News

BRAHM sponsored a day-long field trip for Ms. Gandy's and Ms. Orr's 5th graders from Blowing Rock Elementary School to visit the Norman Rockwell exhibit at Discovery Place in Charlotte in April 2008. All of the participants enjoyed the "step back in time" as evidenced by the thank you notes received.

A joint and overlapping ad-hoc committee of BRAHM and the Blowing Rock Historical Society members has been meeting periodically since last fall to address issues about how the history of Blowing Rock and our immediate area will be told in the museum. BRAHM members who had previously visited the Museum of the Shenandoah Valley saw that the history and art museum in Winchester, Virginia, offered some interesting examples and good ideas, so an eight-member group returned for a visit in early April 2008.

Blowing Rock Art and History Museum members who attended the annual members' meeting the first week in June 2008 were treated to a spectacular 3-D view of the exterior of the structure. This was the first public showing of a media presentation that used computer animation to show the three-story building from a bird's-eye view.

The Blowing Rock Art and History Museum's (BRAHM) annual summer fundraising event once again drew hundreds of delighted patrons to events and venues in Blowing Rock in early August. The centerpiece of the benefit was a first-time art and antiques show held for three days in the Blowing Rock Elementary School gym. Twenty vendors brought their unique and special items to the show and nearly 850 people purchased tickets to gain entry into the transformed school gymnasium.

Edgewood Cottage, Elliott Daingerfield's first home and studio in Blowing Rock, is finally being reshaped after it was necessary to deconstruct the entire structure and replace the central floor beam to meet modern codes and standards. Watch for the renewed "old lady" to blossom by spring!

The Blowing Rock Art & History Museum (BRAHM) is thrilled to have recently received a gift of 26 pieces of pottery to the permanent collection from Leo and Elizabeth Kohn of Charlotte.

While BRAHM is very pleased to welcome two new board members, Teresa Caine and Norma S. Suddreth, we also say goodbye to long-time board member, Cullie Tarleton, who was elected our state representative for Watauga and Ashe counties and has stepped down from the board due to a demanding legislative calendar.

One Thursday in mid-February, a dozen friends caravanned to Winston-Salem to rendezvous with other like-minded individuals and spend a day increasing their knowledge of both art and history. Stops included the Reynolda House, Museum of American Art to see the acclaimed Grandma Moses Exhibition and the Museum of Early Southern Decorative Arts (MESDA) in Old Salem.

The Blowing Rock Art and History Museum will make a special gift to the Village this summer that will enhance the visual beauty of Main Street as well as underscore the long history of Blowing Rock as a welcoming place for art and artists. BRAHM has commissioned North Carolina artist Robert Johnson to create a mural for the Capel Building that will depict the nature that surrounds us.

These etchings were a gift from Mariam Cannon Hayes in the very earliest days of the formation of the museum and are a significant component of the museum's foundational collection.