Museum Closed for Installation of Summer Exhibitions

Beginning of 9 week and first 4.5 week terms

University Academic Experience Meeting

Meeting to be held in basement of Balsam- the Garage across from Belk.  

Come find your tribe!  This is a meditation and mindfulness experience with a group of individuals to build a cohesive and sober community.  Start your week of right by getting centered!

University Academic Experience Meeting

Dirty Soul Revival will make their first appearance at Concerts on the Creek in Sylva on Friday, June 8 from 7-9 p.m.

The Dirty Soul Revival's unique reinterpretation of classic hard-hitting rock and roll formulae recalls elements of the past with an ever-present boundless energy, fit to cement their place in the future.

Abraham, Brandon, Jason, and Jerard have been nothing short of a best-kept-secret among Asheville concertgoers since the band’s formation in 2015, building a fervent and dynamic fan base leveraged by their ever-substantiated reputation for consistently well-rehearsed and impassioned, explosive live performances. The band’s celebrated sound and spirit draws significant influence from the driving force of Southern rock pioneers Lynyrd Skynyrd, the billowing and bouncing funk soul of the Black Crows, to the layered harmonies and memorable hooks of The Beatles and Led Zeppelin, to the contemporary psychedelia of Jack White among many more.

University Academic Experience Meeting

Meeting to be held in basement of Balsam- the Garage across from Belk.  

Come find your tribe!  This is a meditation and mindfulness experience with a group of individuals to build a cohesive and sober community.  Start your week of right by getting centered!

Round Table Speaker David Bright. Confederate Locomotive theft.

 Glass Catalyst: Littleton’s Legacy in Contemporary Sculpture
 June 14 - December 7, 2018
 Reception Thursday June 14, 5 – 7pm

Celebrating the efforts of Harvey Littleton, one of the greatest proponents of using glass as an expressive medium, the exhibition explores the work of contemporary artists concentrating in glass and how they are building off the foundations laid by Littleton during the early years of the Studio Glass Movement. Artists featured in the exhibition include Alex Bernstein, Carol Milne, Hayden Wilson, Matt Eskuche, Shane Fero, Robert Burch, Dean Allison, Carmen Lozar, Carole Frève and others. Glass enthusiasts, sculptors, lovers of innovation, and even knitters will especially enjoy this display of works ranging from cast figures to blown glass to delicate lamp-worked forms.
Image copy: Matt Eskuche, My Button’s Bigger Than Yours, 2018, glass, 14 x 40 x 17 inches, Image courtesy of Blue Spiral 1 Gallery
MUSEUM HOURS: Tues-Fri 10am-4pm/ Th 10am-7pm
Closed weekends & University holidays
828.227.ARTS

Joshua Adams: Facing Culture
Exhibition: June 15 - August 24
Reception: Thursday, August 23 from 5-7PM

The exhibition brings together a selection of masks and carvings of the human face by Eastern Band Cherokee artist Joshua Adams, who expresses a deep reverence for his culture through his artwork. A teacher of woodcarving at Cherokee High School, Adams' work reflects on the importance of preserving his culture and how outside influences have, and still do, impact Cherokee life and belief. Intended for display rather than ceremony, these representations of the human face range from traditional Cherokee forms to contemporary twists on tradition. Made from a variety of woods with details fashioned from rabbit fur, feathers, porcupine quills, and traditional arrows, Adams' works demonstrate the technical complexity of mask making and the array of materials that enliven this artform. Sculptors, wood carvers, historians, craft enthusiasts, and those interested in Cherokee art and culture will not want to miss this exhibition.

The Artist

Joshua Adams studied wood carving under renowned artist Dr. James Bud Smith. He is influenced by the legendary sculptor and teacher Amanda Crowe, who taught wood carving for nearly 40 years at Cherokee High School. He also learned aspects of his craft from his family, which includes woodcarvers James and Irma Bradley. In 2010, Adams took over teaching the woodcarving program at Cherokee High School and now instructs a younger generation of students in this revered Cherokee art form. Inspired by traditional masks, which are one of the earliest forms of carving practiced by the Cherokee people, Adams aims to celebrate and preserve his heritage. He combines this pride in his culture with an aesthetic inspired by graphic novels and graffiti art that brings his work a 21st-century edge. 

More Details

The exhibition runs through Friday, August 24 with a closing reception on Thursday, August 23 from 5-7PM. The WCU Fine Art Museum is free and open to the public Tuesday through Friday 10-4PM and Thursday 10-7PM. Free parking is available on site. 

Mary Althea Parker: Abstract Impulse
Exhibition: June 15 - August 24, 2018 

This exhibition is a small selection of Mary Althea Parker’s works held by the WCU Fine Art Museum, focusing primarily on Parker’s paintings made after 1950.
Mary Althea Parker was a passionate painter and educator who dedicated her career to exploring abstraction. In 1948, Parker saw an exhibition of Hans Hofmann's work at the Addison Gallery of American Art that had a significant impact on her paintings. Hofmann's "brand" of abstraction, with its vibrant color and dynamic energy, resonated with Parker, and motivated her to take classes with Hofmann in Provincetown, Massachusetts.

 While many of her titles continued to reference the real world, her approach to painting shifted to being non-representational and followed Hofmann's credo that "There are bigger things to be seen in nature than the object." This exhibition is a small selection of Parker's works held by the WCU Fine Art Museum, focusing primarily on Parker's paintings made after 1950.

Meeting to be held in basement of Balsam- the Garage across from Belk.  

Come find your tribe!  This is a meditation and mindfulness experience with a group of individuals to build a cohesive and sober community.  Start your week of right by getting centered!

Open House

Open House Break Out Information Sessions

After an unavoidable delay, the much anticipated opening of new work at Gallery 1 Sylva will be held on Friday, June 22nd, with a reception beginning at 5:00 p.m. Beth and Ken Bowser will present their unique work in the backstreet gallery room until August 4th.   

Beth, a native of Atlanta, GA, has been working with glass since 1980. Her first glass ventures were in Stained Glass and have expanded to include kiln formed glass. 

Beth says that inspiration for her art comes from many sources, including nature, her imagination, and what she sees in a piece of glass when she looks at its unique characteristics. Both glass art forms offer challenges, but, for Beth, kiln formed glass offers more creative challenges, because one is ever quite sure what will come out of the kiln. She says, “Some pieces come out of the kiln as expected, others are happy accidents, while others are accidents waiting to be redeemed. And, yes, pieces have found their way into the trash.”

Her stained glass creations include copyrighted designs and numerous commissions in stained glass and kiln formed glass. Her kiln formed works include, but are not limited to pendants, most of which are one-of-a-kind; bowls; plates; vases; and free-hand designs. Both forms of glass art can be found in private residences, business offices, churches, and other settings across the country. 

Ken began painting some 60 years ago.  He started with oils, but came to know a great watercolor painter near where he lived at the time and found himself hooked on watercolor.  For a number of years painting was a hobby, occasionally attending a workshop or painting on Saturdays with a group of fellow watercolorists in northeastern Ohio.

Every other year trips to Colorado and New Mexico with mentor Lowell Ellsworth Smith were always a plus.  They ventured to Mexico twice where it was a treat to meet some of the western artists and listen to their adventures in the art world.

Upon retirement he moved to the Highlands-Cashiers plateau.  Where else could one find so much natural beauty right outside the door?  Painting became more of an avocation, rather than just a hobby.  

Favorite subjects include landscapes, continuing to paint with oils and pastels gives him more tools to capture the beauty in which he lives.While weather dictates whether one paints outdoors or not, painting in the open air is the ideal.

Besides showing in Gallery 1, Beth and Ken’s work  is also available at The Bascom Gift Shop in Highlands, NC, Tsaristry Gallery near Franklin NC and Gallery 1 Sylva.

Meeting to be held in basement of Balsam- the Garage across from Belk.  

Come find your tribe!  This is a meditation and mindfulness experience with a group of individuals to build a cohesive and sober community.  Start your week of right by getting centered!

Mini Mountain Heritage Day for SLCs

Rain backup location for SLC Mini Mountain Heritage Day