Repatriations. Sunkoo Yuh, artist
The Western Carolina University Bardo Arts Center (BAC) will open a busy new season of events and exhibitions this fall as they welcome back visitors in person. The WCU Fine Art Museum reopens to the public on Tuesday, August 17, with Contemporary Clay 2021. This exhibition began with an installment in 2016. “Contemporary Clay 2021 grew out of an idea of bringing groundbreaking ceramic works to Western North Carolina,” says guest curator Heather Mae Erickson, associate professor of ceramics at WCU. “This exhibition will bring attention to WCU for supporting the depth and breadth of a diverse group of artists whose focus includes clay as a material to speak through.”
The exhibition, on display through December 10, will include a full-color catalogue showcasing all of the artists and statements on their works, as well as an essay on the exhibition written by Angelik Vizcarrondo-Laboy, assistant curator at the Museum of Arts and Design (MAD) in New York. “Some of the work brings forward hard topics and the lived experiences of the exhibiting artists,” says Erickson. “The exhibition is not the end of the project but the beginning of larger conversations in the expanded field of global ceramics.”
A video exhibition exploring race, Jefferson Pinder: Selections from the Inertia Cycle, will also open on August 17. In the BAC Performance Hall, the multimedia production Seeing Sound: A Musical Journey of Water and Light will be held on October 14 and 15 at 7:30 p.m. The Performance Hall season continues with The Nutcracker from Asheville Ballet on December 10 at 7:30 p.m. and December 11 at 3 p.m. For holiday shopping, mark your calendar for the 12th Annual Handmade Holiday Sale at BAC on November 18 from 12–7 p.m.
For more information, visit arts.wcu.edu/explore.
