Barbara Grennell: Mountain Tapesties

May 9, 2026 - October 11, 2026 | Rankin East Gallery

Barbara Grenell, October Evening, 1989, wool, linen, and cotton rug warp. 24 x 96 x 2 in. Gift of Judy & Bill Watson, BRAHM Permanent Collection 2025.007.001.

Barbara Grenell (1944–2001) was a North Carolina–based fiber artist whose tapestries distill the landscapes of Western North Carolina into spare, quietly resonant compositions. Trained initially as a painter at the Philadelphia College of Art before committing to the loom, Grenell earned her MFA from Western Carolina University and became deeply embedded in the region’s craft networks. She studied and taught regularly at Penland School of Craft during the 1970s, was a founding member of the Toe River Arts Council, and an early member of Piedmont Craftsmen. In 1974, she received a National Endowment for the Arts Visual Artists Fellowship in Crafts, reflecting her national standing during a pivotal moment for contemporary fiber art.

This focused installation highlights Grenell’s mastery of tapestry weaving as both image and process—landscapes translated into layered horizons, earthy palettes, and subtle shifts in weave structure that create painterly surfaces. Her work reflects the agrarian and mountainous terrain surrounding her Burnsville studio while remaining firmly aligned with broader late-twentieth-century developments in contemporary fiber art. Presented in dialogue with BRAHM’s Take Up: Intergenerational Weaving initiative, funded by the Institute of Museum and Library Services and developed in collaboration with Watauga County Project on Aging, the installation situates Grenell’s practice within a living lineage of Appalachian weaving, emphasizing the transmission of skill, memory, and place across generations.

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