This week’s run was in Asheville in the US. The attraction of this region from an artistic point of view is the influential Black Mountain College located nearby in the 1940’s and 50’s. Whilst the college pioneered the avant guard with teachers ranging from John Cage and Joseph Albers to Merce Cunningham and Buckminster Fuller, the nearby city of Asheville carries on some of its traditions with its bohemian charm and more directly with a Museum dedicated to the Black Mountain College. More of this later but first a quick explanation of why the US at all.

This was eclipse week for a lucky few states in the US. Cut to the day itself and we find ourselves on the lakes with family and friends, all brought together by fantastic hosts, speeding with a plethora of other boats to a spot on the line of totality surrounded by the Great Smokey Mountains. The eclipse itself makes a lit doughnut shape, like a fluorescent tube, and it is the only time in one’s life we get to look at the sun directly with the naked eye, whilst of course also being aware of two immense heavenly bodies making their ways across the sky.

Back in Asheville, the same Smokey mountains are much closer and make a striking backdrop to the city. The run itself comprises several valleys and hills which span the city. The four focal points for this run are the Biltmore Estate, used as a film location for Hannibal, the arts district that has reclaimed a whole swathe of warehouses down by a disused rail depot, the Black Mountain College Museum and finally the Moog factory.

Now in Asheville HQ, a small motel room with WiFi but only a simple tablet with no proper keyboard at my disposal, there is only the possibility of this most basic of write-ups! Most of the additional explanation and detail then, will have to come from the photo captions themselves once they are loaded up back in the UK.

Great day watching the Eclipse 2017 with family and friends near Knoxville, Tennessee. (photo by Jennifer)

2pm in the afternoon during the Eclipse near Knoxville and we are out on the lake. (Photo by Jennifer)

Limited edition of Ulysses illustrated by Robert Motherwell on show in Black Mountain College Museum. The artist taught at Black Mountain College which lay to the east of Asheville, North Carolina.

Frank Hursh landscape on show at Black Mountain College Museum.

Research office in Black Mountain College Museum with many of the alumni on display in the titles and bookmarked for future research programmes. It lives on! The college was a progressive education establishment that combined campus-grown food harvested by the students with radical democratic principles initially developed by the philosopher John Dewey and implemented by John Rice.

Moog factory in Asheville. Constructors of synths and theremins which are the weird sci-fi sounding devices that respond to hand movements near an inductor coil and made famous by The Beach Boys and used also by John Cage affiliated to the Black Mountain College.

Cactus in a Moog in their synth factory in Asheville.

In Asheville in USA for a visit and gallery run after the eclipse. Hot for running though!

Mural in Asheville.