Vault Visible: Behind the Scenes at the Asheville Art Museum

August 23 - September 30, 2016 - This winter, visitors will get a glimpse into the day-to-day activities of the Museum’s curatorial department in a new exhibition Vault Visible: Behind the Scenes at the Asheville Art Museum. Sure to appeal to art collectors, museum studies students, and anyone curious about the inner workings of a Museum, Vault Visible will give visitors the chance to observe museum professionals at work in the galleries as they carry out an inventory of the Permanent Collection, photograph objects, assemble crates, and perform conservation treatments, all in the public eye. Accompanying displays and programming will reveal the compelling stories behind the Museum’s Collection of 20th- and 21st-century American art, while also helping visitors learn how to care for works of art, identify various mediums, and, in short, think like a curator. As a special component to the exhibition, the Museum will be re-creating several of its storage spaces in the public galleries, bringing large numbers of ceramics, glass works, and paintings from the Permanent Collection out into public view. With the help of the transparent wall in the gallery, visitors will be able to peer into “the vault” to see how works of art are stored—an experience usually reserved for the Museum’s curatorial staff.