Tryon Fine Arts Center’s newest exhibit, Preserving African-American Art in the Foothills, opens Friday.

The Tryon Fine Arts Center’s “Preserving African American Art in the Foothills” exhibit opens Friday, Jan. 22 at 5 p.m. with a reception for the community.

Sponsored by Polk County Community Foundation, the exhibit will feature African American art that has been produced or collected by residents of the Foothills.

John Wilkins has been a collector of African American art since the late nineties. John, who inspired this exhibit, has worked closely with exhibits chair, Julia Calhoun, to gather a collection of unusual and fascinating art pieces from area collectors and artists.

“The people of our community recognize the importance of preserving and enjoying this art form,” John said. “Many of our citizens have been collecting African American for decades. This exhibit is a great way for it to be appreciated by the community at large.”

This exhibit is a continuation of Tryon Fine Arts Center’s 2015 Tryon All-Stars baseball team and East Side Community exhibit. The exhibit is located in the Gallery at TFAC and will be open daily open from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Tuesday through Friday and 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. on Saturdays from Jan. 23 through March 5. The reception and the exhibit are free and open to the public. Information regarding docent and student tours will be made available in the future.

The Tryon Fine Arts Center is located at 34 Melrose Ave. and provides a wide variety of programming as well as outreach to students. For further information or to consider loaning African American art to the exhibit, please call 828-859-8322.

-Submitted by Susan Brady