Black Mountain College
I enjoyed seeing the tangible outcomes of these monetary limitations through Anni Albers bobby-pin necklace, which elevated a ubiquitous, rational object, through repetition and appropriation, to a higher form of adornment.
The students at Black Mountain College were exposed
to an immensely diverse array of ideas. This wasn’t only attributed to the extra-curricular work programs or Bauhaus pedagogies, but to the impressive diversity of students and faculty (impressive especially in a small town in North Carolina). Due to the political landscape around WW II, there was a large migration of free-thinking artists and designers fleeing Europe and looking for creative communities. Black Mountain College became home to some who, in turn, created a microcosm of diverse, worldly ideas. As the school’s reputation for diversity increased, it attracted guest lecturers like Buckminster Fuller who, having recently invented the geodesic dome, taught summer courses on experimental modern architecture. I loved reading that frugality led him to attempt a structure with Venetian blinds. And I loved even more that it was a huge flop, and that he waited until the following year to construct a successful self-supporting pavilion.
This was perhaps my favorite aspect of the school—
abandonment of the fear of failure—and the most compelling evidence for me that this school was a success, despite only existing for twenty-four years. At Black Mountain College, musicians began for the first time experimenting with atonal melodies; dancers explored and invented an entirely new category of dance; and painters pushed the bounds of aesthetics, laying the groundwork for a new movement in art. The wildness of all this—the shocking work that was being created by the students—truly astounded me. But it also left me wanting more from the exhibition. I wanted to see into the professors’ minds and hear what their feedback was toward this radical work. I wanted to know if the “newness” of this art was truly planned for (or anticipated) by the professors. I was also curious to know if the ramifications of
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