Now On Display
The Bascom’s major exhibitions highlight the work of the artists who live and work in our region, Bascom instructors and students, Artist Fellows and Residents, as well as world-renowned artists whose work might not otherwise be seen in this region. The Bascom's 3 galleries and the Winkler Sculpture and Nature Trail are host to approximately 10 exhibitions each year, which pair with our Outreach and Education departments to attract 20,000 visitors to The Bascom. Free guided tours are available upon advanced request.
The Bascom's 2024 Annual Theme: Legacies
Our 2024 season is a celebration of legacies. The arts thrive when artists have opportunities to engage with and influence one another – and, in turn, when audiences have the chance to experience traditional arts and new approaches, techniques, and innovations in conversation.
Artists leave the legacy of their work and its impact on our collective visual imagination. Through their teaching, they encourage and shape the growth, development, and visibility of young artists. Some leave the mark of innovations that transform their fields and expand what is possible for other practitioners. This year we will see those impacts, influences, and inspirations in an array of exhibitions and symposia that celebrate the multiple ways artists create the visual worlds that we as viewers experience.
This year’s exhibitions and symposia celebrate the legacy of artists as educators in the annual exhibition, Emergence, which brings together university faculty and student artists from across the Southeast. We will witness the mutual support and influence of contemporary printmakers from the Asheville Area. Audiences will be able to see works of the American Studio Glass movement, including those of technical innovator and “father” of the glass movement, Harvey Littleton, his son and daughter-in-law John Littleton and Kate Vogel, as well as North Carolina glass makers. This year we will also collaborate with the Blue Spiral Gallery (Asheville) and the New Orleans Academy of Fine Arts to celebrate the legacy of Will Henry Stevens, for whom the Bascom covered bridge is named. Stevens was a Southern artist who worked in the North Carolina Mountains and the bayou of Louisiana, and whose work as an educator of artists had lasting impacts.
Not to be missed – our Bascom Clay Symposium, which brings together three contemporary ceramic artists and celebrates the Craft and Art of Clay and its vibrancy in our region.
Always available – our Outdoor Sculpture Program, which begins a two-year rotational cycle in 2024– on The Bascom campus and at selected sites in Cashiers, NC.
Emergence celebrates the role of teaching and mentoring in artistic development, highlighting works by faculty mentors and their students. The 35 pairs of artists presented in this exhibition represent 23 institutions of higher education from the Southeast. Their works represent a wide variety of approaches to subject matter, innovative use of materials, and mastery of traditional mediums being taught and practiced in contemporary studio programs.
Image credits: Angela Wells, professor and Logan Davis, senior, East Carolina University
- GALLERY: Bunzl Gallery
- ARTIST(S): Various
- ON DISPLAY: January 20, 2024
- THROUGH: April 27, 2024
- MEDIUM(S): Various
Drawn from The Bascom’s permanent collection, works exhibited this year celebrate the visual legacies of 20th century artists who practiced in the Southeastern US, including our founding benefactor, Watson Barratt.
Image credit: Julyan Davis, Portait of Edith and Richard Joel, Oil on Canvas, Collection of The Bascom
Exhibition Reception
March 23rd | 3 pm | FREE
- GALLERY: Joel Gallery
- ARTIST(S): Various
- ON DISPLAY: January 27, 2024
- THROUGH: April 6, 2024
- MEDIUM(S): Various
Through sculptures, films and cut text works, Satellites & Salamanders IV attempts to re-member hidden and lost parts of artist Walker Tufts’ legacies. The installation orbits around a pair of 1:1 scale models of NASA satellites that become an escape-pod/tiny house, a climbing wall, a vertical forest, and more.
Exhibition Reception
March 23rd | 3 pm | FREE
- GALLERY: Thompson Gallery
- ARTIST(S): Walker Tufts
- ON DISPLAY: January 13, 2024
- THROUGH: May 11, 2024
- MEDIUM(S): Multi-media
In April 2023, five new works were installed on the Horst Winkler Sculpture Trail, marking the third year of our outdoor sculpture program on The Bascom campus. Two additional works are available for viewing at locations in Cashiers, thanks to the efforts of our partner organization, Vision Cashiers.
- GALLERY: Horst Winkler Sculpture Trail
- ARTIST(S): Various
- ON DISPLAY: April 22, 2023
- THROUGH: April 30, 2024
- MEDIUM(S): Sculpture
Coming Soon
THE BASCOM WOULD LIKE TO THANK OUR 2024 EXHIBITION SPONSORS
Claire and Alex Crumbley
Kathleen and Christopher Hohlstein
Cathy and Bob Fisher
Ann Sullivan
Vance and Willis Willey
Woodcrest Foundation
For information about sponsorship opportunities, please call: 828.526.4949
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Visit: 323 Franklin Road
Highlands, NC 28741 (Map It)
Call: 828-526-4949 (Main)
828-787-2892 (Ceramics Studio)
Funded in part by a grant from South Arts
in partnership with the National Endowment for the Arts.