Get Creative at The Asheville Art Museum with April Workshops

The Asheville Art Museum, 2 S Pack Square in downtown Asheville NC,  is offering three April workshops, all taught by artist Pamela Lanza. The workshops explore the art of drawing, collage and altered books.

Drawing Faces 
Friday, April 10, 10:00 a.m. - 1:00 p.m. $60 for members, $70 for non-members This workshop will teach simple and reliable steps for mapping facial features with proper placement and proportion. Participants will study the features individually, then practice steps for drawing faces in frontal and three-quarter view. Students will also learn about underlying anatomy and rules for shading faces, discover how to draw hair, explore expressive rendering and experience the empowering and proven magic of a master study. All materials and snacks are included in the cost. Class size is limited and advanced registration is required. Please register by contacting the Museum at 828.253.3227 or purchase tickets online. Reservation deadline is Sunday, April 5. 

Collage  
Saturday, April 11, 10:00 a.m. - 1:00 p.m. $75 for members, $85 for non-members From Dada to Abstract Expressionism and beyond, collage has been a favorite tool of artists in all media. It is art for those who can't draw a line, as well as art for those who want to add a different technique to their artistic repertoire. In this workshop, participants will construct one large collage using spontaneity and intuition as guides, then isolate beautiful compositions from the bigger one. This workshop teaches proper use of adhesives and sealants, how to experiment with design in composition and encourages the spirit of discovery and the element of surprise. Participants will take home six to ten finished pieces, with two favorites mounted to wooden panels. Please bring cut-out collage images (please email the instructor for specifics: lalanza@earthlink.net); snacks and the rest of the materials are included in the cost. Class size is limited and advanced registration is required. Please register by contacting the Museum at 828.253.3227 or purchase tickets online. Reservation deadline is Sunday, April 5.

Altered Books 
Friday, April 17, 10:00 a.m. - 5:00 p.m. $85 for members, $95 for non-members Combine art practice with recycling (and upcycling) by creating a work of art from a found or discarded book. Using collage, drawing and painting as the basic techniques, we will help participants transform found objects into a unique and fascinating artwork. The class will give participants the skills to explore the limitless possibilities of this alchemical art form in future projects. Students provide a small old book of their choosing (preferably with a sewn, not glued, binding and not too many pages, plus cut-out images for collage). Please email the instructor for specifics: lalanza@earthlink.net. We will provide everything else. Snacks and materials are included in the cost. There will be a one-hour break for lunch at noon. Class size is limited and advanced registration is required. Please register by contacting the Museum at 828.253.3227 or purchase tickets online. Reservation deadline is Sunday, April 12. 


ABOUT THE INSTRUCTOR: Pamela Lanza has an MFA from the San Francisco Art Institute, and has taught at SFAI and UC Berkeley Extension programs for over 15 years. Her work has been exhibited at galleries & college campuses across the country, including The Graduate Theological Union (Berkeley), UNC Asheville, Florida State University, California Institute of Integral Studies (San Francisco), Stanford University, and Linn-Benton College (Oregon). Her work has appeared in Harper's Ferry Review, Paterson Literary Review, and Anatomical Venus by poet Meg Schoerke. She is currently represented by Sandra Lee Gallery, San Francisco. 

Asheville Downtown Gallery Association Art Walk This Friday

April 3, 2015   Asheville Downtown Gallery Association Art Walk     Enjoy the fine art and craft of the Asheville Downtown Gallery Association. Within a half-mile radius of Pack Square and the city's center, you'll find unparalleled diversity from fine studio crafts, to glass, photography, folk art and contemporary painting, metalwork, textiles, jewelry and more by local, regional, national and international artists.  

Browse 20+ downtown venues with a complete Downtown Gallery Guide and a map available at any participating downtown gallery, the Asheville Visitors' Center or Pack Place. 

The Walks take place each first Friday from 5-8PM, April through December.

John C Campbell Folk School Music Event

April 3, 2015    Music Events at John C Campbell Folk School:  Berea College Bluegrass Ensemble  was founded in the fall of 1999 to give Berea College students with background or potential in bluegrass music an opportunity to play in a "working" bluegrass band with weekly rehearsals, performances, travel, etc. Members are selected by audition, and typically remain with the group until they graduate from Berea College.

The Folk School music events begin at 7 PM and offer FREE admission, but DONATIONS WELCOME. 

Final Weekend for Heartwood Gallery March Madness Sale

March Madness Sale at Heartwood Gallery ends on March 21, 2015 - don't miss out! This is the final weekend to take advantage of huge savings during the March Madness Sale. As they make room for new spring inventory,you are being offered many items at 40-60% off - including: jewelry, pottery,wearables, glass and more.
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Heartwood Gallery is located 21 East Main Street in  Saluda, North Carolina   828-749-9365.

Opening Reception for Jack Tworkov Tonight at The Asheville Art Museum

March 27, 5 PM - 7 PM at the Asheville Art Museum, 2 S Pack Square in downtown Asheville NC: Opening Reception for Jack Tworkov: Beyond Black Mountain, Selected Works From 1952-1982. 

This exhibition revisits artist Jack Tworkov's (1900-1982) affiliation with Black Mountain College and includes a significant survey of the artist's career including important works spanning three decades.  A founding member of the New York School, Tworkov is regarded as one of the great American artists of the 20th century, along with Willem de Kooning, Philip Guston, Jackson Pollock and Franz Kline. 

Also attending the opening event is guest curator Jason Andrew. Andrew is the Manager and Curator of the Estate of Jack Tworkov and has organized many exhibitions of the artist's work, including the 2009 retrospective Jack Tworkov: Against Extremes, Five Decades of Painting. He is an independent scholar specializing in Post War American Art and is currently directing and editing the online Catalogue Raisonne Project of Works on Canvas by Jack Tworkov. In addition, Andrew is a prominent figure in the Bushwick, Brooklyn art scene and is the co-founder/director of Norte Maar, a non-profit now celebrating its 10th Anniversary encouraging, promoting and presenting collaborative projects in the arts. 

Free with membership or Museum admission

The Center for Craft Creativity and Design Announces 2015 Windgate Museum Internship Host Institutions - applications now open for interns

The Center for Craft, Creativity and; Design (CCCD) is pleased to announce the 10th Windgate Museum Internship call for applications. This opportunity provides $5,000 stipends to four nationally selected undergraduate or graduate students to work under the direction of curators or directors in decorative arts or contemporary craft collections, exhibitions and/or programs. 

The goal of these internships is to support and expand the number of future curators with education and interest in contemporary craft. After reviewing applications from a diverse and compelling group of museums, CCCD is pleased to announce the 2015 Windgate Museum Internship Host Institutions: High Museum of Art, Maryland Institute College of Art (Decker Gallery), The Milwaukee Art Museum, The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston.

CLICK HERE for the internship description, deadlines and application instructions.

Shop the Artisans Gallery In-store and On-line

Visit the Stecoah Artisans Gallery Monday thru Saturday 10 AM - 5 PM. The Gallery represents over 150 local and regional artisans who craft in wood, fiber, glass, clay, silver and other natural resources. Beginning in April, the gallery will be open 10 AM - 5 PM Monday through Saturday.

The Gallery is also online at StecoahGallery.com. Shop dozens of hand-crafted items on your computer, tablet or phone; and even more products are coming soon.

The Stecoah Artisans Gallery is located in the Stecoah Valley Cultural Arts Center, 121 Schoolhouse Road in Robbinsville NC.

Pincu Pottery Upcoming shows and events

• Open House and 2nds Sale May 2, 2015 at 10:00 AM – 4:00 PM Pincu Pottery, 80 North Carolina 28, Bryson City, NC 28713, Un ited States Annual Sale of not-so-perfect pots
   
• RAD Studio Stroll May 9, 2015 – May 11, 2015 Clay 5 Ways, River Arts District, Asheville, NC
  
• Decatur Art Festival May 23, 2015 at 10:00 AM – 6:00 PM Decatur, GA. Visit the Pincu Pottery booth set up with lovely pottery on display and for purchase.
  

Pincu Pottery - inspired by nature, made for use.   Elise Willa Pincu Delfield is a full-time studio potter and pottery instructor, living and working in beautiful Bryson City, North Carolina. A member of the Southern Highland Craft Guild, Pincu Delfield's pottery has been published in several books and has found its way to Europe, Asia and Australia. 

Ongoing Exhibit at the Asheville Art Museum Charts 140 Years of American Art

Selections from the Permanent Collection: 140 Years of American Art, is an ongoing installation at the Asheville Art Museum located at 2 S Pack Square in downtown Asheville NC.

The Exhibition, organized and curated by the Museum's staff, is presented  from a chronological point of view while highlighting works of great interest. Viewers may experience the evolution of American art from the late 19th century to the early 21st century, although there are a few notable art works from the 19th century showing the foundation for future works. 

From the American Impressionist to post-war Abstract Expressionism and through Pop Art, Optical Art, Minimalism and the second generation of Abstraction the exhibition provides a remarkable experience of significant American art. 

Get additional details and view selected works HERE.

 

Folk School Spotlights Local Artist Rob Withrow

Rob Withrow opens kiln

It was like Christmas Eve last week over at Brasstown pottery studio, Smoke in the Mountains Pottery, because it's the time the big wood kiln is opened and unloaded.

Many potters from all over the region contribute pots to be fired the traditional way in Rob Withrow's huge wood kiln. This is Rob's 13th wood firing at his studio.  Read the interview with Rob on the John C Campbell Folk School Blog.

Mug Lottery at Penland

Students in Cynthia Bringle’s fall clay workshop at Penland School of Crafts have been making a lot of mugs. So this day they had a mug lottery. Pay $10 and pull a number out of a bowl. Then you look through all the mugs on the desk and find the one that has your number; that’s your new mug. 

Cynthia and the class are encouraging everyone to take their mugs when they go to the coffee house so they can cut down on paper cup consumption. This is staff member Yolanda Walker finding her mug. As it happened the guy at the wheel behind her made one with her number on it.

Penland School of Crafts is located on Conley Ridge Road in Penland NC, near Spruce Pine. Get more photos and Penland updates by subscribing to the Penland Sketch Book.

Asheville Art Museum Lunchtime (Moz)Art Break this week

March 20, 2015:  LUNCHTIME (MOZ)ART BREAK at The Asheville Art Museum   Lunchtime Art Breaks are a series of gallery talks designed to inform and engage you in dialogue with members of staff. For Asheville Amadeus, Asheville Symphony Director David Whitehill will join with a member of the Museum’s curatorial staff to “dissect” works of art. Participants will learn how to analyze both a work of art and a musical work by Mozart. Free with membership or Museum admission

New Photography Exhibit at The Asheville Art Museum

March 13 through July 25, 2015 - Keep All You Wish: The Photographs of Hugh Mangum will be on exhibit at the Asheville Art Museum, 2 A Pack Square in downtown Asheville NC.

The Exhibit features a selection of images of early 20th century Southern society showing personalities as immediate as if they were taken yesterday. Photographer Hugh Mangum began establishing studios and working as an itinerant photographer in the early 1890s traveling by rail through North Carolina, Virginia and West Virginia. Remarkable for his time, Mangum attracted and cultivated a clientele that drew heavily from both black and white communities. 
 

Heartwood Gallery March Madness Sale

Heartwood Gallery March Madness Sale begins this weekend. The Gallery is making room for new, spring inventory. Select items marked down 40-60% including:  jewelry, pottery, wearables, glass and more.  Hurry in to take advantage of these savings. The sale ends March 31, 2015.

Heartwood Gallery is located at 21 East Main Street Saluda North Carolina. The gallery / shop offers local and national handmade wearables, jewelry, paper, paintings, fine porcelain, stoneware, glass, metal and wood. 100% American Craft since 1985.

Quilt Show Today in Hendersonville

March 13, 2015   "Mountain Patches" Quilt Show presented by the WNC Quilt Guild.  The Guild celebrates National Quilting Day with this special show. Participating quilters has incorporated a special purple fabric into each quilt. Guild Members will be present to answer questions.

BRAHM Announces New Executive Director

The Blowing Rock Art and History Museum (BRAHM) has announced the selection of Lee Carol Giduz as its new Executive Director. On the first of April, Giduz will fill the vacancy created by the retirement of Joann Mitchell last October.

The selection was made after a national search and selection process, during which Robert McCammon served as Interim Executive Director for the Museum. “We are very pleased to announce this appointment. Lee Carol brings valuable leadership and fundraising experience in a non-profit, community centered, art organization, “reported Chelsea Garrett, President of the BRAHM Board of Trustees.

Giduz’s experience includes 20 years as the Executive Director of the Caldwell Arts Council in Lenoir, North Carolina. She was an honors graduate in the Public Policy program from Davidson College and has been an active volunteer with many nonprofit organizations in her community.

Giduz has served as a board member on the North Carolina Arts Council, Wildacres Leadership Initiative and Western Art Agencies of North Carolina. She was a 2014 recipient of a Sabbatical Award from the Z. Smith Reynolds Foundation and is a graduate Fellow of the William C. Friday Fellowship for Human Relations, a two year leadership training program.

 “I am honored to be selected to serve as Executive Director of BRAHM,” said Giduz. “I have watched this organization evolve and look forward to being part of its growth moving forward”.

The Blowing Rock Art and History Museum is a 501 (c) (3) nonprofit organization promoting the visual arts, history and heritage of the mountains through educational programs, exhibitions and significant permanent collections.The Museum is located at 159 Chestnut Street in Blowing Rock NC.

Turchin Center for the Visual Arts

The TCVA will be offering several bus trips in 2015.  Below are the dates and locations currently planned for 2015. More details will be posted throughout the year on www.tcva.org/bustrips.  If you are interested in hearing more about specific 2015 bus trips, email millerlw1@appstate.edu. 
  
APRIL 9: Bristol and Abingdon, Virginia -  The first day trip will be to Bristol/Abingdon, Virginia. The trip will depart at 8:00 AM and return at 5 PM. The cost is $60 for TCVA donors and $70 for non-donors. The itinerary is listed below. Seating is limited so please call (828) 262-3017 to reserve a spot.  Each ticket includes round trip transportation, lunch and refreshments. 

Itinerary: 

• 8:00 AM: Depart from University Hall Drive 
• 10:00 AM: Arrive at Benjamin Walls Fine Art Gallery in Bristol, VA 
• 11:00 AM: Depart for Barter Theater in Abingdon, VA 
• 12:30 PM: Lunch at Peppermill 
• 1:30 PM: Optional antique shopping in downtown Abingdon, VA 
• 2:00 PM: Finish the day at the Abingdon Winery. 
• 3:00 PM: Depart for University Hall in Boone, NC

UPCOMING BUS TOUR DATES: 
June 18: Ashe County Arts Tour
September 10:  Asheville Arts Tour
October 10: Spruce Pine Potters Market

The Turchin Center for the Visual Arts  is located at 423 West King Street at Appalachian State University (ASU) in Boone North Carolina.

Registration Now Open for 2015 AWE Conference

May 13, 2015 - 2015 Appalachian Women Entrepreneurs Conference

Many women struggle to make a career out of doing what they love. Often the missing ingredient is an understanding of simple business practices that can help better promote, manage and finance their efforts.

Each year the AWE conference offers the opportunity for women throughout the WNC region to come together, learn new businss skills, network, and celebrate. Join host Handmade in America for a full day to learn and celebrate one another. 

Registration Information: AWE conference is free to all HandMade members and $15 for non-members. To register for the AWE conference fill out the form by clicking HERE.  To pay for the AWE conference as a Non-member click HERE. 

This year the AWE Conference explores Micro-business in the 21st Century with presentations from:

• Keynote speaker: Dorothy Clark 
• Breakout Consultants: 
• April Burt – Business Law 
• Dawn Chitwood – Web Marketing 
• Saralyn Collins – Business Analyst 
• Sara Sheppard Pacifici – Insurance Needs 
• Olivia Poto – Gift Shop Buyer 
• Leah Shapiro – Editor, The Laurel 
• Anna Toth – Award winning, emerging designer 

Itinerary: 

• 8:15 AM Registration and light breakfast 
• 9:00 AM Conference begins 
• 1 hour lunch break 
• 15 minute afternoon break 
• 5:15 PM Conference ends 
• Closing optional reception until 6:30 PM

Current Exhibit at The Blowing Rock Art and History Museum

Now through April 25, 2015 at BRAHM, 159 Chestnut Street (corner of Chestnut and Main) in Blowing Rock NC:  Nearly two hundred photographs from the collection of Jerry Burns, previous editor of the local Blowing Rocket newspaper for forty-four years, are on loan from the Blowing Rock Historical Society. The exhibit takes a unique look at Jerry's life and contributions to the community through his photographs, and is sponsored by Mountain Times Publications.

Jerry Burns Photos at the Blowing Rock Art & History Museum

The Museum, along with the Blowing Rock Historical Society, is putting forth a call to the community for help in researching over 10,000 historical photographs of Blowing Rock and the surrounding area. A selection of these photographs is on view at the Museum in Jerry Burns: Through the Lens, and the Museum has provided forms for visitors to fill in with information about photos on display. 

Trent Margrif of the Historical Society may be in touch with participants to gather more information on other photographs in the collection. Research will be used in the development of a new book on the history of Blowing Rock through Arcadia Publishing, with all sales from the book benefiting the Historical Society.  Please direct all questions to Dianna Loughlin, BRAHM Exhibitions and Collections Coordinator, at dianna@blowingrockmuseum.org.

Inaugural Front Street Arts and Crafts Show Calls for Artists

Call for artisans:  Fine art & fine craft artisans are cordially invited to participate in the inaugural Front Street Arts and Crafts Show in the charming village of Dillsboro NC scheduled for Saturday, June 20, 2015. 

This major juried show also features food, entertainment, silent auction and raffle. The application deadline is April 1. For more information call 828-506-8331. For applications visit www.visit dillsboro.org or mountainlovers.com

While on the web sites, check out the new Arts and Crafts Markets every third Saturday, July through September, a venue designed to give artisans an affordable way ( only $10 ) to exhibit and sell their work. This is not a flea market, but a place for professional artisans.

Just officially confirmed, ColorFest will again feature $500 in cash prizes sponsored by Champion Credit Union. This years date is October 3. 

The new Oktoberfest on October 17 has a low $25 entry fee for artisans. Participate in these events and help make Dillsboro NC a popular mountain art and craft destination.