Discover Black Mountain's 'Emerging Artists'
Black Mountain Center for the Arts exhibit to feature local art students
Jessica Klarp
Guest contributor
The Valley Echo
February 26, 2021
The Black Mountain Center for the Arts “Emerging Artists” exhibit will be open in the Upper Gallery from March 5 - 26. The work of renowned wildlife artist Bob Travers and 16 of his students will be featured in the display. Photo courtesy of BMCA
The Black Mountain Center for the Arts will proudly display the work of artist and instructor Bob Travers and his students in the annual “Emerging Artists” exhibit. This will be the 15th consecutive year the group show has been featured in the Upper Gallery.
The show opens Friday, March 5 and runs through Friday, March 26. Due to ongoing gathering limits and social distancing concerns, there will be no artists reception but the show will be available for free online viewing anytime through the BMCA website or in person Monday through Friday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.
The “Emerging Artists” show was the last public event at BMCA prior to the pandemic-related closure in 2020. At the time Travers had about 24 students some of whom had been meeting once a week with the instructor for the past 15 years.
“It’s hard to create art during a pandemic,” Travers said. “We were out for 6 months and many of us lost the passion to create. For me, when you don’t have anything to work towards, you go into a sort of limbo. There is such a sense of community we’ve created here in this little studio, there is so much camaraderie, and that was just gone. It was very difficult.”
“If I'm not taking a class, I’m not creating,” longtime student Sandy Harris said. “I’m so happy to be back.”
During the shut down, the staff at BMCA cleared everything out of the art classroom, deep cleaned and re-painted everything a clean, welcoming white, a project there was suddenly time and space to complete. HEPA filters were purchased, space was reconfigured and calculated for proper distancing, and as soon as it was feasible, in August, Travers sent out an email to all his students. His expectations were low, so the response surprised him.
Right away 16 students were eager to get back to the canvas.
“I’m very cautious,” Travers said. “And I’m ready for this to be over, but I want to be there for my students and clearly they want to be here as well. We are doing everything possible to stay safe and still meet in-person. We’ve limited class size to 4 students instead of 7 or 8 and the positive outcome is I have more time to offer individual attention.”
“I’m really looking forward to this show,” he continued. “The work is really strong and more students are working on larger pieces.”
Travers is a nationally recognized wildlife artist whose career has spanned over 30 years in the fields of fine art and illustration. He is versed in a wide array of mediums, styles and subject matter, with the goal of guiding students in the mediums that inspire them including in acrylics, watercolor, oil, scratch board, colored pencil, charcoal, and pastel.
As with “Emerging Artists” exhibits in the past, Traver’s work is front and center. This year he will be featuring “Legacy,” a 4-foot-by-5-foot tribute painting of a famous wild mustang named Picasso who is assumed to have passed this year. Another work of a charming bear cub is called “The Lookout.”
Additionally, the work of 16 students in a wide range of skill levels and mediums will be on display.
The Black Mountain Center for the Arts is located at 225 West State Street. The Upper Gallery is free and open to the public Monday through Friday 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. To view the show online go to blackmountainarts.org and click on the gallery link. For questions call 828-669-0930.