UNC Asheville’s juried international exhibition, Drawing Discourse, will open with special events on Jan. 18-19 featuring renowned artists and curators including juror Claire Gilman, Mel Chin, Anne Harris, and Namita Gupta Wiggers. The exhibition features 59 works of contemporary drawing selected from among almost 1,400 submissions by more than 400 artists in 13 nations.
Due to renovation work at UNC Asheville’s Owen Hall, this 10th annual edition of Drawing Discourse will be hosted at the Holden Arts Center Gallery at Warren Wilson College in Swannanoa, N.C. with free admission and gallery hours 9:00 am to 5:00 pm weekdays, and 12:00 pm to 4:00 pm Saturdays through Feb. 22.
Gilman, chief curator at The Drawing Center in New York City, will provide an opening lecture about contemporary drawing from 5:00 pm to 6:00 pm on Friday, Jan. 18 in the Kittredge Theatre at Warren Wilson College. Gilman’s talk will be followed by a reception in the Holden Gallery from 6:00 pm to 8:00 pm.
Special events on Saturday, Jan. 19 will begin with coffee outside the gallery at 9:30 am, followed by a panel discussion, Discourse on Drawing: Intersections between Fine Art, New Media & Craft, featuring Mel Chin, Anne Harris and Namita Gupta Wiggers, from 10:00 am to 11:00 am in Kittredge Theatre. Harris will then present a Visiting Artist Lecture in the gallery from 12:30 pm to 1:30 pm.
In another related event, Armin Mersman will offer a Visiting Artist Lecture at 7:00 pm on Friday, Feb. 15 at UNC Asheville’s Karpen Hall, in the Laurel Forum.
Deborah Rockman, an award-winning artist, educator, author and juror for the inaugural Drawing Discourse exhibit, submitted works for this 10th edition and had two works selected. One local artist – Nicholas Raynolds – had his work selected for this exhibition.
All Drawing Discourse events are free and open to everyone. For more information, email exhibit organizer Tamie Beldue, UNC Asheville associate professor of art and department chair, at [email protected].