News & Events

Biltmore Industries Homespun Shops Factory Is Subject of UNC Asheville Photo Exhibit

October 27, 2011

“Artifacts,” an exhibition of photographs of a piece of Asheville history – the Biltmore Industries Homespun Shops factory – will be on display from October 28-November 8, in UNC Asheville’s Owen Hall Second Floor Gallery. “Artifacts” is the Bachelor of Arts in Photography Senior Exhibition by Charles Johnson of Black Mountain.

The photos depict the factory – once the site of custom woodworking and wool production and still housing original equipment and wool remnants that were in use in a typical work day – in “a unique state of limbo between degradation and preservation,” according to Johnson. “The images portray individual workspaces as they existed when operations ceased in 1981, giving the impression that the workers seemed to vanish, leaving behind an eerily beautiful silence.”

The exhibition is free and open to the public, with gallery hours 9 a.m.-6 p.m. weekdays. A reception with the artist is set for 6-8 p.m. Friday, Oct. 28. For more information, visit art.unca.edu or call 828.251.6559.