Past Exhibition

A Process of Learning: Educating the Avant-Garde at Black Mountain College

February 4–May 27, 2016

TJC Gallery, Spartanburg, SC 29306

About the Exhibition

Secluded in the Blue Ridge Mountains of North Carolina, an experimental liberal arts college offered an Arcadian environment where artists, musicians, dancers, poets, and intellectuals could engage in a collaborative creative exchange and embrace the democratic principles of the progressive education movement. Operating between the years 1933 and 1957, Black Mountain College rejected traditional curricula in favor of hands-on, interdisciplinary courses centered on the arts. The school’s faculty included luminaries of the burgeoning modern art scene—groundbreaking teachers who encouraged independent thinking and innovative experiences. Featuring works by a diverse roster of Black Mountain College participants such as Josef and Anni Albers, Ilya Bolotowsky, Joseph Fiore, Robert Motherwell, Kenneth Noland, Theodoros Stamos, and Jack Tworkov, A Process of Learning explores the intersections, dialogues, and rivalries that occurred between faculty and students.