“Considerations: An Installation by Sarah Vaughn” to Open February 15, 2025 - Published January 13, 2025
Sarah Vaughn, installation detail. Photo: Loam
Blowing Rock, N.C. (January 8, 2025) — A new exhibition entitled “Considerations: An Installation by Sarah Vaughn” will open at the Blowing Rock Art & History Museum (BRAHM) on February 15, 2025, and will be on view in the Museum’s Atwell Gallery through August 10, 2025.
Sarah Vaughn’s “Considerations” invites visitors to step into a landscape of thousands of carefully crafted glass river rocks. Made using techniques like blowing, flame-working, casting, and laminating, these fragile stones are stacked and arranged to create an immersive installation that explores how we experience and remember the world around us. Each glass rock represents a moment in time—some tied to personal memories, others shaped from reclaimed glass, blending stories of loss and creation.
Rocks are ordinary objects, but they often carry extraordinary meaning. Many of us have picked up, collected, and treasured a favorite rock, drawn to its weight, texture, or beauty. Vaughn’s glass rocks amplify these familiar associations while asking us to reflect on their delicate, untouchable surfaces. Like rocks in a riverbed, changing and smoothing over time, memories tumble through our minds over years and decades. They can become smoother, but they can also sharpen, grow indelible, or fade until they disappear entirely.
This installation is envisioned as the first of many, evolving to respond to the architecture of each new space it inhabits. By blending the personal and the collective, Vaughn invites us to reflect on how simple objects can stir deep, lasting memories. She sees these glass rocks as symbols of resilience—fragile yet enduring—which capture the layers of individual and shared memory that shape who we are. Through her work, she transforms something seemingly simple into a profound meditation on time, connection, and the stories we carry. Ian Gabriel Wilson, Curator at BRAHM notes, “We’re thrilled to present Considerations: An Installation by Sarah Vaughn at BRAHM. Over the past three years, I’ve had the privilege of working closely with Sarah to develop this thought-provoking installation. Her technical skill with the medium of glass is astonishing, matched only by the physically and emotionally immersive environment she constructs with thousands of these discrete sculptures. The larger work is at once precarious and disarming, inviting viewers to engage with themes that are both acutely personal and universally relatable. This exhibition epitomizes BRAHM’s commitment to showcasing artists who challenge us to see the world—and ourselves—through a transformative lens.”
The exhibition is supported through a Project Support Grant of The North Carolina Arts Council, a division of the Department of Natural and Cultural Resources. Project Support is designed to help organizations that are producing and/or presenting specific arts programs that engage audiences and participants. “We are so pleased to be able to support BRAHM’s exhibition featuring the work of artist Sarah Vaughn. Vaughn’s work is contemplative and allows visitors to explore the themes of memory, metamorphosis, and resilience” said Dara Silver, Senior Program Director, North Carolina Arts Council, NC Department of Natural and Cultural Resources.
About BRAHM:
BRAHM’s mission is to curate, preserve, educate, and inspire. Rooted in the creative cultures of Appalachia, BRAHM aims to cultivate a community that extends beyond its walls and region, positioning Western North Carolina as a leader in the arts. The 25,000-square-foot Blowing Rock Art and History Museum, known as BRAHM, opened its doors on October 1, 2011. Located off Main Street in Blowing Rock, North Carolina, BRAHM provides cultural enrichment by promoting the arts and history through educational programs, exhibitions, and activities. The permanent collection of more than 600 objects includes works by Elliott Daingerfield, Maud Gatewood, Elizabeth Bradford, Mark Hewitt, and other American impressionist and post-impressionist artists. Open year-round, BRAHM welcomes 24,000 visitors free of charge to experience 25 changing exhibitions. BRAHM also has an outreach education program that encourages arts education in local schools, daycares, and senior centers. For more information, visit blowingrockmuseum.org.
Exhibition Programming:
February 20 - Cocktails with the Curator at 6 - 7 p.m. in the gallery.
April 28 - May 3, 2025 Sarah Vaughn will be in residency at the Museum interacting with the exhibition.
May 3 - BRAHM is hosting a community day and invites all visitors to meet Sarah and learn about the work.
