Romare Bearden: Ways of Working at the Asheville Art Museum

Posted on by The Wandering Art Historian

Romare Bearden: Ways of Working at the Asheville Art Museum in North Carolina is an apt title for this exhibition that I highly recommend, especially to those art enthusiasts who also consider themselves artists or creatives. File this exhibition under “small but mighty” because while it showcases only a few of Romare Bearden’s works, it acts as an informative introduction to the many techniques he used throughout his career. While Bearden is probably best known for his collage work, this exhibition highlights his spirit of inventiveness in the art-making process that, as an artist who struggles with creative inspiration, I found to be wildly inspiring!

Here are just a few of the techniques Romare Bearden utilized…

Etching with hand coloring in watercolor.

Lithograph.

Rainbow roll etching.

Top: print; Bottom: plate
Relief print utilizing a white glue matrix.

This is the piece that haunts me! Bearden used white glue from a bottle to “draw” on a collagraph plate. When the glue dried, the plate was inked and a print was made. In these photos you see the top image is the print with the inked plate framed below it. The second image shows a detail of the plate.

Watercolor.

Screenprint.

OK, artists… were you inspired to try something new? Creatives, were you challenged to attempt a new technique in your art-making process? Let me know your thoughts in the comments below!

Romare Bearden: Ways of Working is on view now through January 2024 at the Asheville Art Museum. For more information on this exhibition, please visit the following link…

Romare Bearden

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I am writer and artist with a degree in art history who loves to talk to people about art. I have spent the last seven years building up The Wandering Art Historian “brand” as a way to connect with people who want to learn more about art. I give lectures and presentations and teach classes and host book club discussions with a creative or artistic connection. I also write about local artists, events, museums, and exhibitions to promote the arts in Central Florida. In 2021, I had a creative crisis. I struggled with authenticity in the art making process. I decided to make myself vulnerable and find out what a real, genuine Adrienne H. Lee artwork would look like. The process was challenging and emotional and revelatory. I learned that if necessity is the mother of invention, then authenticity is the mother of reinvention. I reinvented myself and learned an entirely new medium. The resulting artwork surprised me, and it will surprise you, too. Some people wish for a fairytale ending. For me, the fairy tale is only the beginning.