Asheville Art Museum

The Asheville Art Museum is the only community based nonprofit visual art organization in Western North Carolina (WNC) and is Accredited by the American Association of Museums. Its vision is to transform lives through art. The mission statement of the Museum is to engage, enlighten and inspire individuals and enrich community through dynamic experiences in American art of the 20th and 21st centuries. The Museum is located on the center square of downtown Asheville, 2 South Pack Square at Pack Place. The Museum is open Tuesday through Saturday 10:00 am to 5:00 pm, Friday 10:00 am to 8:00 pm, and Sunday 1:00 pm to 5:00 pm. http://www.ashevilleart.org The official Asheville Art Museum website]

The Asheville Art Museum presents an active schedule of exhibitions and public programs based on its permanent collection of 20th and 21st century American art. Special exhibitions allow the Museum to feature renowned regional and national artists. In addition, the Museum showcases works of significance to Western North Carolina’s cultural heritage including Studio Craft, Black Mountain College and Cherokee artists. The Museum also offers a wide array of educational programs for children and adults.

History

Incorporated in 1948, the Asheville Art Museum celebrates its 60th anniversary in 2008. The original home was a three-room building on Charlotte Street, once the land sales office of E.W. Grove, developer of the Grove Park Inn. By 1950, the Museum had become an established part of the city’s cultural life, and it began acquiring a permanent collection. Quickly, the collection outgrew its home, and the Museum moved to donated space on the 15th floor of the Northwest Bank, now the BB&T building. Forced to move in 1970, the Museum purchased property in the Montford Area Historic District of Asheville. A first full-time Director was hired, and exhibitions became more regional in scope. Programming and attendance expanded, but the aging 40-year-old building presented problems. When plans for the Asheville Civic Center were announced in 1972, the Museum Board accepted an invitation to be one of the three cultural agencies in the center. In 1976, the Museum opened a convert|9000|sqft|m2|sing=on facility in the Civic Center. In 1984, the Asheville Art Museum became one of few of its size to be accredited by the American Association of Museums. In 1992, the Museum opened in a 1925 Italian Renaissance style building with contemporary additions that was once a library. That facility includes convert|12000|sqft|m2 of space at Pack Place in the heart of downtown Asheville. A modest capital expansion, completed in 1999, added space from Pack Place and the adjacent Legal Building, creating new classroom and studio facilities, an art library, a teacher resource center, a community gallery and a new entrance. The Museum now occupies convert|24400|sqft|m2 of space. [http://www.thelaurelofasheville.com/0708/index.php "60 Years Young: The AAM celebrates six decades of success and makes a birthday wish for many more." July 2008. The Laurel of Asheville, page 100.]

Exhibitions and Collections

The Museum has established its expertise in the collection, preservation, and interpretation of American art beginning in the 20th century and in all aspects of public programming, making innovative and outstanding exhibition experiences available to residents of and visitors to Western North Carolina. The Museum preserves important aspects of our national and regional heritage through strategic collecting and the conscientious stewardship of great works of art. The collection, containing more than 2,000 works in all media, is the only such resource in the region. The Museum annually presents 16-18 exhibitions drawing from the permanent collection and borrowed works. In addition, the Museum has curated projects focusing on themes of contemporary interest and has invited internationally acclaimed curators to contribute their skills.

Education

The Museum’s highly acclaimed in-house education programs include Studio Art, Math and Literacy school tours, family workshops, summer and winter art camps and After School Art Adventure. The Museum also presents a variety of outstanding educational programs that enrich life for adults of all backgrounds. Travel programs, independent films, concerts, gallery and artist talks, lectures and volunteer experiences are developed with the Museum’s many partners. In accordance with its mission, the Museum provides leadership in the visual arts and educational reform through its work with the community to enrich educational opportunities for residents of and visitors to WNC.The Museum’s programs engage diverse audiences of all ages in active exploration of themselves – their past and future – and their communities, through interpretation of American art since the beginning of the 20th century. Committed to being a vital force in the community and individual development, the Museums’ focus is on lifelong learning through the visual arts for all audiences from pre-school children to senior citizens.

Honors and Achievements

In recent years the Museum has received many prestigious awards that recognize excellence in programming. They include:

• National Endowment for the Arts exhibition support 2004, 2006 and 2007.

• MetLife Foundation Museums Connection grant for smART speak, 2007.

• The only art museum chosen nationwide to participate in the National Endowment for the Arts pilot program "Summer Schools in the Arts", 2004 and 2005

• NC Arts Council Learning Audiences grant recipient, one of seven statewide projects, 2002 and 2004.

• A second re-accreditation award by the American Association of Museums

• Asheville Chamber of Commerce Sky High Growth Award, 1998, 1999, 2003, 2004 and 2007.

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