Black Mountain Center for the Arts hosts Fred Feldman retrospective
Show featuring mixed media artist’s work opens July 8
Jessica Klarp
Special to The Valley Echo
July 1, 2020
The work of mixed media artist Fred Feldman will be featured in an exhibit at the Black Mountain Center for the Arts beginning July 8. Photo courtesy of Fred Feldman
The Black Mountain Center for the Arts welcomes the art of Fred Feldman to the Upper Gallery beginning Wednesday, July 8. The show will feature more than 20 of Feldman’s distinctive mixed media pieces representing 60 years of productivity. From pottery to wall hangings to pen and ink, the viewer will be treated to a wide range of objects and body parts embedded in these whimsical works.
The display will be Arts Center’s newest show since slowly reopening in mid-June. Feldman’s work is a fitting exhibit, considering the artist was a fixture in the BMCA Clay Studio for many years; his work has been part of many December Clay Studio Exhibits and other group shows in the Upper Gallery. Countless children have been soothed by sitting in the tiny Fred Feldman rocking chair that was in the BMCA lobby for at least a decade. The vibrant, upbeat nature of his work feels appropriate for the re-emergence.
Feldman’s pieces are as idiosyncratic as the artist himself: multi-layered, spontaneous, colorful, smart, humorous and thoughtful. He works from his home studio and makes his art from wood, clay, pen-and-ink and mixed media, including found objects.
“I almost always listen to music when in my studio,” Feldman said. “I like Willie (Nelson) and Waylon (Jennings), Kris (Kristofferson) — with or without Rita (Coolidge) — genuine blues men like Freddie King, blues women like Alberta Hunter and Bonnie Raitt and the music of the 50s, like Clyde Mc Fadder and the Drifters. My artwork reflects that background, as I experiment—my wife would say ‘play’— with a variety of materials. I have a special attraction to found objects, particularly items seen as useless by others, and to the juxtaposition of texture and color.”
Feldman is a professional artist who has lived in Black Mountain for the past 13 years. He earned his undergraduate degree in Fine Arts at Rutgers University in his native New Jersey. He studied art at the graduate level at SUNY Oswego, Syracuse University and the Danish craft school Det Dankse Selskab, taking art therapy courses at Salve Regina College. A Fulbright award enabled him to study art in Belgium, the Netherlands and Luxembourg.
Feldman has taught art at both the high school and college levels and served as a consultant to the New York State Department of Education. Reflecting his life-long interest and involvement in stereo equipment, to the Ohm speaker company, the show will feature a speaker that appears to be a chair, “but is not to be sat on,” according to his wife Lynda.
Feldman’s work can also be found at Seven Sisters Gallery, the Old Depot and Filo Pastries. The BMCA show is generously sponsored by Tyson Furniture.
“I like my work to be accessible and price it accordingly,” Feldman said.
Proceeds from this show will benefit Black Mountain Center for the Arts, located at 225 West State Street.
The Upper Gallery is free and open to the public from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., Monday through Friday. For more information please visit blackmountainarts.org or call 828-669-0930.