UNC Asheville’s 14th Annual “Drawing Discourse” International Juried Exhibition Opens on Jan. 13, 2023

Now in its 14th year, UNC Asheville’s “Drawing Discourse” juried international exhibition of contemporary drawing will open on Jan. 13 with a lecture by juror Charles Ritchie at 5 p.m. in the Mullen & James Humanities Lecture Hall on the campus of UNC Asheville. The competitive exhibition features selected works from 65 artists from six nations and will include an opening reception at 6 p.m. in the S. Tucker Cooke Gallery in Owen Hall. The exhibition will be on view through Feb. 10.

Ritchie received his BFA in graphic design at the University of Georgia in and his MFA in painting at Carnegie Mellon University. His work has been exhibited extensively, including Jason Haam in Seoul, South Korea; The Bo Bartlett Center in Columbus, Georgia; and Ballinglen Museum of Contemporary Art, Ballycastle, Ireland. Ritchie’s works are also included in the collections of the Baltimore Museum of Art and the Fogg Art Museum, among many others.

Returning to the exhibition for the second year in a row is Nigerian artist Hopex John, with a hyper-realistic charcoal portrait drawing that will serve as a counterpoint to the abstract works the exhibition includes. Additionally, recent UNC Asheville alumna Isabella Losskarn ’22 was accepted into the exhibition with a pastel piece.

Additional programming for the exhibition includes a collaboration with the “Suggested Donation” art-talk podcast, which will feature Israeli artist Sigal Tsabari and focus on drawing.

For more information, contact Tamie Beldue, chair of UNC Asheville’s Department of Art and Art History and Drawing Discourse coordinator, at tbeldue@unca.edu.