Arts

Name: The Barter Players: “I Want a Hippopotamus for Christmas”
Start: 2025-11-28T19:00:00-04:00
End: 2025-11-28T20:00:00-04:00
Location: Appalachian Theatre of the High Country

October 2025
Exhibition: Daingerfield & The Tonalist Instinct

August 6, 2025 @ 11:00 am - October 19, 2025 @ 6:00 pm

Blowing Rock Art & History Museum 159 Ginny Stevens Lane, Blowing Rock, NC, United States

Daingerfield & The Tonalist Instinct explores the development of Tonalism, a distinctly American artistic movement responding to early modernist impulses in painting. Emerging in the latter half of the 19th century, Tonalism was characterized by subtle color harmonies, soft atmospheric effects, and contemplative, mood-driven scenes. Often emphasizing twilight or dawn landscapes, tonalist works evoke introspective, serene, or even ominous atmospheres, prioritizing mood and emotional resonance over detailed realism.

Free Entry
Exhibition: The Shape of Color – Understanding Color Theory in BRAHM’s Collection

August 6, 2025 @ 11:00 am - December 27, 2025 @ 6:00 pm

Blowing Rock Art & History Museum 159 Ginny Stevens Lane, Blowing Rock, NC, United States

This exhibition explores key milestones in the history of color theory through seven case studies, each centered on a single work of art from BRAHM’s Permanent Collection. Alongside these works, diagrams and historical models illustrate how color has been classified, studied, and understood over time. By examining these varied approaches, The Shape of Color invites us to consider the ways in which color influences our perception, emotions, and the visual world around us.

Free Entry
Exhibition: Mary Lou Higgins – Sibylline Faces

August 6, 2025 @ 11:00 am - November 15, 2025 @ 6:00 pm

Blowing Rock Art & History Museum 159 Ginny Stevens Lane, Blowing Rock, NC, United States

This exhibiton presents a selection of ceramic works and drawings by MaryLou Higgins (1926–2012), an artist active in North Carolina throughout her prolific career. Best known for her illustrative approach to ceramics, Higgins worked across multiple media, creating a body of work defined by intricate draftsmanship and a focus on the female figure.

Free Entry
Exhibition: Arlee Mains – A Life in Watauga

August 6, 2025 @ 11:00 am - November 29, 2025 @ 6:00 pm

This intimate installation of ten “memory paintings” by Arlee Mains (1935–2019) offers a vivid and affectionate portrait of early 20th-century life in the mountains of western North Carolina. A lifelong resident of Watauga County and a self-taught artist, Mains drew upon family stories, personal recollections, and regional traditions to create painted scenes of everyday Appalachian life.

Free Entry
Cottonwood Bark Carving Demo at Moses Cone Manor

October 17, 2025 @ 10:00 am - October 19, 2025 @ 4:00 pm

Moses Cone Manor Blowing Rock, NC, United States

Tom Gow will be demonstrating how he carves whimsical cottages out of the thick bark of fallen cottonwood trees. This demonstration will be held on the front porch of the the Moses Cone Manor from 10am-4pm.

Free
Daingerfield Docent Focus Tour

October 19, 2025 @ 2:00 pm - 3:00 pm

Blowing Rock Art & History Museum 159 Ginny Stevens Lane, Blowing Rock, NC, United States

Get an in-depth look at one of BRAHM’s most ambitious exhibitions yet: “Daingerfield and the Tonalist Instinct.” We feature extraordinary works by Blowing Rock’s own Elliott Daingerfield, including some from private collections that have rarely been seen publicly, as well as works borrowed from major museums.

Free Entry
Conversations with the Curator: Arlee Mains

October 23, 2025 @ 11:00 am - 12:00 pm

Blowing Rock Art & History Museum 159 Ginny Stevens Lane, Blowing Rock, NC, United States

Join BRAHM on Thursday October 23 at 11 am when curator Ian Gabriel Wilson will be in conversation with Pam McKay, guest curator of the exhibition Arlee Mains: A Life in Watauga. We will learn about Arlee, her relationship with Pam, and what it is about Arlee's paintings that still captivate us today.

$8.00
A Hole in the World

October 30, 2025 @ 6:00 pm - 7:00 pm

Blowing Rock Art & History Museum 159 Ginny Stevens Lane, Blowing Rock, NC, United States

In a raw and inspiring reflection on grief–selected by Publishers Weekly as one of the best books of the year–a mourning sister processes her personal story of loss by exploring the history of bereavement customs.

Registration Required
November 2025
ARS POETICA III Reception

November 13, 2025 @ 5:00 pm - 7:00 pm

Blowing Rock Art & History Museum 159 Ginny Stevens Lane, Blowing Rock, NC, United States

Head to BRAHM to celebrate the artists and poets of ARS POETICA III exhibition! The reception will include an awards ceremony to announce the pairings chosen for the two Judges' Choice Awards as well as the People's Choice Award. Light refreshments will be available.

Free Entry
Sam Bush at The App Theatre

November 14, 2025 @ 8:30 pm - 10:30 pm

Appalachian Theatre of the High Country 559 West King Street, Boone, NC, United States

As a teen fiddler Bush was a three-time national champion in the junior division of the National Oldtime Fiddler’s Contest. He recorded an instrumental album, Poor Richard’s Almanac as a high school senior and in the spring of 1970 attended the Fiddlers Convention in Union Grove, NC.

$46.97 – $53.37
Patrick Dougherty: Pilgrimage Reception

November 15, 2025 @ 5:00 pm - 7:00 pm

Blowing Rock Art & History Museum 159 Ginny Stevens Lane, Blowing Rock, NC, United States

Join BRAHM as they celebrate the exhibition, Patrick Doughtery: Pilgrimage.

Patrick will be in the Gallery to answer questions about the work throughout his successful career, and this premier exhibition at BRAHM.
The Barter Players: “I Want a Hippopotamus for Christmas”

November 28, 2025 @ 7:00 pm - 8:00 pm

Appalachian Theatre of the High Country 559 West King Street, Boone, NC, United States

It’s Christmas time at the Cincinnati Zoo, and everyone eagerly anticipates the birth of Bella, the zoo’s first baby hippo. Seven-year-old Lois Jean, the zookeeper’s daughter, is especially excited—she’s counting on Bella to reunite her family in time for the holidays.

$9 – $19

October 2025

November 2025