Dec 7-12

Hopefully the activities of our first 6 days have allowed you to settle into a comfortable and safe space of creative play, open to experimenting with new materials and possibilities.

It’s especially fitting that BMC weaver and teacher Anni Albers will start off this grouping of artists. Many BMC students pointed to her Weaving Workshop as the place where something was opened or loosened within them regarding their creative process or identity. Weaving was a foreign affair to most of them, especially the men.

There’s a structuredness to weaving: the warp and the weft. But like good improvisation in music and comedy, a strong structure can allow for a great deal of spontaneity and exploration. There is no end to the materials you can try to weave in and out: the colors, the textures, the patterns you can explore. 

At BMC, limited funding led to a lot of creativity in materials use. But exploration of materials became more than just a necessity, but a principle of art-making: using what was available, exploring textures and the properties of found materials and objects in relation to traditional art-making materials.

Over the next 6 days we will continue to use our “fingers as our tools” — to experiment both with art supplies provided, as well as what you  might find around you — in your home and outside in the world around you.

Reminder: Exhibit happening right now at Black Mountain College museum focused on Anni Albers and the Weaving program. Check out details here. Even if you don’t live in or near Asheville, there’s a lot of great stuff to view and read online.