'Check This Out!' set to open at Black Mountain Center for the Arts

Black Mountain Public Library partnership brings community catalog card exhibit

Jessica Klarp
Guest contributor
The Valley Echo
February 8, 2022

“Check This Out! A Card Catalog Community Art Show,” a partnership between the Black Mountain Center for the Arts and Black Mountain Public Library, will open with a Feb. 11 reception. Photo courtesy of BMCA

The outpouring of submissions for “Check This Out! A Card Catalog Community Art Show” has been beautiful, creative and diverse, just what would be expected from our creative community. The show is a partnership between the Black Mountain Center for the Arts and the Black Mountain Public Library, which celebrates its 100th anniversary this year.

The public is invited to an opening reception, from 4 - 6:30 p.m., Friday, Feb. 11, in the Upper Gallery of the BMCA. The show runs through Friday, Feb. 25. The Upper Gallery is free and open to the public Monday through Friday, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Sponsored by Chifferobe Home and Garden, the Black Mountain Library and BMCA,  Check This Out! is a community-wide effort started with 400 old, paper catalog cards, which were once the backbone of the library’s organizational system, but have long been replaced by computer tracking systems. The obsolete cards were distributed in a variety of locations to anyone who wanted to participate by using the card to create a work of art.

There were a few parameters, such as limiting the size of the submission to 12 inches and that the work be two-dimensional and able to be displayed on the wall. This allowed a great deal of freedom, and the results are spectacular.

Some participants used the beautiful, yellowed-with-age card itself as a canvas, while others turned to the information on the card for inspiration in their imagery. Some of the entries featured cards cut cut into pieces and reworked into something else altogether.

Each work is as unique as the card.

The Arts Center invited a handful of artists to submit works, while at the same time encouraging everyone in the community to be inspired to create on a card. For instance, a beautiful card was submitted by a woman from Asheville who was spending the day visiting downtown Black Mountain. She wandered into the Arts Center, learned about the show and took a blank card over to the Dripolator Coffeehouse and used the title of the card to inspire a detailed pencil sketch she created while sipping her coffee.

Students in Bob Traver’s drawing and painting class took a pause from their work to submit thoughtful, colorful cards. Some excellent work came from outside of Black Mountain by interested creatives who learned about the show through the library system.

Check This Out! is a fundraiser for these two organizations that help make Black Mountain a rich and special community. Proceeds from the sale of artwork will go to support the library and Arts Center.

The Black Mountain Center for the Arts is located at 225 West State Street. For more information visit blackmountainarts.org or call 828-669-0930.