'Break-or-MAKE' year inspires powerful exhibit
Black Mountain Center for the Arts show represents family’s response to a turbulent 2020
Jessica Klarp
The Valley Echo
November 5, 2020
Work by Lara Nguyen, faculty member at Warren Wilson College and co-owner Stone Cloud Studio in Asheville, will be featured with sculptures from her husband Todd Frahm and their children Atticus and Moon in Break-or-MAKE. The show will be featured in the Upper Gallery in the Black Mountain Center for the Arts through Nov. 24. Photo courtesy of BMCA
The Black Mountain Center for the Arts is welcoming the work of painter and Warren Wilson faculty Lara Nguyen, sculptor Todd Frahm and their children Atticus and Moon to the Upper Gallery for a family show titled Break-or-MAKE. The show runs through Tuesday, Nov. 24 and opens from 3 - 5 p.m., Saturday, Nov. 7, with a limited in-person reception.
Guests are asked to wear masks and enter through the front door on State Street before being allowed access to the Upper Gallery. There will be distanced socialization on the back patio after guests have viewed the show.
Nguyen and Frahm are artists and co-owners of Stone Cloud Studio (SCS) in Asheville. SCS is a collaborative venture that couples the talents of Nguyen and Frahm, while holding public art as a primary focus. The couple has completed large-scale public works nationally and internationally. But, in a scenario now familiar to millions of people, work got put on hold and the focus shifted when the COVID-19 crisis hit. 2020 has been a challenging year for a number of reasons, including Nguyen’s recent cancer diagnosis.
“Outside, there is a global pandemic, climate change, and polarizing politics,” says Nguyen. “Inside, there is our family of four working out the business of living through this moment with a terminal cancer diagnosis. While it may seem like everything is a make-or-break moment lately, we are flipping the script and using art to survive this time.”
Break or MAKE is the family’s response to all of it.
“We wanted to take this opportunity to create an exhibition not driven by the art, but driven by the art life,” she said.
Part of the show’s statement reads: “Stone Cloud Studio has always been about our family making art... We are always grateful to be making art our life’s work, and we are grateful to see art at work in our children.”
At age 4, Atticus inquired, “Can a goldfish live in a water balloon?” At the same age, Moon also inquired: “Mama, who will cover me when I am dead?”
Between life and death, between the absurd and the heartbreaking, the family chose to make art, sharing their stories in hopes of creating opportunities for greater empathy. All they have is this moment and they wanted to do something together.
Todd Frahm and his wife Lara Nguyen, who was diagnosed with cancer earlier this year, are focusing on living fully in the moment in their exhibit, Break-or-MAKE. The show, which will include work by the couple and their children, Atticus and Moon, opens with a socially distant reception on Nov. 7 in the Upper Gallery of the Black Mountain Center for the Arts. Photo courtesy of BMCA
Break-or-MAKE asks us to see art as a way to freeze time, separate from the crises inside and outside our homes, and live in this moment. In living more fully in the moment, we may be better able to pay attention and care for our planet and each other.
In this body of work, Frahm explores our relationship to animals and the environment and advocates for its protection: “Through metaphor, I attempt to cultivate seeds of responsibility for and stewardship of the natural world.”
Nguyen’s work ranges in media and formats including painting, drawing, murals, installation, and performance. This work, especially her collaborations with her children, focuses on her wish to stop time. Her cancer diagnosis has also increased her sense of urgency around art.
“Access to art is extremely important to me,” she said. “I want to contribute to a living and breathing museum for anyone and everyone, no matter their age, country of origin, or socio-economic situation. Art is for all.”
The Black Mountain Center for the Arts is located at 225 West State Street. The Upper Gallery is free and open 10 a.m. - 5 p.m., Monday-Friday. For more information about the show and Nov. 7 reception, call 828-669-0930.