• Looks like the still-homeless “Conversation Piece” may not go to the relatively safe haven of Asheville Airport after all — the folks in charge say they want to feature regional crafts instead. Imagine that!
• ‘Tis the season — local colleges and universities are showcasing their students’ best work with juried exhibits. Warren Wilson, however, has chosen to highlight the works of four seniors, all women, in Women and Houses. Molly Johnson presents a thoroughly professional group of interior-design boards and fabric wall hangings. Megan Stone has constructed a narrow black hallway in Holden Gallery with little peepholes to view drawings: The hallway leads to a circular room with a big pillow and a large, angst-filled journal on the floor. Tina Ford-Cox did a dramatic performance piece, standing at the end of a dirty old white bathtub filled with plaster “water” and a plaster cast of a headless woman soaking in the tub, a television mounted in her stomach. Her installation included three paintings referring to women in history or myth who solved rather serious problems. And if you think these things sound ambitious for undergraduates, just follow the little map provided by Jenny Bass to the house she built using sticks and mud. You have to cross Suicide Ridge, but it’s worth the trip!
• Start saving your clothing allowance. Kelledy Francis and Brooke Priddy will present their latest creations at a big fashion extravaganza at the new space Artemisia will open mid-summer.
• Other new spaces include Bella Vista, Flood and Riverside Gallery along the French Broad, and Satellite Gallery downtown, across from Black Mountain College Museum + Arts Center.
• The Mill Center in Hendersonville, which has given the public more opportunity for input than any project, ever, is reaping the benefits! Their new advisors are a remarkable group boasting experience and expertise with some of the finest arts centers in the country. Congratulations, Hendersonville.
— Connie Bostic
