Our “Evening with an Artist” series events bring artists and community members to BRAC for a casual discussion and/or demonstration in a small group setting. Light refreshments will be served. Guests are able to view and discuss work directly with the artist.
“The Work of John Acorn”
An Evening with Artist John Acorn
Sunday, January 4 ~ 5:00-until
Recommended Donation: $15
Join us at Blue Ridge Arts Center for “An Evening with the Art of John Acorn”, beginning at 5:00pm on Sunday, January 4th. Sandy Rupp, owner of Hampton III Gallery, will lead the conversation, sharing insights about John and his lifetime of artwork. Sandy offers extensive knowledge about John’s art and the stories behind many of the pieces featured in this show.
This will be a wine & cheese evening.
Doors open at 4:45pm. Presentation starts at 5pm. Please RSVP to help us plan. This event is free and open to the public, but a $15 donation is appreciated. Click here to RSVP.
About John Acorn
“John Acorn is considered one the South’s most progressive 20th-century sculptors. In 1961, he received his MFA degree from Cranbrook Academy of Art. For 36 years, from 1961 to 1997), he was a professor of sculpture and basic design in the College of Architecture at Clemson University, South Carolina. Upon retirement, he became a Professor Emeritus. In 1998, he was honored with the Elizabeth O’Neill Verner Award, the “highest honor the state gives in the arts,” from the South Carolina Arts Commission. Teaching at one of the top ten colleges of Architecture in the nation, Acorn influenced artists and architects who now practice all over the US and abroad.” – Sandy Rupp
Comments by John Acorn, taken from the catalog of his exhibition at the Greenville County Art Museum, 1999:
“I’ve always done artwork in series. And in doing piecs in series, one image suggests another. I am simply the person who gives them form, some kind of reality, some kind of material sense, so that I can share them with someone else. Once you start with something that interests you, it generates its own momentum; it kind of makes itself.
“I don’t look for ideas. People talk about going on the Internet and getting information. I have always thought that the information that interests me the most is the information that I am in contact with in just my daily routine. It is first-hand experience; it’s not second-hand information.
“I have stacks of news magazines, and when I am either tired or disinterested, I’ll sit down, zip through them, and if an image occurs that somehow rings a bell, kicks me in the head, such as the camouflage man suit, I’ll tear that page out. So, I have a stack of papers that are torn out that sit in cardboard boxes and, every once in awhile, I’ll look at them again.”
