Black Mountain College Museum + Arts Center
July 15 ñ November 26, 2005
Wed-Fri, 12pm-4pm
Sat 11am-5pm

Opening Reception:
Friday July 15, 6:00
$3 admission, free for BMCM+AC members and AIA members
Exhibition co-sponsors: Rupert Ravens, nices inc., and AIA Asheville

An exhibition exploring the genius of R. Buckminster Fuller through two- and three dimensional works.

R. Buckminster Fuller (1895-1983) was one of the most inventive, influential, and inspiring figures of the 20th century. Through his ideas and inventions, his teaching and lecturing around the globe, he influenced current thought in a wide variety of fields, including commercial and industrial design, mathematics, the sciences, the arts and architecture. His basic approach was to apply both scientific knowledge and creativity to think ìoutside the boxî when attempting to solve practical problems. Buckyís foremost concern was to find ways to ìdo more with lessî and to use resources most efficiently to serve humanity. He invented the term ìSpaceship Earthî to encourage people to see the entire world as one interdependent system. During his life and career, Fuller was awarded 25 U.S. patents, wrote 28 books, received 47 honorary doctorate degrees, circled the Earth 57 times consulting and lecturing, and received dozens of major architectural and design awards along with the prestigious Medal of Freedom, the highest civilian award in America. Buckminster Fuller taught at Black Mountain College in the summers of 1948 and 1949, and he served as the Director of the BMC Summer Institute in 1949.

The exhibition IDEAS+ INVENTIONS: Buckminster Fuller and Black Mountain College will include two-dimensional and three-dimensional works that present and explore Fullerís ideas. Also included in the show will be photographs taken of him and his students at Black Mountain College during the summers of 1948 and 1949, a Dymaxion map, and an autographed drawing of a geodesic dome. People can assemble models based on Fullerís inventions and fully experience his genius in a special hands-on area.

Radio interview on WUNC’s The State of Things
October 11th, 2005

Buckminster Fuller: In 1948, Buckminster Fuller, then a visiting teacher at Black Mountain College in Western North Carolina, built his first geodesic dome. It collapsed. The next summer he returned to Black Mountain and succeeded. Fuller later became famous for his domes and inventions, including the Dymaxion car, Dymaxion map, and World Game. A current exhibit at the Black Mountain College Museum and Art Center in Asheville looks back at those inventions and Fuller’s time in North Carolina. Host Frank Stasio talks with John Wright, board chairman at Black Mountain College Museum + Art Center in Asheville; Lloyd Steven Sieden, author of Buckminster Fuller’s Universe: His Life and Work (Perseus/2000); Jay Baldwin, author of Bucky Works: Buckminster Fuller’s Ideas for Today (Wiley/1997); and David McConville, BMCM+AC board member and co-founder of the Elumenati, a company in Asheville that designs immersive projection environments.