ASHEVILLE, NC.- The generosity of the Museum's Collectors’ Circle members and additional contributors enabled the Asheville Art Museum to acquire 25 new artworks for its Collection at the end of 2021. The Museum welcomes artworks created throughout the 20th and 21st centuries in a range of media by both regionally and nationally recognized artists. These artists include Peggy Bacon, Lynda Benglis, Sanford Biggers, Terry Haass, George Morrison, Robert Motherwell, Marilyn Pappas, David Stewart, Ansei Uchima, and Asheville-based Liz Williams.

A highlight of this year’s Collectors’ Circle acquisitions is a grouping of works by artists featured in the exhibition A Living Language: Cherokee Syllabary and Contemporary Art, on view at the Asheville Art Museum through March 14, 2022. This exhibition was co-organized with the Museum of the Cherokee Indian in Cherokee, NC. The curatorial team identified the 14 artworks by artists of the Cherokee Nation or Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians not yet represented in the Collection to augment not only the Museum’s contemporary holdings but also the holdings of Cherokee artists working today. Artists represented in this acquisition include John Henry Gloyne, Christopher McCoy, Tara McCoy, Rhiannon Skye Tafoya, Jakeli Swimmer, and Alica Murphy Wildcatt of the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians and Jeff Edwards, Kenny Glass, and Jennie Wilson of the Cherokee Nation. These artworks contribute directly to the Museum’s commitment to collecting from and supporting contemporary Indigenous artists, especially those with connections to the unceded land upon which the Museum sits. “Through a vibrant array of materials, colors, and perspectives, the Cherokee syllabary finds an evocative, contemporary form of expression at the hands of the artists in this exhibition,” said Assistant Curator Hilary Schroeder of this group of work. “There is a power in words, both written and spoken. I often find that power to be amplified in a work of art, when those words are placed in the context of composition, symbolism, and an artist’s intent.” Visit ashevilleart.org/exhibitions/a-living-language to learn more about this exhibition.

The Museum’s Collectors’ Circle is a specialized group formed to encourage the exchange of ideas and interests, art learning, connoisseurship, and collecting. The group supports the proactive development, stewardship, and conservation of the Museum’s Collection. The Museum is grateful for these new year-end acquisitions, which add to the strengths of its holdings, and looks forward to sharing them with the community of Western North Carolina and its visitors in the years to come.

The following 25 works have been acquired for the Museum's Collection:

Peggy Bacon, Day-Nursery, 1918, drypoint on paper, 6 × 8 inches. Museum purchase with funds provided by 2021 Collectors’ Circle member Susan Holden. © Estate of Peggy Bacon.

Lynda Benglis, Tandem Series #10, 1988, relief, hand-painted watercolor, monoprint on paper, 38 1/2 × 24 1/2 inches. Museum purchase with funds provided by 2021 Collectors’ Circle members Gary Greener & Bret McAllister. © Lynda Benglis.

Sanford Biggers, The Pasts They Brought With Them from The Floating Worlds series, 2013, paper collage and silkscreen with hand-coloring on rag paper, edition 29/30, publisher: LeRoy Neiman Center for Print Studies, 27 1/2 × 24 inches. Museum purchase with funds provided by 2021 Collectors’ Circle members Joey Gigliotti and Steven Gigliotti. © Sanford Biggers.

Featured in A Living Language: Cherokee Syllabary and Contemporary Art
Jeff Edwards, Speaking With Our Ancestors, 2013, archival inkjet print on paper, edition 7/50, 30 × 24 inches. Museum purchase with funds provided by 2021 Collectors’ Circle members Kevin Click & April Liou in memory of Myron E. Click. © Jeff Edwards.

Featured in A Living Language: Cherokee Syllabary and Contemporary Art
Jeff Edwards, Tsalagiopoly, 2013, archival inkjet print on paper, edition 6/50, 30 × 24 inches. Museum purchase with funds provided by 2021 Collectors’ Circle members Ladene & Russell Newton. © Jeff Edwards.

Featured in A Living Language: Cherokee Syllabary and Contemporary Art
Kenny Glass, ᏕᏣᎵᎬᏚᎴᏍᏗ ᎠᎴ ᏕᏣᎵᏴᏑᎴᏍᏗ (Wear Your Mask), 2020, seed beads, trade beads, brass beads, bias tape, thimbles, wool, and cotton, 42 × 14 1/2 × 5 inches. Museum purchase with funds provided by 2021 Collectors’ Circle members Ann & Jon Kemske. © Kenny Glass.

John Henry Gloyne, Osd nvwoti, 2020, acrylic on illustration board, 30 × 24 inches. Museum purchase with funds provided by 2021 Collectors’ Circle members Butch & Kathy Patrick. © John Henry Gloyne.

John Henry Gloyne, Uk’tena, 2020, acrylic on canvas, 24 × 24 × 1 1/2 inches. Museum purchase with funds provided by Ray Griffin & Thom Robinson. © John Henry Gloyne.

Terry Haass, Last Snow, 1949, color woodcut on paper, image: 14 ¼ × 10 5/8 inches. Museum purchase with funds provided by 2021 Collectors’ Circle member Susan Holden. © Estate of Terry Haass.

Featured in A Living Language: Cherokee Syllabary and Contemporary Art
Jody Bradley Lipscomb, A Meeting of Minds, 2020, acrylic on canvas, 10 × 30 inches. Museum purchase with funds provided by 2021 Collectors’ Circle members Ladene & Russell Newton. © Jody Bradley Lipscomb.

Featured in A Living Language: Cherokee Syllabary and Contemporary Art
Christopher McCoy, Resilient Times, 2021, non-glare acrylic on DiBond metallic print, 36 × 24 inches. Museum purchase with funds provided by Ray Griffin & Thom Robinson. © Christopher McCoy.




Featured in A Living Language: Cherokee Syllabary and Contemporary Art
Tara McCoy, Syllabary Pot, 2021, red earthen clay, 7 × 30 × 7 inches. Museum purchase with funds provided by 2021 Collectors’ Circle members Kevin Click & April Liou in memory of Myron E. Click. © Tara McCoy.

George Morrison, Untitled, 1958, gouache on paper, 17 × 22 inches. 2021 Collectors’ Circle purchase with additional funds provided by Bernadette & Miles Bender, Anne & Nat Burkhardt, Jeff & Linda Fromson, Frances Myers, Len & Mary Ellen Porter, Cherry & Paul Lentz Saenger, Judy Upjohn, Barbara & Mike Walker, and Jim Wilson & Lynne Poirier-Wilson. © Estate of George Morrison.

Robert Motherwell, Untitled from Lyric Suite, 1965, black ink with orange bleed on paper, 9 × 11 inches. 2021 Collectors’ Circle purchase with additional funds provided by Bernadette & Miles Bender, Anne & Nat Burkhardt, Jeff & Linda Fromson, Len & Mary Ellen Porter, Cherry & Paul Lentz Saenger, Judy Upjohn, and Jim Wilson & Lynne Poirier-Wilson. © Dedalus Foundation, Inc./Licensed by VAGA at Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York.

Robert Motherwell, Untitled from Lyric Suite, 1965, black ink with blue pigment and orange bleed on paper, 9 × 11 inches. 2021 Collectors’ Circle purchase with additional funds provided by Bernadette & Miles Bender, Anne & Nat Burkhardt, Jeff & Linda Fromson, Len & Mary Ellen Porter, Cherry & Paul Lentz Saenger, Judy Upjohn, and Jim Wilson & Lynne Poirier-Wilson. © Dedalus Foundation, Inc./Licensed by VAGA at Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York.

Marilyn Pappas, Seated Muse with Sphere from Fragments series, 1999, draped and stitched cotton on linen, 30 × 27 inches. Museum purchase with funds provided by 2021 Collectors’ Circle member Steven Gigliotti and Renee Danger James. © Marilyn Pappas.

Featured in A Living Language: Cherokee Syllabary and Contemporary Art
Rhiannon Skye Tafoya, Ul'nigid, 2020, letterpress on handmade and Colorplan paper with paper weaving, closed: 11 x 11 1/4 inches, assembled: 23 1/2 x 11 1/4 x 5 5/8 inches. Museum purchase with funds provided by 2021 Collectors’ Circle members Kevin Click & April Liou in memory of Myron Click. © Rhiannon Skye Tafoya.

David Stewart, Saint George and the Dragon, circa 1965, incised and glazed earthenware, 7 5/8 × 10 × 10 inches. Museum purchase with funds provided by 2021 Collectors’ Circle members Olivia & Gary Zahler. © David Stewart.

Featured in A Living Language: Cherokee Syllabary and Contemporary Art
Jakeli Swimmer, EGWA: The Gluttonous Warrior, 2020 (printed 2021), archival inkjet print on paper, edition 1/1, 20 x 16 inches. Museum purchase with funds provided by 2021 Collectors’ Circle members Kevin Click & April Liou in memory of Myron Click. © Jakeli Swimmer.

Featured in A Living Language: Cherokee Syllabary and Contemporary Art
Jakeli Swimmer, Missed Me!, 2020 (printed 2021), archival inkjet print on paper, edition 1/1, 20 x 16 inches. Museum purchase with funds provided by 2021 Collectors’ Circle members Kevin Click & April Liou in memory of Myron Click. © Jakeli Swimmer.

Ansei Uchima, Descending Moon, 1963, color woodcut on paper, edition: Artist proof, 16 × 4 3/4 inches. Museum purchase with funds provided by 2021 Collectors’ Circle member Lyn McFarland. © Estate of Ansei Uchima.

Featured in A Living Language: Cherokee Syllabary and Contemporary Art
Alica Murphy Wildcatt, Something Else necklace, 2020, hand-sawn sterling silver, 20-inch length chain. Museum purchase with funds provided by M. J. Teaford & R. K. Benites. © Alica Murphy Wildcatt.

Liz Williams, Know Your Worth from the Remember to Look Up series, 2020, inkjet archival print on paper, edition 1/10, 24 × 33 inches. Museum purchase with funds provided by 2021 Collectors’ Circle members Tom Butler & Marilyn Laufer in honor of Frances Myers and the Nat C. Myers Fund for Photography. © Liz Williams.

Featured in A Living Language: Cherokee Syllabary and Contemporary Art
Jennie Wilson, ᎣᏪᏅ Ꮢ ᎠᏐᏅ Ꮕ (owenvsv asonvnv), 2020, wood, gourds, cornhusks, fur, wire, sinew, and alcohol inks, 6 1/2 × 15 1/2 × 8 1/2 inches. Museum purchase with funds provided by 2021 Collectors’ Circle members Ladene & Russell Newton. © Jennie Wilson.

Featured in A Living Language: Cherokee Syllabary and Contemporary Art
Jennie Wilson, Cherokee Months, 2019, gourds, alcohol inks, copper leaf, and wood burning, 11 1/2 × 9 1/2 × 9 1/2 inches. Museum purchase with funds provided by 2021 Collectors’ Circle members Kevin Click & April Liou in memory of Myron Click. © Jennie Wilson.