Black Mountain College Museum + Arts Center Reopens Today with Susan Weil Exhibition

Asheville, NC -- The Black Mountain College Museum + Arts Center (BMCM+AC) celebrates the completion of the first phase of its renovation and expansion in downtown Asheville with the presentation of poemumbles: 30 years of Susan Weil's poem/images. Curated by Brian E. Butler, University of North Carolina Asheville Thomas Howerton Distinguished Professor of the Humanities, and Rachael Inch, Susan Weil Studio archivist and administrator, the exhibition is on view today, January 30 - May 23, and is accompanied by a roster of public programs. The exhibition includes over 60 of Weil's poemumbles made between 1984 and 2014. Additionally, several of her notebooks will be on display to provide a deeper look into her artistic process.

BMCM+AC Board Chair J. Richard Gruber said, "We are thrilled to present work by this marvelously innovative and influential artist on the occasion of our grand reopening in our redesigned space. Susan attended Black Mountain College in 1948, a pivotal year with numerous literary and art-world luminaries on campus, including Robert Rauschenberg with whom she collaborated. It is especially fitting that this exhibition of her work-created over thirty years and blending visual and literary elements-is the first exhibition in our expanded galleries."

When Weil met her Swedish art dealer Anders Tornberg in 1977, she began sending him poems and accompanying images. Over the course of the next six years, Weil sent him some 5,000 poemumbles. On May 11th, 1984, Anders received a poem, a delicate watercolor of a cup of coffee, and a note declaring Weil's intention to write and send him poemumbles daily. By 1986, Weil was making three versions of her creations: one large version for her notebooks and postcard-sized ones for Anders and her friend and publisher of her artist books Vincent FitzGerald.

Alice Sebrell, BMCM+AC Program Director, said, "Susan's poemumbles are a unique form of poetic expression that explore the limitless potential and fluidity of her thoughts in visual and verbal form. Weil developed a deep affinity for the written word having been read works by Chaucer and James Joyce as a child. No subject is too small or grand. One day she might describe the experience of seeing a painting, form a play on words, or evoke a memory or dreamscape."

Three decades and over 10,930 poemumbles later, Weil has stayed true to her promise. Some poemumbles allow Weil to weave her thoughts and images with creative masters from the past. Sandro Botticelli, Leonardo da Vinci, Henrik Ibsen, Henry Matisse, Pablo Picasso, the poet Rumi, Gertrude Stein, and her lifelong inspiration 'Jimmy Joy' James Joyce have all made guest appearances.

As Weil's studio work changed over time, so, too, have the poemumbles. Earlier ones are delicate pencil drawings and watercolors, rubber stamped with the date. Later, they developed into collages of magazine cut-outs and textual snippets. Today,Weil incorporates images found on-line into her daily poems and has made several plexiglass works inspired by earlier poemumbles. This exhibition received support from: the North Carolina Arts Council, a division of

the Department of Cultural Resources, with funding from the National Endowment for the Arts, through the Asheville Area Arts Council; and the University of North Carolina Asheville Thomas Howerton Distinguished Professor of the Humanities.

For related public programs at BMCM+AC visit www.blackmountaincollege.org.

Susan Weil (b. 1930) is a painter, printmaker, and book artist living in New York City. Widely acknowledged as an important influence among Abstract Expressionists, she studied at Académie Julian in Paris before enrolling at Black Mountain College in 1948, and later at the Art Students League in New York. Weil is the recipient of a Guggenheim Fellowship and National Endowment for the Arts Fellowship. Her work is included in the Metropolitan Museum of Art and The Museum of Modern Art, New York; Victoria and Albert Museum, London; J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles; National Museum, Stockholm; Helsinki City Art Museum; and Museo Reina Sofia in Madrid. In 2011, the distinguished fine-art publisher Skira released Susan Weil: Moving Pictures, a 142-page monograph on the prolific artist's diverse body of work, with an emphasis on her paintings of the last two decades. It includes scholarly essays on her life and work by noted critics Dore Ashton, David Weir, and Olle Granath. www.susanweil.com

The Black Mountain College Museum + Arts Center (BMCM+AC) was founded in 1993, in Asheville, NC, to preserve and pay tribute to the history and legacy of innovation of Black Mountain College (1933-57) and to acknowledge the College's role as a forerunner in progressive, interdisciplinary education with a focus on the arts. With its emphasis on the individual rather than the institution and its striking success in attracting individuals of great talent and originality, the College drew a roster of gifted mavericks, some of whom went on to become well-known and highly influential in the latter half of the 20th century. A partial list includes: Josef and Anni Albers, John Cage, Robert Creeley, Merce Cunningham, Willem and Elaine de Kooning, Buckminster Fuller, Francine du Plessix Gray, Karen Karnes, Franz Kline, Jacob Lawrence, Kenneth Noland, Charles Olson, Arthur Penn, Robert Rauschenberg, M.C. Richards, Dorothea Rockburne, Ben Shahn, Cy Twombly, Jonathan Williams and many others who have impacted the world in a significant way.

BMCM+AC's programming targets both the historical importance of the College and the many ways that its legacy remains relevant and vital today with exhibitions, seminars, conferences, panel discussions, publications, film and video screenings, and oral history interviews with surviving BMC faculty and students. www.blackmountaincollege.org

The Sixth Annual [Re]HAPPENING takes place on Saturday, April 4, 2015, from 3:00-10:00 p.m., on the grounds of the BMC Lake Eden campus in Black Mountain, NC. The immersive, multi-sensory experience of art, performance, and dining takes place in the Dining Hall as well as on the surrounding outdoor campus and is organized in collaboration with The Media Arts Project. For more information visit: www.rehappening.com

The redesign and expansion of BMCM+AC in two neighboring buildings in downtown Asheville is being funded by a major grant from the Windgate Charitable Foundation and led by Asheville-based and internationally recognized artist/designer Randy Shull. The overall project supports multiple educational initiatives including: paid museum internships and a design apprentice; an expanded art library and research center for scholars, students, and BMC enthusiasts; increased access to the oral history interview archive and permanent collection of artwork and primary documents related to Black Mountain College. Phase two is expected to be completed in summer 2015, with additional gallery and programming space.

Pictured: Susan Weil, In Circle, 2013, digital image on layered plexi, 24 x 24 x 2 3/8 inches. Courtesy of the artist.

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