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The Arts Cure
Written By: Teresa Osborn | Issue: 2020/06 - June
The Bascom has remained mission-focused throughout the challenges and limitations of recent events, adapting to create visual art experiences that inspire and empower individuals and communities through seeing, thinking, and doing.
Mary Ann Carter of the National Endowment for the Arts has stated that “the arts provide comfort, resilience, wisdom, and the means for self-expression and connection, perhaps even more so during challenging times such as these.”
This sentiment only strengthens The Bascom’s resolve to continue to bring the arts to our community during this time of disruption and change.
We’ve been able to offer three digital versions of exhibitions in our galleries through virtual tours, curator talks, and digital artist highlights. Recently, the exhibition Narrative/Abstraction/Iteration, curated by former Penland School of Craft Executive Director Jean McLaughlin, was released as a virtual tour. The exhibition and virtual tour highlight the work of 19 women artists in celebration of the 100th anniversary of the 19th Amendment. Ms. McLaughlin enlightens us with her perspective regarding the work of these artists.
“Through The Bascom’s exhibition program, we are able to look at the ways in which 19 women are now leading creative lives,’ she says. “Our 19 women, chosen from among many others, embody freedoms inherited from those who fought for our right to vote. They have been able to pursue meaningful careers of their choice, and choose where and how they live in no small part because of this anniversary we acknowledge. We have all felt, throughout the planning of this exhibition, that we also want to reflect upon the progress we have yet to make. Too many women throughout the world have few of the rights we now enjoy, and too many barriers still exist to full equality for women in our own country.”
To view all of The Bascom’s virtual exhibition tours, please follow us on Facebook and Instagram and subscribe to our YouTube channel, The Bascom: A Center for the Visual Arts, or, visit our website, thebascom.org.
