Past Exhibits

Painted Lustre: The Cumbow China Decorating Company

Artists of Cumbow China Decorating Company of Abingdon transformed blank stoneware to lustrous pieces decorated with gold, silver or copper paint. Under the direction of Mabel Cumbow Ruskin, the company developed from a room above the owners’ kitchen in the 1930s to a travel destination on Main Street in the 1940s. The designs, inspired by historical ...

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Four Sculptors: Greg Bryson, Jon Mehlferber, Catherine Murray and Marvin Tadlock

This exhibition presents works by four of this region’s most innovative sculptors. Employing specific techniques in their applications of metal, polymers, stone and wood, these artists showcase their critical thinking and problem-solving skills through the material they use.

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Mountain Handiwork: The American Craft Revival in Virginia

America in the 1930s provided the perfect climate for change – in society, in industry and in art. In Southwest Virginia, the American Craft Revival encouraged work associated with the handicraft tradition: woven coverlets and quilts, hooked rugs, pottery, cornhusk dolls, and furniture. The Federal Arts Project Center in Big Stone Gap, Laura Copenhaver Industries, Cedar Bluff ...

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That Moment and This Moment: Installations by Marya Roland and Sayaka Suzuki

This exhibition brings together two innovative installation artists whose works explore the concept of time and express temporal themes. Marya Roland’s creation Ephyrian Circle approaches these themes via her use of the subject of the myth ...

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Second Nature: The Art of Suzanne Stryk

This solo exhibition will feature one of Southwest Virginia’s most prolific and longstanding artists. As an observer of nature, Stryk has focused on not only the physical and reality of nature, but also on how an artist conceptually communicates that reality.

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Sherwood Anderson and the American Modernists

This exhibition explores Anderson (1876-1941) and his connection to artists of the American scene during the 1920’s and 1930’s. It will measure the influence of modern American art on Anderson’s work and, in turn, his influence upon the artists with whom he associated and whose works he collected. This exhibit will include letters, biographical overviews, ...

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Legacy in Clay: Pottery of Washington County, Virginia

The story of 18th and 19th century potteries in Washington County relates to a larger legacy stretching from Europe to Pennsylvania and North Carolina. Families carried their pottery traditions to southwest Virginia, influencing each other. As potters trained, married, and relocated, they maintained certain aspects of established pottery production while developing new techniques. Potters pulled native ...

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From These Hills 2005: Contemporary Art in the Southern Appalachian Highlands

William King Regional Arts Center continues to celebrate the diversity of regional artistic talent with its biennial exhibition, From These Hills: Contemporary Art in the Southern Appalachian Highlands, a major exhibition of new works by artists working in all media in Southwest Virginia, Northeast Tennessee, Western North Carolina, ...

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Touch Me I’m Sick: Rock ‘n’ Roll Photographs by Charles Peterson

Touch Me I’m Sick features such bands as Nirvana, Mudhoney, Pearl Jam, Soundgarden, Hole, Black Flag, Fugazi, and Sonic Youth, among others. Like his recent book of the same name (taken from a Mudhoney songs), Touch Me I’m Sick

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Wish You Were Here: Postcards from the Blue Ridge & Riding the Lee Highway: Route 11 in Postcards

Since the late 1800s, travelers to the Blue Ridge Mountains have been sending postcards of everything from gigantic apples to town squares. This photographic legacy offers a unique view of western Virginia architecture, commerce, and scenic vistas. The Blue Ridge Institute and Museum created Wish You Were Here and Riding the Lee Highway, bringing together half ...

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