WATAUGA — Ceramic artist and Appalachian State University professor Andréa Keys Connell was selected as one of the artists featured in Ceramics Now’s upcoming 15th anniversary edition, a special international publication set for release in December.

Ceramics Now, an online and print journal highlighting contemporary work in the field, received more than 950 submissions from 73 countries for the anniversary issue. From those, 24 artists were chosen to represent the publication’s description of the most forward-thinking work in ceramics today.

Connell, who joined App State in 2017 and teaches in the Department of Fine and Applied Art, said the recognition came as a surprise.

Tightly bundled together in intricate patterns and shapes, a new sculpture exhibit weaves its way through the Blowing Rock Art & History Museum. The exhibits’ featured artist, Patrick Dougherty, incorporates pieces made entirely out of sticks, a wall of well-used gloves and photos of past works. The exhibit opened on Saturday and will run until May 17, 2026. 

ainted in plaid and curated with care, Andréa Keys Connell’s “Pattern Mapping” is a treasury of artistic vision bridging the gap between grief and hope.

The exhibit was unveiled on June 28 in the Rankin West Gallery of the Blowing Rock Art and History Museum, and will be on display until Nov. 29.

Blowing Rock Art and History Museum, WFDD — an NPR public radio station in Winston-Salem — and App State faculty hosted a Hurricane Helene Listening Day event in Blowing Rock Saturday. 

This event was open to the public, allowing anyone affected by Helene to share personal stories broadcasted across the state. Various news organizations partnered with BRAHM to circulate the recordings, including North Carolina’s state magazine, Our State. 

BLOWING ROCK, NC.- The Blowing Rock Art & History Museum (BRAHM) announces a new exhibition, “Jack Boul: Land, City, Home,” which will open on August 30, 2025, and remain on view in the Atwell Gallery through March 7, 2026.

Jack Boul (1927–2024) was a painter, printmaker and sculptor whose work captured the quiet rhythms of life in urban, agrarian and domestic landscapes. Born in Brooklyn, he spent much of his career in Washington, D.C., where his urban landscapes took on the form of architectural portraits, focusing on the relationships formed within the built environment. His works often explore the stillness and structure of city streets, facades and rooftops, where the presence of people is implied by the spaces they inhabit, but rarely depicted.

This fall, the Blowing Rock Art & History Museum — just a short drive from Charlotte — will present Jack Boul: Land, City, Home (August 30, 2025 – March 7, 2026), a retrospective of the acclaimed Jewish American artist whose work captures both quiet domestic moments and lyrical landscapes.

But this exhibition carries a unique resonance for North Carolina’s Jewish community. Boul’s connection to the region traces back to Camp Catawba, a Jewish music and arts camp founded by Holocaust survivor Dr. Vera Lachmann, just outside Blowing Rock. For decades, this little-known chapter of Jewish life in the Blue Ridge Mountains offered a haven for children and artists—many of whom were refugees or descendants of refugees—whose stories intersected with broader themes of resilience and renewal.