River Arts District mural nears completion

This time last year, two River Arts District artists started a collaboration: a ceramic mural which is currently being pieced together by artists Alex Irvine and Kathy Triplett. The mural was commissioned by Brian and Gail McCarthy, [owners of the Odyssey Center and Highwater Clays] and the initial blueprint was centered around water, something that effects us all in multiple ways.

In the center of the mural stands a five feet long ceramic man, unofficially nicknamed Clingman,  wading through the water and gripping tightly to a coffee mug. According to the artists, the man represents the district in general, artists, visitors and locals blending together to create a community and explore art. The coffee mug is a wink to what keeps many in the community going: a fresh cup of coffee from the Odyssey's neighbor Clingman Cafe.

Irvine and Triplett spent the last year doing prep work for the 10 x 20 mural. Forty-five plaster molds were used to create the water portion of the mural, with the pieces repeating themselves about five times. Irvine spent a month testing the glaze and color for the water portion and, 250 test-tiles later, he found the perfect periwinkle blue/sea-glass green color that will withstand acid rain and other heavy weather conditions.

The next week and a half  the remaining tiles will be pieced together, filling in the golden sky and grouting the wall behind the “joints”. The artists are looking for extra hands for the remaining weeks, so if your in the area, grab some coffee and lend a hand to the inspiring Odyssey mural.

The official unveiling date for the Odyssey mural happens on Thursday, November 10.  Clingman Avenue Extension will be shut down for a street party celebration two days before the River Arts District Studio Stroll.

Visit Irvine's website at www.alexirvineceramics.com  to see the mural's step-by-step process with pictures and explanations.

Random Arts New Studio and Shop Opens

The doors to the new and exciting Random Arts studio and retail space opened on Thursday, Sept 22nd at 10 AM. After months of renovations the always creative and energetic folks at Random Arts are back with workshops and retail space sure to please all their fans.

The next Random Arts Workshop is Fri. Sept 30th Random Strokes with Catherine Langsdorf . For most creative people, doodling is something they have done all their lives. It is a release. A pen and a piece of paper can lead to amazing things. It can travel easily with you and put you into an artistic zone. Enjoy a day of creative play and learning. Many of the doodlings will be based on patterns that when added together create intricate pieces. 10 AM to 2 PM $35.

Random Arts is located at  481 Louisiana Ave in Saluda NC. 828-749-1165

Knife Making Workshop at Tryon Arts and Crafts

Tryon Arts and Crafts School will host a knife making workshop with blade smith Gerry Drew on Saturday, June 25 and Sunday, June 26. The goal of this class is to bring students to a basic understanding of knife design and workmanship in the forge. They will learn to forge, heat treat, temper and grind knife blades that can be attached to a bone, antler or wood handle. By the end of the weekend, students will forge several hunting knife blades and create at least one fully functional tool with a pleasant design and artistic qualities.

Instructor Gerry Drew has been making knives for over 25 years using the stock removal method (start with a flat piece of steel and grind off everything that doesn’t look like a knife). Recently, after attending a forging class at Tryon Arts and Crafts, he developed an interest in the forged knife. Drew says, “Forging gives a person much more flexibility in designing and building a knife. There are bends, twists and tapers that would never be possible with stock removal.” Drew’s knives are hard working tools that have been used all over the world by hunters, fishermen, and campers. A good number of his knives are purchased by collectors who are only interested in the art of his knives and never cut a thing. Drew’s knives are available at the Tryon Arts and Crafts gift shop.

Asheville's River Arts District Second Saturday this Weekend

The River Arts District will be participating in the region-wide Second Saturday Initiative, Collect Art Asheville. Artists and art organizations throughout Western North Carolina open their doors and host openings, events classes and workshops on the second weekend of each month. Head down to the River Arts District this Saturday to explore what local artists are creating & sharing!

Asheville Art Museum Announces Summer Skies Raffle

The Asheville Art Museum has announced the Summer Skies Raffle to benefit the Museum's vibrant exhibitions and educational programming. The Summer Skies Raffle offers seven exciting for a variety of summer getaway experiences.

Longing for white sands, blue skies and tropical beauty? The Summer Skies Raffle offers not one, but two packages for week-long Caribbean getaways: St. Maarten Skies or St. Thomas Skie.

Insprired by the region's thriving arts scene and want to get hands-on? Craft Horizons includes classes and workshops at John C. Campbell Folk School, Odyssey Center for the Ceramic Arts, Cloth Fiber Workshop, Asheville Bookwooks and DIY Woodworking Shop.

Building a collection of fine art? Add a stunning work of art by renowned Studio Glass artist Richard Ritter to your collection with Studio Skies.

Dreaming of a long weekend on the coast? Coastal Skies offers two separate three-night stays in Murrell's Inlet, SC and Historic Downtown Savannah, GA. Enjoy a private flight for two to one of these lovely coastal destinations.

Fascinated by the night skies? Explore the wonders of the cosmos, both here in Western North Carolina and with a week vacation in the dark-sky country of Ft. Davis, TX with Starry Skies.

Looking to show off the Ashevill area to visiting friends and family, or simply to enjoy all that the Land of the Sky offers for yourself? Mountain Skies provides outdoor adventures, arts and culture, shopping, dining, spa relaxation and more!

Tickets available: Online at www.ashevilleart.org, by calling the Museum at 828.253.3227 or in person at the Museum Front Desk. $100 per Ticket and only 100 Tickets Available Per Package. The Drawing will be held June 30, 2011

Proceeds from the Summer Skies Raffle will support the Asheville Art Museum's mission to engage, enlighten and inspire individuals and enrich community through dynamic experiences in American Art. The Asheville Art Museum is Western North Carolina's premier visual arts institution and its collections a unique resource in the city and the region. The Museum's programs engage diverse audiences of all ages in active exploration of themselves - their past and future - and their communities, through interpretation of American art since the beginning of the 20th century. Committed to being a vital force in the community and individual development, the Museum's focus is on lifelong learning through the visual arts for all audiences from pre-school children to senior citizens. The Asheville Art Museum is located at 2 South Pack Square in Asheville North Carolina.

Peer-to-Peer Technical Assistance grant awarded to HandMade Small Towns by NC Rural Economic Development Center

HandMade will test a new approach to small town revitalization, one which uses volunteers as lead trainers and peer consultants, thanks to a new Economic Innovations grant from the North Carolina Rural Economic Development Center. HandMade's asset-based, citizen-led community economic development techniques are expected to be shared with dozens of additional small communities throughout Western North Carolina and the state during 2011 and 2012.

Judi Jetson, Handmade Director,  will manage this training and technical assistance project, working in partnership with existing HandMade Small Towns, regional and state resource groups to identify success stories and the people behind them, and develop methods and incentives to share success with more people and places. Topics will cover hands-on, how-to examples of ways to make small towns unique and memorable such as renovating an historic courthouse, developing a cultural activity or exhibit, opening a gallery with work of local artisans and more. All will feature small town volunteers as trainers.

HandMade's business model for this Small Towns Institute will use peer-learning as a way to build a sustainable platform and to serve, at a modest cost, towns too small to have paid staff. Currently there are 12 towns actively participating in HandMade's Small Towns Program, and collectively they have created over 600 jobs, 300 new businesses and attracted $53 million in investment over the past decade. The vision behind this proposal is to create the same magnitude of economic growth over the next 10 years by leveraging the knowledge and power of hundreds of citizen leaders in small towns to plan and implement community development projects which create jobs. 

Last Week for the First Ever Sale

SALE!  $25.60

The Home of the Perfect Christmas Tree project continues to celebrate its customers and the community with its first ever sale for one more week. The sale began the first week in March and continues through the 31st. A 20 percent off sale is offered on most of the products in the store. Other products will be offered at half off. There has never been a sale on the handmade products at the store.

This sale, and the month long events, is a great time for customers to visit the store or shop online to enjoy the savings as well as to see the new products on display. The Home of the Perfect Christmas Tree store is located at 262 Oak Street, in historic downtown Spruce Pine NC

Meet the Maker series at UNC

March 17 ASHEVILLE -  UNC Asheville Craft Studies Initiative's Meet the Maker series The UNC Asheville Craft Studies Initiative's Meet the Maker series presents Ann Millett-Gallant, educator and author of The Disabled Body in Contemporary Art

Asheville Art Museum Shop Artist of the Month

Museum Shop March Artist of the Month: Sondra Dorn

Sondra Dorn is a full time studio artist living in Asheville, North Carolina. She received her MFA from the University of Washington in 1996. Following graduate school, Dorn went on to a one year Artist in Residency at Arrowmont School of Arts and Crafts in Gatlinburg, Tennessee, and then a three-year Artist in residence at Penland School of Crafts in Penland, North Carolina. She was also a CORE fellowship student at Penland between the years 1992 through 1994.

New Members' Party at the Asheville Art Museum

Join Now + Come Party: New Members' Reception Sunday, February 13, 2011, 2:00 - 4:00 p.m. Free to New Members We love our new Members! This Sunday afternoon reception welcomes our new Members that have joined the Museum over the past year. This is a wonderful opportunity to meet fellow art lovers and learn more about the Museum. The Museum Shop will be offering a special 15% discount during the reception, instead of the usual 10% Member's discount, as a thank you for joining the Museum family!

Join as a Member to enjoy this party and a year of Membership benefits. To join, contact Rebecca Lynch-Maass at 828.253.3227, ext. 114 or rlynch-maass@ashevilleart.org.

The Asheville Area Arts Council Opens The Artery

On Friday Evening The Asheville Area Arts Council held a grand opening for its new community art space, The Artery.  Located at 346 Depot Street in the River Arts District the 1400 sq foot facility will will have multiple functions from providing visitor information for the River Arts District to hosting after-school programs, workshops, performances, and gallery-style shows.

The mission of the Asheville Area Arts Council is to unify established creative professionals and organizations into a collaborative and thriving sector, to cultivate emerging grassroots entrepreneurs through direct financial support and access to opportunities, and to enhance the profile and visibility of our unique culture.

Opening Reception for A Chosen Path: The Ceramic Art of Karen Karnes

January 28 from 5PM to 7PM Opening Reception A Chosen Path: The Ceramic Art of Karen Karnes  - Free with Museum Membership or Museum Admission . For more than 60 years, Karen Karnes (1925 - ) has been at the forefront of the studio pottery movement. Over her long career, she has created some of the most iconic pottery of the late 20th and early 21st centuries. She has worked at some of the most significant cultural settings of her generation including North Carolina's avant-garde Black Mountain College in the 1950s.

Karnes and her then husband, David Weinrib, were invited in 1952 to head the ceramics program at Black Mountain College. While at Black Mountain College, Karnes sold her pieces through the Allanstand Shop, now part of the Southern Highland Craft Guild. After two years, the couple left Black Mountain and moved to Stony Point, New York. Karnes is noted for her functional pieces as well as her organic sculptural forms. Since 1983, Karnes and her partner, Ann Stannard, have lived on a farm in Vermont.

This exhibition was organized by Arizona State University Art Museum Ceramics Research Center, Tempe, Arizona, and curated by Curator of Ceramics Peter Held. A handsome exhibition catalogue with essays by Christopher Benfey, Garth Clark, Jody Clowes, Peter Held, Janet Koplos, Edward Lebow and Mark Shapiro is available for purchase in the Museum Shop. The exhibition is traveling to only five museums, including the Asheville Art Museum.

HandMade in America Names New Executive Director

HandMade in America (HandMade), a leader in creative economic development in Western North Carolina, announced that it has named Gwynne Rukenbrod as the organization's new Executive Director, effective January 1, 2011. HandMade's Board made its selection after a rigorous search process that generated more than 120 applicants from across the United States.

Since 2008, Rukenbrod has served as Curator of Fine Craft at the Houston Center for Contemporary Craft, a nonprofit organization founded to advance education about the process, product, and history of craft. An accomplished glass artist herself, she was previously Executive Director of the International Society of Glass Beadmakers, Art Curator of The Works (the Ohio Center for History, Art and Technology), and Director of Columbus' Days of Creation Arts for Kids.

Rukenbrod brings extensive experience in the management of nonprofit cultural organizations; including program development, fund-raising and donor relationships, volunteer coordination, and event production. She has worked with both rural and urban communities and built strong stakeholder coalitions in both. "HandMade in America has such a wealth of creative energy, which is no doubt inspired by the beauty of the region and the talents of its artisans. I look forward to working with the board, staff, and surrounding communities to revitalize, fulfill, and expand on the mission and vision of the organization".

"Gwynne Rukenbrod's dynamic combination of management experience and expertise as an exhibiting craft artist and curator are a perfect fit for HandMade," said Bill Lehnert, Chair of HandMade's Board. We look forward to her enthusiasm and leadership with great anticipation. Stephanie Twitty, who chaired the Search Committee for the new Executive Director, added: "It was a privilege to lead this important effort. Gwynne's skills, enthusiasm, and deep regard for craft and community speak well for the future of HandMade."

Opening Recption for The Olmsted Project at the Asheville Art Museum

Opening Reception, The Olmsted Project: Photographs by Lee Friedlander
Friday, December 10, 5:00 to 7:00 p.m.  Free with Museum Membership or Admission

Lee Friedlander (1934- ) is one of this country's preeminent photographers. Among his projects, Friedlander photographed the work of Frederick Law Olmsted, designer of the Niagara Reservation (North America's oldest state park), Washington Park, the U.S. Capitol Building landscape, parkway systems in Buffalo and Louisville, New York City's Central Park and the grounds of the Biltmore Estate in Asheville, North Carolina.

Rambling with his camera through the parks' open meadows and densely wooded areas, Friedlander explores Olmsted's landscapes - the meticulous stonework, the balance of sun and shade, the mature trees and the saplings. Friedlander creates an appreciation for Olmsted's parks as invented worlds, not sublime landscapes, designed to delight the eye and offer, as Olmsted wrote, "healthful recreation" for the public. By providing worthy testimony to our era's renewed interest in preserving the finest landscape architecture of the 19th century, Friedlander's black-and-white photographs celebrate the essential pleasures of seeing and being in Olmsted's living works of art.

This exhibition was organized and curated by the Asheville Art Museum. This exhibition is sponsored in part by the Mary Duke Biddle Foundation with local support from Kerns Landscape Architecture, Equinox Environmental and Terri Long Landscape Design, Inc. The Museum is grateful for the support of Janet Borden, Inc., New York City in helping organize this exhibition.

Image credit:  Lee Friedlander, Biltmore, 1994, gelatin silver print, 11 x 14 inches. 2008 Collectors' Circle Purchase. Asheville Art Museum Collection. 2008.36.02.91.

Holiday Shopping Extravaganza! at the Asheville Art Museum

November 16- 21, 10:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. each day Pack Place Community Galleryat the Asheville Art Museum. The Museum hosts the annual Holiday Market and this year we plan to have a variety of local artists with handmade arts and crafts, along with lots of Museum Shop goodies. Find art by local artists, including: Dawn Dalto, Andrew Montrie, Joy Tanner, Gabriela Baumgardner, Irene Redmond, Chris Savely, Sumner Smith, Kate Stockman, Erin Hinckley, Vaughan Anderson, Jim Caskowski, Sonja Voss, Suzie Millions, David Wilson and Loretta Forde. This is a wonderful opportunity to support the local artists, the Museum and the arts community in Asheville.

Winter Rentals at Penland School of Crafts

Penland doesn't offer classes in the winter, but that doesn't mean the studios are empty. Each winter, there is a small but lively community on the hill made up of staff members and winter renters. The books, clay, glass, iron, photo, textiles, and wood studios are available in January and February for folks who wish to work independently--the letterpress/print studio is available in February. Housing is also available. You can find complete information on the winter rental page of the website.

Downtown Andrews gets a Second Mural

Andrews Valley River Arts Guild has created its second downtown mural, The Wagon Train, designed by artist Steve Zigich. Building owners Ron and Marsha Clontz sponsored the paint and supplies and are so pleased with the results they are thinking about having an empty old gas station they own painted as a giant aquarium.

The Valleytown Cultural Arts Center has had a summer filled with notable events including one of the traveling Design Expo exhibits and workshops by two of the participating artists. Bryan Hughes, a member of the AVI Board, has started a new newspaper to provide an affordable venue for small town businesses. Plans for the publication include internet marketing .

3rd Annual Celebration of Art & Antiques in Blowing Rock

July 29 - Aug 1   BLOWING ROCK  A Celebration of Art & Antiques  The Blowing Rock Art and History Museum (BRAHM) presents its third annual Celebration of Art & Antiques, a three-day-weekend sale of heirloom-quality antique silver, furniture, pottery, jewelry, clocks, crystal and more. Approximately 20 vendors will be in town to sell English, European and American furniture as well as clocks, oriental rugs, china, pottery, fine silver and crystal, jewelry and more. The event is open to the public.

Stone Mountain Overlook Giclée Released

North Carolina artist Teresa Pennington's final giclée in a commemorative series celebrating the Blue Ridge Parkway, Stone Mountain Overlook, is completed and available for purchase. The three other scenic overlooks captured in this series are Richland Balsam, Grandfather Mountain, and Courthouse Valley.

Commemorative artwork by both Pennington and Virginia artist, P. Buckley Moss, is available at the Blue Ridge Parkway Foundation Web Store, at authorized galleries, and on the artists' Web sites:
 

T. Pennington Art Gallery 15 N. Main Street, Waynesville, NC 828.452.9284

P. Buckley Moss Museum 150 P. Buckley Moss Drive, Waynesboro, VA 540.949.6473

Jackson County Recreation Center receives Quilt of Jackson County

Cullowhee  North Carolina. On Thursday, May 27th, Catch the Spirit of Appalachia (CSA) and the Appalachian Homestead Farm & Preserve presented the Jackson County Recreation Center a hand pieced, appliquéd quilt of Jackson County in appreciation for the past five years assisting the Patchwork Folk and Fabric Festival. The Center staff  have assisted with anything needed before, during and after the annual show. The quilt has been in the making since the beginning of the year, and will now be on display at the Center located at 88 Cullowhee Mountain Road in Cullowhee.
The 5th annual Patchwork Folk & Fabric Festival will be June 5th at the Jackson County Recreation Center. Come and check out the quilt and take advantage of the handmade arts & crafts show from 9am until 4pm.  For more information, call the Recreation Center at 828-293-3053.