Cultivating Collections

VIRTUAL EXHIBITION COMING FALL 2020

PAINTINGS • CERAMICS • LATINX & LATIN AMERICAN ARTISTS

Julie Armbruster and R. Brooke Priddy-Conrad, Two-Faced Kitten, 2010, graphite, ink, and watercolor on paper mounted to wood panel, 8 x 8 x 1 inches, Gift of the Ray Griffin/Thom Robinson Collection

Julie Armbruster and R. Brooke Priddy Conrad, Two-Faced Kitten, 2010, graphite, ink, and watercolor on paper mounted to wood panel, 8 x 8 x 1 inches, Gift of the Ray Griffin/Thom Robinson Collection

This multi-year exhibition series highlights specific areas of the WCU Fine Art Museum permanent collection. Previously, the 2019 version of Cultivating Collections focused on photography, artists books, and contemporary Native American art.

In 2020, Cultivating Collections features paintings, ceramics, and work by Latinx and Latin American artists. Working under Curator Carolyn Grosch, undergraduate students in WCU’s Exhibition Practicum course assisted in the selection of works to display, interviewed artists, and evaluated strengths and opportunities for the collection.

Virtual Q&A w/ Julie Armbruster and R. Brooke Priddy Conrad
Watch On-Demand

Julie Armbruster and R. Brooke Priddy-Conrad, Hambone Award, 2010, graphite, ink, and watercolor on paper mounted to wood panel, 8 x 8 x 1 inches, Gift of the Ray Griffin/Thom Robinson Collection

Julie Armbruster and R. Brooke Priddy Conrad, Hambone Award, 2010, graphite, ink, and watercolor on paper mounted to wood panel, 8 x 8 x 1 inches, Gift of the Ray Griffin/Thom Robinson Collection.

These two Asheville-based artists have collaborated on many works in the past, including the works seen here, which are all part of the WCU Fine Art Museum permanent collection. These works will be featured in the upcoming fall 2020 exhibition, Cultivating Collections.

Learn More About the Artists

Julie Armbruster's work focuses on painted narratives that celebrate weirdness and idiosyncrasy through depictions of cartoonish figures in a colorful, graphic style.

Armbruster received her MA in Studio Art from New York University in 2003 and her BS in Art Education from State University of New York at New Paltz in 2001. She studied in Venice, Italy for two summers and was inspired by the Renaissance paintings she encountered there, particularly painted panels with a continuous narrative. Learn more at juliearmbruster.com

Collaboration and cross-disciplinarity define the otherwise indefinable practice of artist, designer, dressmaker and entrepreneur, R. Brooke Priddy Conrad. She co-founded The Newsworthy Drawing Club with Armbruster in 2007. shiptoshoreshop.com