Black Mountain College Museum + Arts Center

File:Black Mountain College Museum + Arts Center (March 2023).jpg

Arts advocate Mary Holden Thompson founded BMCM+AC in 1993 to celebrate the history of Black Mountain College as a forerunner in progressive interdisciplinary education and to explore its extraordinary impact on modern and contemporary art, dance, theater, music, and performance.{{Cite web|url=https://www.neh.gov/divisions/preservation/featured-project/50-states-preservation-black-mountain-college-museum-and-arts-center-in-asheville-nc|title=50 States of Preservation: Black Mountain College Museum and Arts Center in Asheville, NC|website=National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH)|language=en|access-date=2019-04-24|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181222064206/https://www.neh.gov/divisions/preservation/featured-project/50-states-preservation-black-mountain-college-museum-and-arts-center-in-asheville-nc|archive-date=2018-12-22|url-status=live}} Today, the museum remains committed to educating the public about BMC's history and raising awareness of its extensive legacy. BMCM+AC's goal is to provide a gathering point for people from a variety of backgrounds to interact through art, ideas, and discourse.{{Cite web|url=https://www.ncpedia.org/black-mountain-college|title=Black Mountain College {{!}} NCpedia|website=www.ncpedia.org|access-date=2019-04-24|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181211232657/https://www.ncpedia.org/black-mountain-college|archive-date=2018-12-11|url-status=live}}

BMCM+AC was first based out of founder Mary Holden Thompson's house in Black Mountain, NC. Exhibitions and collecting were accomplished through community partnerships.{{Cite journal |last=Sebrell |first=Alice |date=2017 |title=A Small But Mighty Museum: The Story of Black Mountain College Museum + Arts Center |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/45124309 |journal=Appalachian Journal |volume=44/45 |pages=540–547 |jstor=45124309 |issn=0090-3779}} The museum hired its first regular employee, Alice Sebrell, as part time office manager, in 1999. In 2003 BMCM+AC gained a physical presence in a storefront gallery at 56 Broadway.{{Cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2015/03/19/arts/artsspecial/in-the-spirit-of-black-mountain-college-an-avant-garde-incubator.html|title=In the Spirit of Black Mountain College, an Avant-Garde Incubator|last=Kino|first=Carol|date=2015-03-16|work=The New York Times|access-date=2019-04-24|language=en-US|issn=0362-4331|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190414125514/https://www.nytimes.com/2015/03/19/arts/artsspecial/in-the-spirit-of-black-mountain-college-an-avant-garde-incubator.html|archive-date=2019-04-14|url-status=live}} In August 2016 Jeff Arnal was hired as executive director.{{Cite web |last=Miller |first=M. H. |date=2016-07-22 |title=Jeff Arnal Named Executive Director of Black Mountain College Museum + Art Center |url=https://www.artnews.com/art-news/news/jeff-arnal-named-executive-director-of-black-mountain-college-museum-art-center-6712/ |access-date=2023-05-24 |website=ARTnews.com |language=en-US}}

In September 2018, BMCM+AC opened a new space at 120 College Street, a relocation and expansion to a newly renovated building on Pack Square Park in the heart of Asheville. The new 6,000 square foot space doubled the museum's footprint and includes 2,500 square feet of flexible exhibition/event space with a seating capacity for 180, a permanent Black Mountain College history and research center, an expanded library and education center with over 1,500 BMC-related texts, and on-site storage for the museum's permanent collection and research center.{{cite web|url=http://www.blackmountaincollege.org/about/history|website=Black Mountain College Museum+Arts Center|accessdate=2015-02-17|title=Black Mountain College: A Brief Introduction|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150212014859/http://www.blackmountaincollege.org/about/history|archive-date=2015-02-12|url-status=live}}{{Cite web|url=http://www.blackmountaincollege.org/news/120-college-street/|title=120 College Street|website=Black Mountain College Museum + Arts Center|language=en-US|access-date=2019-04-24|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190415145843/http://www.blackmountaincollege.org/news/120-college-street/|archive-date=2019-04-15|url-status=live}}

• 1993 – Founding of the Black Mountain College Museum + Arts Center.
• 1995 – A Black Mountain College reunion is organized and attended by over 100 alumni.{{Cite web|url=http://www.blackmountaincollege.org/history-and-goals-of-bmcmac/|title=History and Goals of BMCM+AC|date=2011-09-21|website=Black Mountain College Museum + Arts Center|language=en-US|access-date=2019-04-24|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190424205709/http://www.blackmountaincollege.org/history-and-goals-of-bmcmac/|archive-date=2019-04-24|url-status=live}}{{Cite web|url=https://axaem.archives.ncdcr.gov/findingaids/PC_1580_Black_Mountain_College__.html|title=Finding Aid of the Black Mountain College Miscellaneous Collection, 1943 - 1945,1975 - 2007PC.1580|website=axaem.archives.ncdcr.gov|access-date=2019-04-24|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190424205701/https://axaem.archives.ncdcr.gov/findingaids/PC_1580_Black_Mountain_College__.html|archive-date=2019-04-24|url-status=live}}
• 1997 – BMCM+AC launches an ongoing oral history program dedicated to documenting Black Mountain College alumni.{{Cite web|url=http://www.blackmountaincollege.org/oral-histories/|title=Oral Histories|date=2018-06-01|website=Black Mountain College Museum + Arts Center|language=en-US|access-date=2019-04-24|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190424205655/http://www.blackmountaincollege.org/oral-histories/|archive-date=2019-04-24|url-status=live}}
• 2002 – A regional festival called Under the Influence{{cite web|url=http://www.blackmountaincollege.org/under-the-influence-festival/|title=Under the Influence Festival|website=Black Mountain College Museum+ Arts Center|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160122191859/http://www.blackmountaincollege.org/under-the-influence-festival/|archive-date=22 January 2016|url-status=live|accessdate=6 March 2015|df=dmy-all}} takes place, exploring the legacy of Black Mountain College through music, education and performance.
• 2003 – BMCM+AC opens a museum gallery space in downtown Asheville at 56 Broadway Street.
• 2009 – The first annual international ReVIEWING Black Mountain College conference is held, organized in partnership with the University of North Carolina at Asheville (UNCA).
• 2010 – The first annual {Re}HAPPENING is held, an experimental art event featuring over 100 artists held on the former grounds of Black Mountain College at Lake Eden.{{Cite web|url=http://rehappening.com/about-the-re-happening/|title=About The {Re}HAPPENING {{!}} {Re}HAPPENING|language=en-US|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180818163055/http://rehappening.com/about-the-re-happening/|archive-date=2018-08-18|url-status=live|access-date=2019-04-24}}
• 2010 – A partnership is established with UNCA to provide digitization and archival storage for the growing BMCM+AC archives.
• 2011 – An NEH Landmarks of American History and Culture grant is awarded.
• 2011 – A new online publication, the Journal of Black Mountain College Studies, is created.
• 2012 – The state of North Carolina moves Black Mountain College records to the Western Regional Archives in Oteen, NC, which further establishes Asheville as a center for BMC studies and strengthens BMCM+AC's partnership with the Archives.
• 2016 – The museum opens a second location at 69 Broadway, a newly redesigned and renovated research and gallery space.{{Cite web|url=https://www.citizen-times.com/story/carol-motsinger/2014/09/02/black-mountain-college-expand/14964797/|title=Black Mountain College Museum + Arts Center to expand|website=Citizen Times|language=en|access-date=2019-04-24}}{{Cite web|url=http://artdaily.com/news/76790/Black-Mountain-College-Museum-completes-first-phase-of-renovation-and-expansion-project#.XMDJty2ZMnU|title=Black Mountain College Museum completes first phase of renovation and expansion project|website=artdaily.com|access-date=2019-04-24|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180817172538/http://artdaily.com/news/76790/Black-Mountain-College-Museum-completes-first-phase-of-renovation-and-expansion-project#.XMDJty2ZMnU|archive-date=2018-08-17|url-status=live}}{{Cite web|url=http://www.blackmountaincollege.org/grand-reopening-phase-1-expansion/|title=Grand {Re}OPENING : Phase 1 of our 3-year Expansion Plan|date=2015-05-20|website=Black Mountain College Museum + Arts Center|language=en-US|access-date=2019-04-24|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190424205655/http://www.blackmountaincollege.org/grand-reopening-phase-1-expansion/|archive-date=2019-04-24|url-status=live}}{{Cite web|url=https://archpaper.com/2016/06/black-mountain-college-museum-arts-center-inaugural-exhibition/|title=Black Mountain College Museum Arts Center opens inaugural exhibition|date=2016-06-30|website=Archpaper.com|language=en-US|access-date=2019-04-24|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190424205701/https://archpaper.com/2016/06/black-mountain-college-museum-arts-center-inaugural-exhibition/|archive-date=2019-04-24|url-status=live}}
• 2017 – BMCM+AC Performance Initiative and Active Archive programs begin.{{Cite web|url=https://thelaurelofasheville.com/arts/performing-arts/new-programs-introduced-black-mountain-college-conference/|title=New Programs Introduced at Black Mountain College Conference|date=2017-09-24|website=The Laurel of Asheville|language=en-US|access-date=2019-04-25|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190425181845/https://thelaurelofasheville.com/arts/performing-arts/new-programs-introduced-black-mountain-college-conference/|archive-date=2019-04-25|url-status=live}}
• 2018 – BMCM+AC relocates to a new, permanent home at 120 College Street, consolidating its 69 Broadway (2003-2018) and 56 Broadway (2016-2017) locations. The inaugural exhibition in the new space is Between Form and Content: Perspectives on Jacob Lawrence and Black Mountain College, supported by an NEA Art Works grant.{{Cite web |last=Marshall |first=Alli |title=BMCM+AC opens its new location with a Jacob Lawrence exhibition |url=http://mountainx.com/arts/bmcmac-opens-its-new-location-with-a-jacob-lawrence-exhibition/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190425181847/https://mountainx.com/arts/bmcmac-opens-its-new-location-with-a-jacob-lawrence-exhibition/ |archive-date=2019-04-25 |access-date=2019-04-25 |website=Mountain Xpress |language=en-US}}
• 2020 – BMCM+AC is closed for six months, from March 15 - September 16, as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, and presents online events & resources for visitors to virtually engage with the museum.
• 2022 – With support from an NEH Humanities Collections & Reference Resources grant, BMCM+AC launches its first digital collections portal, [https://collections.blackmountaincollege.org/ collections.blackmountaincollege.org].{{Cite web |last=Intern |date=2021-04-22 |title=BMCM+AC receives grant from National Endowment for the Humanities |url=https://www.blackmountaincollege.org/neh-2021/ |access-date=2023-05-24 |website=Black Mountain College Museum + Arts Center |language=en}}
• 2023 – The 30th anniversary of BMCM+AC's founding.{{Cite web |last=BMCM+AC |date= |title=2022 Annual Report |url=https://indd.adobe.com/view/c7c9b0f6-d2cb-4237-9a24-f9cb8346fa23 }}

Pieces from the permanent collection, as well as loaned works, are featured via a rotating schedule of temporary exhibitions, which are on display for an average of four months at time. Exhibitions display the many histories of Black Mountain College through shared themes or the work of singular alumni. Exhibitions are often connected to contemporary legacies of BMC through programming or complimentary installations.{{Cite web|url=http://www.blackmountaincollege.org/exhibitions/|title=Exhibitions|website=Black Mountain College Museum + Arts Center|language=en-US|access-date=2019-04-25|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190415144350/http://www.blackmountaincollege.org/exhibitions/|archive-date=2019-04-15|url-status=live}}

BMCM+AC has also co-curated exhibitions with a variety of regional institutions, including the Hickory Museum of Art, Western Carolina University, Folk Art Center, the Western Regional Archives, and the Smith-McDowell House.

The BMCM+AC permanent collection includes items with dates of creation ranging from 1931 to 2004. All items in the collection have a direct connection to the history of BMC, such as original college publications and other primary source materials. Components of the collection are photographs, ephemera, paintings, drawings/prints, poems/books/monographs/magazines/articles, writings/correspondences. The museum owns a variety of objects, including ceramics/clay, furniture/wood, sculptures, weavings/fiber, collages and mixed media pieces, broadsides/artists’ books and music/album covers.{{Cite web|url=http://www.blackmountaincollege.org/selections-from-our-collection/|title=Selections from Our Collection|date=2012-06-23|website=Black Mountain College Museum + Arts Center|language=en-US|access-date=2019-04-25|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190424143749/http://www.blackmountaincollege.org/selections-from-our-collection/|archive-date=2019-04-24|url-status=live}}

In addition, the collection features a full set of the poetry journal The Black Mountain Review, which formed the group of writers known as the Black Mountain Poets. In Summer 2013, the museum acquired a 1971 work by BMC alumnus Robert Rauschenberg, Opal Gospel, 10 American Indian Poems, consisting of 10 moveable silkscreened acrylic panels of American Indian stories and imagery. Other noted pieces in the collection are furniture from the original Black Mountain College campuses: two benches from the Quiet House, a place for contemplation, meditation, and observance of special occasions at the Lake Eden campus and a desk designed by Josef Albers. BMCM+AC has an original Black Mountain College directional sign from the Lake Eden Campus, which is displayed in the museum library. The collection features many other works by various alumni, faculty and key figures of Black Mountain College including, among many others, Ruth Asawa, Ray Johnson, Kenneth Noland, Charles Olson, M. C. Richards, Dorothea Rockburne, Suzi Gablik and Susan Weil.{{cite web|title=BMCM+AC Collection|url=http://blackmountaincollege.org/blog/black-mountain-college-museum|website=BMCM+AC|accessdate=2015-02-27|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150225041503/http://blackmountaincollege.org/blog/black-mountain-college-museum|archive-date=2015-02-25|url-status=live}} The museum also manages image requests on behalf of the Hazel Larsen Archer Estate. Hazel Larsen Archer was the first full-time instructor of photography at Black Mountain College, and her photographs are among the most well-known documentation of the people and daily activities of the college.{{Cite web|url=https://www.asheville.com/news/bmc0406.html|title=asheville.com news: Hazel Larsen Archer Exhibition Opens at Black Mountain College April 21|website=www.asheville.com|access-date=2019-07-11}}{{Cite web|url=https://aperture.org/blog/black-mountain-college-means-seeing/|title=Learning to See: Photography at Black Mountain College|website=Aperture Foundation NY|language=en-US|access-date=2019-07-11}}

BMCM+AC has been facilitating oral history documentation since 1999, resulting in a collection of recorded interviews with 69 BMC alumni as of 2019. BMCM+AC also has a research library, which includes approximately 400 BMC-related resources in audio, video and book form.{{Cite web|url=http://www.blackmountaincollege.org/resources/|title=Research Resources|website=Black Mountain College Museum + Arts Center|language=en-US|access-date=2019-04-24|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190227052655/http://www.blackmountaincollege.org/resources/|archive-date=2019-02-27|url-status=live}} These resources, in addition to the aforementioned oral histories, are available to museum visitors and members as a part the museum's publicly accessible resource center.

In addition to the museum's regional use of the collection in exhibitions, the collection is also accessed nationally and internationally by means of traveling exhibitions and loans to other institutions. Works from BMCM+AC's permanent collection have been loaned to the exhibitions Leap Before You Look: Black Mountain College (Institute of Contemporary Art, Boston Wexner Center for the Arts and Hammer Museum), Robert Rauschenberg: Among Friends at the Museum of Modern Art, Black Mountain College and Interdisciplinary Experiment 1933 - 1957 at Hamburger Bahnhof in Berlin, among others.

In 2012, BMCM+AC was chosen as the receiving institution for the remaining publications and archive of The Jargon Society, a small press publisher founded in 1951 by Jonathan Williams. The archive currently includes over 70 titles out of the total 115 Jargon titles. Of the 115 originals in the Jargon catalogue, approximately 85 are books and another 30 are broadsides, pamphlets and other publications.{{cite web|url=http://www.blackmountaincollege.org/collections/jargon-society|title=The Jargon Society|date=2012-04-26|website=BMCM+AC|accessdate=2015-02-17|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150212014926/http://www.blackmountaincollege.org/collections/jargon-society|archive-date=2015-02-12|url-status=live}} The museum has continued publication under the imprint. As of 2023 the latest Jargon title is a forthcoming publication, The Black Mountain College Anthology of Poetry, produced in collaboration with the University of North Carolina Press.{{Cite web|url=http://www.blackmountainstudiesjournal.org/volume7/the-black-mountain-muse-the-black-mountain-college-anthology-of-poetry-forward-to-the-anthology-by-joseph-bathanti/|title=The Black Mountain Muse: Foreword to The Black Mountain College Anthology of Poetry by Joseph Bathanti|website=BMCS|language=en-US|access-date=2019-08-07}}

The BMCM+AC has published numerous dossiers, exhibition catalogues and books about Black Mountain College, its teachers, and alumni.

The Journal of Black Mountain College Studies (JBMCS) is a multidisciplinary online publication of the Black Mountain College Museum + Arts Center. Submissions are accepted on a rolling basis.{{Cite web|url=http://www.blackmountainstudiesjournal.org/|title=Black Mountain College Studies|website=BMCS|language=en-US|access-date=2019-04-24|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190118224026/http://www.blackmountainstudiesjournal.org/|archive-date=2019-01-18|url-status=live}}{{Cite web |title=Black Mountain College Studies |url=https://www.blackmountaincollege.org/journal-of-bmc-studies-home/ |access-date=2023-05-24 |website=Black Mountain College Museum + Arts Center |language=en}} JBMCS has published 13 volumes from 2011 to 2023.

• Backpacking in the Hereafter. Poetry chapbook by M.C. Richards. Edited by Julia Connor, 2014
• Cynthia Homire: Vision Quest. Black Mountain College Museum + Arts Center, 2014
• Basil King: Between Painting and Writing. Poetry chapbook by Basil King, 2016
• Faith in Arts [chapbook series]
• Volume 1: John Cage: Art, Life & Zen, Atelier Éditions & Black Mountain College Museum + Arts Center, 2021
• Volume 2: Stendhal Syndrome: Art as a Transcendent Experience, Atelier Éditions & Black Mountain College Museum + Arts Center, 2021
• Volume 3: M.C. Richards: Pots, Poems & Pedagogy, Atelier Éditions & Black Mountain College Museum + Arts Center, 2022
• Volume 4: The Quiet House: Stillness in Lake Eden, Atelier Éditions & Black Mountain College Museum + Arts Center, 2022

• Black Mountain Days. Michael Rumaker, Black Mountain College Museum + Arts Center, 2003

The Dossiers are books focusing on specific BMC alumni and serve both as exhibition catalogues and critical studies.

The museum has published dossiers featuring BMC alumni including Joseph Fiore, Fannie Hillsmith, Lore Kadden Lindenfeld, Ray Johnson, Susan Weil, Michael Rumaker, Gwendolyn Knight and Gregory Masurovsky.{{cite web|url=http://blackmountaincollege.org/publications|title=BMCM+AC Publications|website=BMCM+AC|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150212015031/http://www.blackmountaincollege.org/publications|archive-date=2015-02-12|url-status=live|accessdate=2015-02-27}}

{{Reflist}}

• [http://www.blackmountaincollege.org/ BMCM+AC website]
• [https://www.blackmountaincollege.org/journal-of-bmc-studies-home/ Journal of Black Mountain College Studies]

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Category:Museums in Asheville, North Carolina

Category:Arts centers in North Carolina

Category:Art museums and galleries in North Carolina

Category:Art museums and galleries established in 1993

Category:1993 establishments in North Carolina