“Krakow: A Woven Story of Memory and Erasure”; cotton with conductive yarns, thermochromatic inks and custom control electronics; 41 inches by 75 inches; by Joanna Berzowska, 2006. This work, which changes color from pink to transparent when it senses a viewer in front of it, is part of “Inspired Design,” an exhibit running Jan. 22 through March 7 at the Fine Art Museum at Western Carolina University.

Ceramic and textile exhibits launch the 2009 season at the Fine Art Museum at Western Carolina University.

“Inside/Inside Out: A Profile of Awareness,” a solo exhibition by ceramicist James L. Tanner, will run from Thursday, Jan. 22, through Saturday, March 7. Tanner will give a lecture at 4 p.m. Tuesday, Feb. 10, in the Fine and Performing Arts Center, with a gallery talk and wine and cheese reception to follow in the museum. Tanner, as WCU’s artist-in-residence for February, also will conduct ceramics demonstrations from 9:30 a.m. to noon and 1:15 to 3 p.m. Monday, Feb. 9, through Wednesday, Feb. 11, in FAPAC’s ceramic studio, Room 151. All events are free and open to the public.

The museum exhibit (coordinated with the Craft Alliance of St. Louis) will feature Tanner’s colorful, abstract, masklike ceramic forms, often inspired by nature and Tanner’s African-American heritage. “I use the human image of the face as a vehicle to suggest psychological, emotional and spiritual being beneath the surface of a masked landscape,” Tanner said. At right is Tanner's “Aerial View,” ceramic relief, 28 inches by 15 inches by 4 inches.

Tanner, professor emeritus of ceramics at Minnesota State University, has work in collections including those of the Smithsonian Institution and the African American Museum in Dallas. A Tanner vitreographic print, “Big South” (2003), is part of Western Carolina’s permanent collection. His residency is possible through WCU’s Randall and Susan Parrott Ward Endowed Fund for Ceramics.

Also running Jan. 22 through March 7 at the museum is “Inspired Design: Jacquard and Entrepreneurial Textiles,” a traveling exhibit comprising national and international artists. Catharine Ellis, an exhibit artist and recently retired chair of textiles from Haywood Community College’s professional crafts program, will speak about the exhibit at 4 p.m. Tuesday, Feb. 17, at the Fine Art Museum.

Organized by the Center for Craft, Creativity and Design in Hendersonville, “Inspired Design” features work that represents a contemporary and technical take on textiles. In addition to textiles commissioned as art pieces and those employed in high-end fashion and interior design, the exhibit includes “smart” and “performance and interactive” textiles. Smart textiles can sense and react to environmental conditions, changing colors, for instance. Tiny electronics woven directly into performance and interactive textiles allow for programmed responses.

In addition to the Tanner and textile exhibits, the museum will feature new selections from its permanent collection, part of the ongoing “Worldview” series. Among these is Boston artist John Wilson’s large-scale etching of Martin Luther King Jr.

Fine Art Museum hours are 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Fridays; 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Thursdays; and 1 to 4 p.m. Saturdays. For more information, contact Martin DeWitt, Fine Art Museum director, at (828) 227-2553 or mdewitt@wcu.edu, or Hillary Brett, assistant curator, at (828) 227-3591 or hbrett@wcu.edu. Visit the Fine Art Museum online at www.wcu.edu/fapac/galleries.

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Last modified Friday, Jan. 16, 2009.