BLACK MOUNTAIN COLLEGE MUSEUM
Just down the road to the east of Warren Wilson College is the site of the former Black Mountain College. Before and during WWII it was a refuge for German artists fleeing Germany and a Mecca for American artists. It closed six years before I arrived at Warren Wilson in 1965. It was always an experimental college, focused on art and almost dismissive of institutional norms and survival. It flamed brilliantly for a couple of decades and then burned out, but its alumni and teachers dispersed across the country and it is an important influence on all the arts today.
One of my students, Mary Holden Thompson, daughter of the Warren Wilson President, Ruben Holden, helped found the Black Mountain Museum that we visited this afternoon in Asheville.
One of the exhibits focused on the influence of Black artists and featured the sculptures of black Asheville artist, Larry King. Included here are his sculptures and a few additional paintings by Jacob Lawrence.
For more on Larry King and the Black Mountain Museum follow these links. https://ashevillemade.com/how-one-sculptor-rose-to-the-occasion/
BILLYBABA’S WANDERING 