coiled grasses for Africans. Interaction between groups spurred adaptations to changing circumstances, such as the use of white oak by the Cherokee in the 1800s, as rivercane stands were decimated by European settlements. Native Americans also adopted the European picnic, flower, egg, and market baskets to sell in the 20th-century art market. Native and European Americans wove honeysuckle into baskets after 1854, when introduced from Japan. By the 17th century African Americans discovered bulrush along the coasts, coiling it into large, round “fanners” to winnow rice. Later bulrush was one medium among sweetgrass, pine needles, and palmetto, giving rise to the name “sweetgrass baskets” along the coast.

Baskets were woven not only for use in the fields and homes or for sale in art galleries but also as a connection to ancestors and spirits, as designs were said to come from inside one’s head, from memories of one’s mother’s motifs, or from the Creator. Indeed, working with one’s hands in nature to gather materials and to form them into a basket was considered spiritually and physically healthy, becoming a part of the practice of occupational therapy around World War I.

Today, basketweavers in the South from all three traditions are teaching the next generation to continue this art. Artists from across the region work with old and new materials in old and new forms, innovating for their legacy, for art’s sake, and for political causes, as embodied in the varied vessels in this gallery and epitomized in the virtuosic miniature examples in the case at right.

The Haen Gallery, located in downtown Asheville, North Carolina, is proud to present their 12th Annual Lynn Boggess Exhibition. The exhibit will run through November.

Lynn Boggess is one of the most unique and noteworthy American landscape painters of the 21st Century. He resides in West Virginia, a state whose diverse mountains, forests, and rivers provide abundant inspiration for the artist’s plein air paintings. In place of brushes he uses palette knives and trowels to thickly layer the broad sweeping strokes and exquisite fine detail that capture all the colors of the seasons in rushing rivers, snow covered hillsides, and thick forest vegetation. Mr. Boggess’ work is recognized internationally for its incredible three-dimensional texture, rendered solely in oils. These remarkable paintings combine elements of Abstract Expressionism and Photorealism to create a style that is totally unique and original.

The Haen Gallery in Asheville is located at 52 Biltmore Avenue between City Bakery and Chestnut. There is a parking garage at the Aloft hotel across the street, another garage just up the hill, as well as street parking.

The gallery is open Monday through Saturday 11am-6pm & Sunday 12-5pm. For more information: 828-254-8577 or www.thehaengallery.com. Gallery contacts: Chris Foley, Director; Leslie Logemann, Gallery Manager.

With locations in Asheville and Brevard, The Haen Gallery offers the work of established artists whose distinctive and unique style sets it apart from ordinary and imitative efforts. Visit the website at thehaengallery.com.

As Virginia Woolf said, “one cannot think well, love well, sleep well, if one has not dined well.” Food and water are essential for survival, but mankind’s relationship to food has transformed over time from one of sustenance to one laden with personal and cultural significance.

A Matter of Taste explores depictions of food and drink in art and reveals how images of fruits and vegetables can function as complex metaphors for excess, status, memory, and politics. Drawn from southern museums and private collections, this exhibition showcases over 35 paintings, decorative arts, and works on paper by artists such as Andy Warhol, Wayne Thiebaud, Henri Cartier-Bresson and Claes Oldenburg.

This show spans 400 years and multiple continents, revealing the evolving role of food and drink in various media and cultural contexts. While depictions of fruit and vegetables appeared in ancient times, still life painting as an independent genre dates to 16th-century Holland.

In 19th-century America, still life paintings remained popular but evolved in terms of subject matter, media, and message. Painters such as Thomas Wightman, George Forster, and De Scott Evans embraced Dutch still lifes and used food as commentary on the current political climate and the transient state of the human condition.

Illustrated newspapers led to an increase of cartoons by artists such as Winslow Homer and William Hogarth, who utilized food and drink as social satire. The 20th-century modern art movement further changed the perception of food. The culture of mass production enabled Pop artists to elevate seemingly mundane foodstuffs to high art. Yet, other contemporary artists explored the symbolic and nostalgic role of food seen in works by Tim Tate, Linda Armstrong, and Laquita Thomson.

Visitors will also experience an elaborately set dining table fit for a sumptuous feast. Dining became its own art form over time and communicated one’s social standing and wealth. Each of the table’s six place settings represent a different culture and offer a glimpse into global dining customs. Selective drinkware will accompany this section revealing how tea sets and even punch bowls reflected an owner’s prestige.

Join Diamond Brand Gear and In Blue Handmade to learn the basics of sewing, how to use a machine, and leave with your very own creation. In an intimate setting in downtown Asheville, we will be creating a growler bag (all materials provided). Bring your own sewing machine to learn more about your tool or use one of ours at the micro-factory. At the end of the class enjoy refreshments and an opportunity for additional Q&A with our master sewing wizards. You leave with your very own bag. With all of the great breweries in Asheville, don’t you need one? Cost of the class (materials included) is only $35!

When reflecting on the current state of the environment, it seems that we have entered into times of seismic sorrows. Carbon emissions, water pollution, fracking, and changing climate patterns all point to a troubling reality with serious consequences for human and non-human populations. Through weavings, installations, sculpture, and print, artists Rena Detrixhe and Tali Weinberg (Tulsa, OK) explore the complex relationship between humans and the planet, offering insights, expressing grief, and creating space for resilience and change.

In Time of Seismic Sorrows is curated by Marilyn Zapf and organized by the Center for Craft. The Center for Craft is supported in part by the N.C. Arts Council, a division of the Department of Natural and Cultural Resources.

The South has always been home to a blend of cultures — from Native Americans here by 14,000 years ago to Europeans 500 years ago, followed by Africans forced to migrate. By 1500, cultures in the South included Creek, Cherokee, Catawba, Choctaw, Chitimacha, and Coushatta, from Europe English, Scottish, Irish, and German, and Africans from Senegal to Congo. Baskets were integral in daily life, as agricultural equipment for gathering, sifting, storing, and serving the finished product or as receptacles for tools, clothes, sacred objects, and even infants.

Initially each culture had its own preferred basket material and method of manufacture — twilled rivercane for Native Americans, plaited oak for Europeans, and coiled grasses for Africans. Interaction between groups spurred adaptations to changing circumstances, such as the use of white oak by the Cherokee in the 1800s, as rivercane stands were decimated by European settlements. Native Americans also adopted the European picnic, flower, egg, and market baskets to sell in the 20th-century art market. Native and European Americans wove honeysuckle into baskets after 1854, when introduced from Japan. By the 17th century African Americans discovered bulrush along the coasts, coiling it into large, round “fanners” to winnow rice. Later bulrush was one medium among sweetgrass, pine needles, and palmetto, giving rise to the name “sweetgrass baskets” along the coast.

Baskets were woven not only for use in the fields and homes or for sale in art galleries but also as a connection to ancestors and spirits, as designs were said to come from inside one’s head, from memories of one’s mother’s motifs, or from the Creator. Indeed, working with one’s hands in nature to gather materials and to form them into a basket was considered spiritually and physically healthy, becoming a part of the practice of occupational therapy around World War I.

Today, basketweavers in the South from all three traditions are teaching the next generation to continue this art. Artists from across the region work with old and new materials in old and new forms, innovating for their legacy, for art’s sake, and for political causes, as embodied in the varied vessels in this gallery and epitomized in the virtuosic miniature examples in the case at right.

As Virginia Woolf said, “one cannot think well, love well, sleep well, if one has not dined well.” Food and water are essential for survival, but mankind’s relationship to food has transformed over time from one of sustenance to one laden with personal and cultural significance.

A Matter of Taste explores depictions of food and drink in art and reveals how images of fruits and vegetables can function as complex metaphors for excess, status, memory, and politics. Drawn from southern museums and private collections, this exhibition showcases over 35 paintings, decorative arts, and works on paper by artists such as Andy Warhol, Wayne Thiebaud, Henri Cartier-Bresson and Claes Oldenburg.

This show spans 400 years and multiple continents, revealing the evolving role of food and drink in various media and cultural contexts. While depictions of fruit and vegetables appeared in ancient times, still life painting as an independent genre dates to 16th-century Holland.

In 19th-century America, still life paintings remained popular but evolved in terms of subject matter, media, and message. Painters such as Thomas Wightman, George Forster, and De Scott Evans embraced Dutch still lifes and used food as commentary on the current political climate and the transient state of the human condition.

Illustrated newspapers led to an increase of cartoons by artists such as Winslow Homer and William Hogarth, who utilized food and drink as social satire. The 20th-century modern art movement further changed the perception of food. The culture of mass production enabled Pop artists to elevate seemingly mundane foodstuffs to high art. Yet, other contemporary artists explored the symbolic and nostalgic role of food seen in works by Tim Tate, Linda Armstrong, and Laquita Thomson.

Visitors will also experience an elaborately set dining table fit for a sumptuous feast. Dining became its own art form over time and communicated one’s social standing and wealth. Each of the table’s six place settings represent a different culture and offer a glimpse into global dining customs. Selective drinkware will accompany this section revealing how tea sets and even punch bowls reflected an owner’s prestige.

When reflecting on the current state of the environment, it seems that we have entered into times of seismic sorrows. Carbon emissions, water pollution, fracking, and changing climate patterns all point to a troubling reality with serious consequences for human and non-human populations. Through weavings, installations, sculpture, and print, artists Rena Detrixhe and Tali Weinberg (Tulsa, OK) explore the complex relationship between humans and the planet, offering insights, expressing grief, and creating space for resilience and change.

In Time of Seismic Sorrows is curated by Marilyn Zapf and organized by the Center for Craft. The Center for Craft is supported in part by the N.C. Arts Council, a division of the Department of Natural and Cultural Resources.

The South has always been home to a blend of cultures — from Native Americans here by 14,000 years ago to Europeans 500 years ago, followed by Africans forced to migrate. By 1500, cultures in the South included Creek, Cherokee, Catawba, Choctaw, Chitimacha, and Coushatta, from Europe English, Scottish, Irish, and German, and Africans from Senegal to Congo. Baskets were integral in daily life, as agricultural equipment for gathering, sifting, storing, and serving the finished product or as receptacles for tools, clothes, sacred objects, and even infants.

Initially each culture had its own preferred basket material and method of manufacture — twilled rivercane for Native Americans, plaited oak for Europeans, and coiled grasses for Africans. Interaction between groups spurred adaptations to changing circumstances, such as the use of white oak by the Cherokee in the 1800s, as rivercane stands were decimated by European settlements. Native Americans also adopted the European picnic, flower, egg, and market baskets to sell in the 20th-century art market. Native and European Americans wove honeysuckle into baskets after 1854, when introduced from Japan. By the 17th century African Americans discovered bulrush along the coasts, coiling it into large, round “fanners” to winnow rice. Later bulrush was one medium among sweetgrass, pine needles, and palmetto, giving rise to the name “sweetgrass baskets” along the coast.

Baskets were woven not only for use in the fields and homes or for sale in art galleries but also as a connection to ancestors and spirits, as designs were said to come from inside one’s head, from memories of one’s mother’s motifs, or from the Creator. Indeed, working with one’s hands in nature to gather materials and to form them into a basket was considered spiritually and physically healthy, becoming a part of the practice of occupational therapy around World War I.

Today, basketweavers in the South from all three traditions are teaching the next generation to continue this art. Artists from across the region work with old and new materials in old and new forms, innovating for their legacy, for art’s sake, and for political causes, as embodied in the varied vessels in this gallery and epitomized in the virtuosic miniature examples in the case at right.

As Virginia Woolf said, “one cannot think well, love well, sleep well, if one has not dined well.” Food and water are essential for survival, but mankind’s relationship to food has transformed over time from one of sustenance to one laden with personal and cultural significance.

A Matter of Taste explores depictions of food and drink in art and reveals how images of fruits and vegetables can function as complex metaphors for excess, status, memory, and politics. Drawn from southern museums and private collections, this exhibition showcases over 35 paintings, decorative arts, and works on paper by artists such as Andy Warhol, Wayne Thiebaud, Henri Cartier-Bresson and Claes Oldenburg.

This show spans 400 years and multiple continents, revealing the evolving role of food and drink in various media and cultural contexts. While depictions of fruit and vegetables appeared in ancient times, still life painting as an independent genre dates to 16th-century Holland.

In 19th-century America, still life paintings remained popular but evolved in terms of subject matter, media, and message. Painters such as Thomas Wightman, George Forster, and De Scott Evans embraced Dutch still lifes and used food as commentary on the current political climate and the transient state of the human condition.

Illustrated newspapers led to an increase of cartoons by artists such as Winslow Homer and William Hogarth, who utilized food and drink as social satire. The 20th-century modern art movement further changed the perception of food. The culture of mass production enabled Pop artists to elevate seemingly mundane foodstuffs to high art. Yet, other contemporary artists explored the symbolic and nostalgic role of food seen in works by Tim Tate, Linda Armstrong, and Laquita Thomson.

Visitors will also experience an elaborately set dining table fit for a sumptuous feast. Dining became its own art form over time and communicated one’s social standing and wealth. Each of the table’s six place settings represent a different culture and offer a glimpse into global dining customs. Selective drinkware will accompany this section revealing how tea sets and even punch bowls reflected an owner’s prestige.

When reflecting on the current state of the environment, it seems that we have entered into times of seismic sorrows. Carbon emissions, water pollution, fracking, and changing climate patterns all point to a troubling reality with serious consequences for human and non-human populations. Through weavings, installations, sculpture, and print, artists Rena Detrixhe and Tali Weinberg (Tulsa, OK) explore the complex relationship between humans and the planet, offering insights, expressing grief, and creating space for resilience and change.

In Time of Seismic Sorrows is curated by Marilyn Zapf and organized by the Center for Craft. The Center for Craft is supported in part by the N.C. Arts Council, a division of the Department of Natural and Cultural Resources.

The South has always been home to a blend of cultures — from Native Americans here by 14,000 years ago to Europeans 500 years ago, followed by Africans forced to migrate. By 1500, cultures in the South included Creek, Cherokee, Catawba, Choctaw, Chitimacha, and Coushatta, from Europe English, Scottish, Irish, and German, and Africans from Senegal to Congo. Baskets were integral in daily life, as agricultural equipment for gathering, sifting, storing, and serving the finished product or as receptacles for tools, clothes, sacred objects, and even infants.

Initially each culture had its own preferred basket material and method of manufacture — twilled rivercane for Native Americans, plaited oak for Europeans, and coiled grasses for Africans. Interaction between groups spurred adaptations to changing circumstances, such as the use of white oak by the Cherokee in the 1800s, as rivercane stands were decimated by European settlements. Native Americans also adopted the European picnic, flower, egg, and market baskets to sell in the 20th-century art market. Native and European Americans wove honeysuckle into baskets after 1854, when introduced from Japan. By the 17th century African Americans discovered bulrush along the coasts, coiling it into large, round “fanners” to winnow rice. Later bulrush was one medium among sweetgrass, pine needles, and palmetto, giving rise to the name “sweetgrass baskets” along the coast.

Baskets were woven not only for use in the fields and homes or for sale in art galleries but also as a connection to ancestors and spirits, as designs were said to come from inside one’s head, from memories of one’s mother’s motifs, or from the Creator. Indeed, working with one’s hands in nature to gather materials and to form them into a basket was considered spiritually and physically healthy, becoming a part of the practice of occupational therapy around World War I.

Today, basketweavers in the South from all three traditions are teaching the next generation to continue this art. Artists from across the region work with old and new materials in old and new forms, innovating for their legacy, for art’s sake, and for political causes, as embodied in the varied vessels in this gallery and epitomized in the virtuosic miniature examples in the case at right.

As Virginia Woolf said, “one cannot think well, love well, sleep well, if one has not dined well.” Food and water are essential for survival, but mankind’s relationship to food has transformed over time from one of sustenance to one laden with personal and cultural significance.

A Matter of Taste explores depictions of food and drink in art and reveals how images of fruits and vegetables can function as complex metaphors for excess, status, memory, and politics. Drawn from southern museums and private collections, this exhibition showcases over 35 paintings, decorative arts, and works on paper by artists such as Andy Warhol, Wayne Thiebaud, Henri Cartier-Bresson and Claes Oldenburg.

This show spans 400 years and multiple continents, revealing the evolving role of food and drink in various media and cultural contexts. While depictions of fruit and vegetables appeared in ancient times, still life painting as an independent genre dates to 16th-century Holland.

In 19th-century America, still life paintings remained popular but evolved in terms of subject matter, media, and message. Painters such as Thomas Wightman, George Forster, and De Scott Evans embraced Dutch still lifes and used food as commentary on the current political climate and the transient state of the human condition.

Illustrated newspapers led to an increase of cartoons by artists such as Winslow Homer and William Hogarth, who utilized food and drink as social satire. The 20th-century modern art movement further changed the perception of food. The culture of mass production enabled Pop artists to elevate seemingly mundane foodstuffs to high art. Yet, other contemporary artists explored the symbolic and nostalgic role of food seen in works by Tim Tate, Linda Armstrong, and Laquita Thomson.

Visitors will also experience an elaborately set dining table fit for a sumptuous feast. Dining became its own art form over time and communicated one’s social standing and wealth. Each of the table’s six place settings represent a different culture and offer a glimpse into global dining customs. Selective drinkware will accompany this section revealing how tea sets and even punch bowls reflected an owner’s prestige.

Mondays 6-9pm
October 22- December 10

Working from a live model each week, students will hone their understanding of basic anatomy, proportions and the mechanics of movement in 3 dimensions. After first creating multiple fast sketches in clay to work out technique, students will then advance to a longer-term sculpture based on a single pose, with more attention to detail. Please join us for this exciting opportunity to work with decorated sculptor, Leonid Siveriver.

Level: All Levels
Tuition: $325 + $75 Lab & Live Model Fee

When reflecting on the current state of the environment, it seems that we have entered into times of seismic sorrows. Carbon emissions, water pollution, fracking, and changing climate patterns all point to a troubling reality with serious consequences for human and non-human populations. Through weavings, installations, sculpture, and print, artists Rena Detrixhe and Tali Weinberg (Tulsa, OK) explore the complex relationship between humans and the planet, offering insights, expressing grief, and creating space for resilience and change.

In Time of Seismic Sorrows is curated by Marilyn Zapf and organized by the Center for Craft. The Center for Craft is supported in part by the N.C. Arts Council, a division of the Department of Natural and Cultural Resources.

The South has always been home to a blend of cultures — from Native Americans here by 14,000 years ago to Europeans 500 years ago, followed by Africans forced to migrate. By 1500, cultures in the South included Creek, Cherokee, Catawba, Choctaw, Chitimacha, and Coushatta, from Europe English, Scottish, Irish, and German, and Africans from Senegal to Congo. Baskets were integral in daily life, as agricultural equipment for gathering, sifting, storing, and serving the finished product or as receptacles for tools, clothes, sacred objects, and even infants.

Initially each culture had its own preferred basket material and method of manufacture — twilled rivercane for Native Americans, plaited oak for Europeans, and coiled grasses for Africans. Interaction between groups spurred adaptations to changing circumstances, such as the use of white oak by the Cherokee in the 1800s, as rivercane stands were decimated by European settlements. Native Americans also adopted the European picnic, flower, egg, and market baskets to sell in the 20th-century art market. Native and European Americans wove honeysuckle into baskets after 1854, when introduced from Japan. By the 17th century African Americans discovered bulrush along the coasts, coiling it into large, round “fanners” to winnow rice. Later bulrush was one medium among sweetgrass, pine needles, and palmetto, giving rise to the name “sweetgrass baskets” along the coast.

Baskets were woven not only for use in the fields and homes or for sale in art galleries but also as a connection to ancestors and spirits, as designs were said to come from inside one’s head, from memories of one’s mother’s motifs, or from the Creator. Indeed, working with one’s hands in nature to gather materials and to form them into a basket was considered spiritually and physically healthy, becoming a part of the practice of occupational therapy around World War I.

Today, basketweavers in the South from all three traditions are teaching the next generation to continue this art. Artists from across the region work with old and new materials in old and new forms, innovating for their legacy, for art’s sake, and for political causes, as embodied in the varied vessels in this gallery and epitomized in the virtuosic miniature examples in the case at right.