GALLERY MÉLANGE is pleased to present “in Their Footsteps”, a group exhibition featuring 19 local artists presenting new work inspired by influential twentieth-century figures who shaped Western North Carolina’s creative landscape.

Exhibition Overview: Throughout the twentieth century, Western North Carolina attracted artists drawn to light, material experimentation, and alternative ways of working. Their practices spanned painting, sculpture, ceramics, craft, and conceptual art and left a lasting imprint on the region’s cultural life. This exhibition invites contemporary artists to engage that legacy through personal responses rather than direct imitation.

The exhibition draws inspiration from artists associated with Western North Carolina and its wider creative context, including Josef and Anni Albers, Robert Rauschenberg, Willem and Elaine de Kooning, Jacob Lawrence, Ruth Asawa, Cy Twombly, Kenneth Noland, Peter Voulkos, M. C. Richards, and others. These figures represent diverse approaches that continue to shape ideas of process and place.

Participating exhibition artists interpret this lineage through varied media and perspectives, engaging abstraction, material traditions, gesture, and personal or philosophical connections. Together, the works form a conversation across time, honoring the region’s creative foundations while contributing new voices.

Participating Exhibition Artists: Lynn Alker, Mark Bettis, Jeffrey Burroughs, Christie Calaycay, Constance Ensner, Jacqui Fehl, Nabil El Jaouhari, Kelcey Loomer, Anna Koloseike, Rand Kramer, Rebeccah Pailes-Friedman, Victoria Pinney, Fernand Poulin, Rachel Schubert, Steven Seinberg, JR Smith, Joël Urruty, Laura Wood, and Deb Williams.

Exhibition Dates: February 6–20, 2026
Opening Reception: Friday, February 6, 2026 · 5–8 PM