Asheville, NC – The Asheville Art Museum is pleased to announce the opening of “The Elemental Arts: Air | Earth | Fire | Water” on Friday, September 2nd. Featuring works by Douglas D. Ellington, Ke Francis, Elizabeth J. Peak and Paula Stark, among other noteworthy artists from the Museum’s Permanent Collection, The Elemental Arts examines the way in which artists have treated or incorporated the four essential elements—air, earth, fire and water—into their work. This exhibition is ongoing. The four elements are universal energies, grounded not only in the nature of our planet, but also within our bodies. Our lungs and breath relate to air, our skeletons and flesh to earth, the heat generated by our bodies to fire, and our blood to water. Using both two- and three-dimensional works from the Museum’s Permanent Collection, The Elemental Arts invites viewers to consider the vastly diverse nuances of the four elements, be they conceptual, literal, functional, emotional, psychological, linguistic or even philosophical in nature.