Willard’s Wonderings & Watauga Wanderings is a special program series hosted by BRAHM’s Programs & Outreach Director Willard Watson III. At each session, Willard will be joined by fascinating individuals working in riveting jobs throughout the High Country. Join us for an engrossing conversation about the place we live in & love.

This program is presented free to the public through the generosity of the Bryant and Nancy Hanley Foundation.

Thomas McLamb is an experimental guitarist with a background in punk, hardcore, noise, and ambient sound design. His approach to music, combining both guitars and synthesizers, is inspired by other experimental guitar players like Derek Bailey, Jim O'Rourke, and Thurston Moore, as well as avant-garde composers like Roland Kayn, Morton Subotnick, and Éliane Radigue. 

Take a moment for tea, for contemplation, for art, and for community. Artist Eric Seritella will perform a traditional Chinese tea ceremony to a soundtrack provided by pipa virtuoso Min Xiao-Fen. Complimentary tea and treats from Happy Persimmon will be provided at the event. 

Ever wonder what makes an artist tick? From where do they get their inspirations? How do their life experiences translate into great works of art? And how do they make art with a message that matters?

A lively, humorous and articulate speaker, artist Eric Serritella shares his journey in “Mind Into Matter,” a PowerPoint presentation filled with images that bring his story to life.

In this concert, Jordan Korzelius and Jasper Sonkiss will present a program of forgotten
or otherwise obscure classical music in hopes of exposing it to a new audience.

On Sunday, January 25, Bistro Roca suffered a tragic fire that razed the historic restaurant and bar to the ground. A staple of the High Country and the Oldest Bar in North Carolina, Bistro Roca provided us all with countless memories, fun times, and delicious meals over the decades. 

The BRAHM is honoring the legacy of Bistro Roca through listening days held on February 12, 19, and 21. At each Listening Day, we will host stations for the public to record a message about their time there, and give words of support to the team that makes the restaurant so special. Guests will sign up for 30 minutes at a station and will be led through the conversation by a staff member or volunteer. Questions will be provided to help facilitate sharing.

Our hearts are with the staff, as they look to the future with shock and financial uncertainty. The Blowing Rock Chamber of Commerce has started a fundraiser to assist the staff of Bistro Roca in this time of transition, as they begin plans to rebuild the restaurant and reopen in the future.

On Sunday, January 25, Bistro Roca suffered a tragic fire that razed the historic restaurant and bar to the ground. A staple of the High Country and the Oldest Bar in North Carolina, Bistro Roca provided us all with countless memories, fun times, and delicious meals over the decades. 

The BRAHM is honoring the legacy of Bistro Roca through listening days held on February 12, 19, and 21. At each Listening Day, we will host stations for the public to record a message about their time there, and give words of support to the team that makes the restaurant so special. Guests will sign up for 30 minutes at a station and will be led through the conversation by a staff member or volunteer. Questions will be provided to help facilitate sharing.

Our hearts are with the staff, as they look to the future with shock and financial uncertainty. The Blowing Rock Chamber of Commerce has started a fundraiser to assist the staff of Bistro Roca in this time of transition, as they begin plans to rebuild the restaurant and reopen in the future.

On Sunday, January 25, Bistro Roca suffered a tragic fire that razed the historic restaurant and bar to the ground. A staple of the High Country and the Oldest Bar in North Carolina, Bistro Roca provided us all with countless memories, fun times, and delicious meals over the decades. 

The BRAHM is honoring the legacy of Bistro Roca through listening days held on February 12, 19, and 21. At each Listening Day, we will host stations for the public to record a message about their time there, and give words of support to the team that makes the restaurant so special. Guests will sign up for 30 minutes at a station and will be led through the conversation by a staff member or volunteer. Questions will be provided to help facilitate sharing.

Our hearts are with the staff, as they look to the future with shock and financial uncertainty. The Blowing Rock Chamber of Commerce has started a fundraiser to assist the staff of Bistro Roca in this time of transition, as they begin plans to rebuild the restaurant and reopen in the future.

Join us for a free screening of the 2012 award-winning documentary Bending Sticks: the Sculpture of Patrick Dougherty A film by Penelope Maunsell and Kenny Dalsheimer.

BRAHM invites performers to respond to our exhibitions in a new program series we are calling Called to Response.

Join BRAHM as we celebrate the opening of Patrick Dougherty: Pilgrimage. Patrick will be in the gallery answering questions about the work that he has completed throughout his successful career, and in this premier exhibition at the Museum.

BRAHM invites performers to respond to our exhibitions in a new program series we are calling Called to Response.

We hope you'll join us on Thursday October 23 at 11 am when BRAHM's curator Ian Gabriel Wilson will be in conversation with Pam McKay, guest curator of the exhibition Arlee Mains: A Life in Watauga. We will learn about Arlee, her relationship with Pam, and what it is about Arlee's paintings that still captivate us today. About the exhibit 

Join us for an in-depth look at one of BRAHM’s most ambitious exhibitions yet: “Daingerfield and the Tonalist Instinct.” We feature extraordinary works by Blowing Rock’s own Elliott Daingerfield, including some from private collections that have rarely been seen publicly, as well as works borrowed from major museums.

In 2018, Dr. Eric Plaag gave a talk at BRAHM about the August 1940 Flood, highlighting that it was only a matter of time before another similar event devastated Watauga County. Just six years later, Hurricane Helene crippled Western North Carolina, including Boone and Watauga County, causing millions of dollars in local damage and displacing hundreds of local families. 

Join App State’s Dr. Neva J. Specht for an in-depth look at Camp Catawba. This presentation will highlight founder Vera Lachmann’s vision for the camp, stories about their adventures, and the importance of the camp to the attendees as they became adults.

Join BRAHM’s Curator of Exhibitions & Collections, Gabe Wilson, for a special evening we’re calling Cocktails with the Curator. Patrons can expect one part gallery tour, two part conversation, and a splash of cocktail party.

The premier of a suite of modern classical music inspired by Jack Boul’s paintings will be held at the Blowing Rock Art and History Museum on September 27 at 4 pm. After the concert, visitors are invited to tour the exhibition of Boul’s paintings. This inaugural concert will be performed by the Faculty Ensemble of the Hayes School of Music at Appalachian State University and is open to the public.

Join BRAHM’s Curator of Exhibitions & Collections, Gabe Wilson, for a special evening we’re calling Cocktails with the Curator. Patrons can expect one part gallery tour, two part conversation, and a splash of cocktail party.

Join us for an in-depth look at one of BRAHM’s most ambitious exhibitions yet: “Daingerfield and the Tonalist Instinct.” We feature extraordinary works by Blowing Rock’s own Elliott Daingerfield, including some from private collections that have rarely been seen publicly, as well as works borrowed from major museums.

On September 27, 2024 Hurricane Helene rocked the High Country. In the days and weeks that followed the 

BRAHM is hosting a community listening day for people to share their experiences of Hurricane Helene and its aftermath. There will be four recording stations set up in the museum with opportunities to share your stories from 10 am - 1 pm. Segments of the interviews will be broadcasted on WFDD radio station in the two weeks following the event.

Places can be inspiring, and Western North Carolina boasts quite a few.  Nestled in the mountains in Blowing Rock, Camp Catawba, a summer camp operating between 1945 and 1970, inspired its founder, Vera Lachmann, and her partner, Tui St. George Tucker, in a variety of ways. A poem Lachmann wrote for Tucker expresses that for them, Catawba is “more magnificent than imagination.”

Executive Director of the garden Adrienne Roethling spends as much time as possible on the grounds of the Paul J. Ciener Botanical Garden. Which fascinates visitors with its Moravian quilt-style raised kitchen garden beds, more than 20,000 tulip bulbs, and more than 15 different themed gardens.. Nearby on the historic Reynolda Mile, her husband, Jon Roethling, leads the Reynolda Gardens as its director, the namesake formal gardens left behind by Katharine Reynolds, wife of tobacco baron R.J. Reynolds. Here, Jon nurtures the colorful and lush plant life that includes more than 300 rose bushes, Japanese weeping cherry trees, and all that grows inside the 1913 formal greenhouse. As spring blooms, join us as we dig into their love story.

Join us for an in-depth look at one of BRAHM’s most ambitious exhibitions yet: “Daingerfield and the Tonalist Instinct.” We feature extraordinary works by Blowing Rock’s own Elliott Daingerfield, including some from private collections that have rarely been seen publicly, as well as works borrowed from major museums.

From beer and kombucha to hot sauce and kimchi, fermented foods and drinks are everywhere. Though it once might have felt like a fleeting trend, fermentation has a long culinary history, especially in the southern United States, where the hotter climate and agricultural tradition of the region helped foster the use of fermentation as a means of preserving foods.

BRAHM invites performers to respond to our exhibitions in a new program series we are calling Called to Response.

BRAHM invites you to join us on the cusp of the 67th annual Blowing Rock Tour of Homes for an enriching evening of architectural history with award-winning author Peggy Smith.

Join us for an in-depth look at one of BRAHM’s most ambitious exhibitions yet: “Daingerfield and the Tonalist Instinct.” We feature extraordinary works by Blowing Rock’s own Elliott Daingerfield, including some from private collections that have rarely been seen publicly, as well as works borrowed from major museums.

Science is telling us daily about the incredible power of the brain - but not about how to tap into that incredible resource. In “How Art Can Upgrade Your Brain” you’ll learn:

1. fascinating and easy to understand information about your brain 

2. how art impacts the brain  

3. practical tools and techniques for your brain that you can use in your everyday life.

BRAHM invites performers to respond to our exhibitions in a new program series we are calling Called to Response.