Join us on Thursday, July 3rd, from 5-8pm, for an Opening Reception of our Summer Exhibitions with a Meet the Artist event at Momentum Gallery’s downtown Asheville location! Light refreshments will be available. This event is free and open to the public. All are welcome. The shows detailed below continue through Tuesday, September 2nd.

Momentum Gallery is thrilled to welcome back Mariella Bisson, whose beloved works have played a significant role in the gallery's identity since inception. Bisson deftly delineates the sculptural planes of her subjects, creating refreshingly contemporary landscapes over collage underpaintings. Textures are built up through layering selected papers, depicting the complex surface of stone, tree bark, and lichen. The result is a modern and graphic take on mountain scenes that delight the viewer with lush surface and pops of unexpected color. Bisson’s rich mixed-media paintings of waterfalls, rocky brooks, and woodland areas in jewel tones demonstrate a strong understanding of formal composition and reflect a sensibility developed from time immersed in the outdoors.

Momentum Gallery presents Bisson’s fabulous paintings with new, original works by glass artists John Littleton & Kate Vogel and Thor & Jennifer Bueno, two husband-and-wife collaborators based in Western North Carolina who create contemporary sculptures for the wall and tabletop. Although approaching the medium differently, both are inspired by the natural world. The Buenos are well known for their lovely wall installations referencing river stones that have been rounded and softened by tumbling in running water. While both are glass blowers, Jennifer typically creates Thor’s hand-blown stones in smartly scattered groups and structured arrangements, creating compositions in a broad palette that combine various finishes, from metallics to matte, and sandblasted elements. John Littleton and Kate Vogel are world-renowned sculptors who have collaborated for nearly forty years. Several ongoing series are represented at Momentum, including their boat-like Vessels for the Soul, kinetic Gimbals reminiscent of a spinning gyroscope, and exquisitely cast hands holding a variety of forms from river stones to artist-made gemstones made from faceted and polished glass.

Also opening Thursday, July 3rd, is a solo presentation by Ellen Heck called Wonderland, featuring original prints and oil paintings by the North Carolina-based artist. Over the past decade, Heck has explored specific questions about identity—its creation, variability, persistence, and change—by combining subject matter and thematically resonant printmaking techniques. Heck’s beautiful and nuanced works on paper, portraying young girls wearing Mobius strip headdresses and images of artists working in a printmaking studio, have been well-received in group exhibitions. They are incredible commentaries on feminism and the roles women play. Wonderland is Heck’s first solo exhibition at the Asheville gallery. It marks the debut of her contemporary paintings of figures in the landscape with abstracted and floral elements rendered in thick impasto.

Get more info here!