Grand Reopenings

Alumni and faculty artists in the spotlight

By UNC Asheville

February 5^th, 2020

By Steve Plever

Alumni and faculty gathered in the downtown Asheville spotlight. A STEAM Studio sculpture gleamed and New Media creations shimmered. Even drain pipes—glass ones from Owen Hall—were repurposed as part of living art.

The occasion—actually two occasions—were the post-renovation grand reopenings of two of downtown Asheville’s anchoring arts institutions—the Asheville Art Museum and the Center for Craft—and UNC Asheville, through its artists, was prominently represented.

First, on Nov. 14, came the Asheville Art Museum in Pack Square, which featured the work of Professor of New Media Lei Han and five alumni, in a new exhibition. “This inaugural show, Appalachia Now! clearly shows the museum’s commitment to fostering creativity and innovation in a community that is full of talented individuals who deserve a world class place to showcase their work,” said Han. Some 700 artists were considered for the exhibition, and 50 were chosen, including Han, Melissa Pace ’09, Josh Copus ’07, Hayden Wilson ’07, Sean “Jinx” Pace ’04 and Constance Humphreys ’94.

Then, two days later and a few blocks north, the Center for Craft held its boisterous reopening party, unveiling the Making Meaning exhibition that featured works of 14 alumni artists in the new John Cram Partner Gallery.

“To see an exhibit like this downtown shows how well the University has produced artists for I don’t know how many years. It’s phenomenal for a small university to be able to put together this much incredible work, and for us all to keep doing it after we graduated,” said Matt West ’00, who sculpted the iconic Rocky statue on campus and is now a lecturer in UNC Asheville’s Department of Art. His sculpture chosen for the exhibition used pipes discarded in the Owen Hall renovation as a setting for live tree saplings. “There are so many who move on to a totally different kind of career but we’re all still doing it because we love it.”

Otto Von Luft (the Dancing Accordion) by D. Forest Gamble ’19

(Left) Untitled (Asheville, NC) by George Etheredge ’16; (Right) A Window into my Tennessee Soul by Tatiana Potts ’12

The Ballad of the Anonymous Scribes by Jason Watson ’97

Head of the State by Leslie Frempong ’16

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