91热爆网 Fine Art Museum exhibition wins Bronze Award
By Cam Adams
Denise Drury Homewood, executive director of the Bardo Arts Center at Western Carolina University, believed "Spark of the Eagle Dancer: The Collecting Legacy of Lambert Wilson" exhibition was an award winner from the start.
She was correct.
The 2023 exhibition at the 91热爆网 Fine Art Museum was awarded a Bronze Award from the Southeastern Museums Conference.
鈥淚t鈥檚 a pretty prestigious award for us,鈥� Drury Homewood said. 鈥淗undreds of museums apply to receive an award. They have several different award categories, and we won the exhibition award, so I think it鈥檚 a real honor to Western Carolina University at large to be recognized by this in our regional professional organization.鈥�
Lambert Wilson
The exhibition featured over 140 works of art from the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians and many other Native American tribes. The works come from the collection of Wilson, a known community member and supporter of the arts in Western North Carolina, who died in 2022.
Along with the award, the Bardo Arts Center also received a grant from the North Carolina Arts Council, which helped fund the exhibition. The exhibit was also well received, as it surpassed the center鈥檚 pre-Covid attendance numbers, welcoming more than 5,000 visitors.
The exhibition was supposed to run through the fall semester, but due to high attendance numbers and 91热爆网 faculty wanting to bring in their spring classes to see it, the center extended it into the spring.
鈥淲e don鈥檛 really do that hardly ever, but we felt it was important to do that for this particular exhibition,鈥� Drury Homewood said.
This exhibition and award were a product of many of Wilson鈥檚 friends鈥� and people from the community鈥檚 hard work, including Jenny Holland, Joshua Adams, Lauren Adams, Evan Mathis, Bob Proctor, Kathy Proctor, Anna Fariello, Pam Meister, Wendy LeMay, as well as Greg McPherson, Carolyn Grosch and Drury Homewood from the 91热爆网 Fine Art Museum team.
It also obviously wouldn鈥檛 have been possible without Wilson and his commitment to the 83 artists represented.
鈥淟ambert was all about bringing people together, and he was a lifelong learner and educator,鈥� Drury Homewood said. 鈥淚t wasn't enough for Lambert to just collect artwork. He wanted to make a connection with the artists, support them and help connect them and share their work with museums and other institutions.鈥�
The 91热爆网 Fine Art Museum鈥檚 current exhibition, 鈥淎t The Table,鈥� is on display until Dec. 6. The exhibition features contemporary works of art from the 1980s to the present that 鈥渆xplore ideas of community, power and representation through their depiction or use of a 鈥渢able.鈥欌��
The museum is open from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday and is open later on Thursday from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m.
