Learn Asheville’s history, discover hidden gems, and laugh at LaZoom’s quirky sense of adventure.

• Guided comedy tour bus of historical Asheville
• 90-Minutes – tours run daily
• 15-minute break at Green Man Brewing
• $39 per person (ages 13+ only)

The third annual Mother’s Day Market outdoor craft fair will be held Saturday, May 13 from 10 AM-4 PM. Come buy from over 20 local crafters selling everything from jewelry to home goods to clothes and more. Tour the farm house and purchase plants from the farm’s gardeners. Parking will be across the street in the Rugby Middle School field; sheriff’s volunteers will help guests cross the street. Handicapped parking available at the farm. Hot dogs, chips and drinks will be available for purchase.

TFAC invites all artists: painters, sculptors, writers, performers & more — to a casual weekly drop-in gathering on Saturday mornings at 9 AM to share your works in progress, alert others, and chat about art and what’s happening in your community. The first weekly Coffee is Saturday, August 20 at 9 am. No RSVP needed, just drop by! Free parking available on Melrose Avenue, behind and alongside TFAC.

Asheville Gallery of Art’s May show, “Flower Power,” introduces three new Gallery members: Nick Colquitt, Jean-Pierre Dubreuil, and Yvonne McCabe. This delightful exhibition takes its audience on a journey through the mountains of North Carolina, showcasing the mysterious beauty they display within their natural terrain. The show runs May 1-31 during Gallery hours, 11am-6pm daily.

Kids’ Comedy Tour: Wildly funny, this educational and entertaining tour features the perfect blend of Asheville’s history and kid-centric comedy. Geared specifically toward the 5–12 year old crowd, you’ll explore the town with our famously outlandish tour guides leading the way.

• Perfect for birthday parties
• Makes for memorable school field trips
• Tickets are $27 per person
• Beverages available for purchase at the LaZoom Room
• Departs from 76 Biltmore Avenue

An enrolled member of the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians, Luzene Hill advocates for Indigenous sovereignty—linguistically, culturally, and individually. Revelate builds upon Hill’s investigation of pre-contact cultures. This has led Hill to incorporate the idea of Ollin, the Nahuatl word for the natural rhythms of the universe, in Aztec cosmology in her work. Before Europeans arrived in North America, Indigenous societies were predominantly matrilineal. Women were considered sacred, involved in the decision-making process, and thrived within communities holding a worldview based on equilibrium.

Ollin emphasizes that we are in constant state of motion and discovery. Adopted as an educational framework, particularly in social justice and ethnic studies, Ollin guides individuals through a process of reflection, action, reconciliation, and transformation. This exhibition combines Hill’s use of mylar safety blankets alongside recent drawings. Capes constructed of mylar burst with energy and rustle with subtle sound, the shining material a signifier of care, awareness, displacement, and presence. Though Hill works primarily in sculpture, drawing has increasingly become an essential part of her practice as she seeks to communicate themes of feminine and Indigenous power across her entire body of work. The energy within her drawings extends to the bursts of light reflecting from her capes or the accumulation of materials in other installation works.

Luzene Hill was born in Atlanta, GA, in 1946. She received her bachelor of fine art and master of fine art from Western Carolina University. She lives and works on the Qualla Boundary, Cherokee, NC.

Paul Wong, Carbon, silver and gold, 2016, pigmented linen and cotton pulp, publisher: Dieu Donné, New York, edition 3/25, 18 × 11 inches. Gift of Dieu Donné, New York, 2022.27.06. © Paul Wong.

On View March 8 through July 24, 2023
The Van Winkle Law Firm Gallery • Level 1

Paper is an essential part of the art-making process for many artists, serving as the base for drawing, painting, printmaking, and other forms of art. As a substrate, paper can vary in weight, absorbency, color, size, and other aspects. Since industrialization, paper has primarily been produced through mechanical means that allow for consistency and affordability.

What happens, then, when an artist chooses to return to the foundations of paper, wherein it is made by hand using pulps, fibers, and dyes that reflect the human element through variations, inconsistencies, flaws, and surprises? Certain artists have sought out these qualities and embraced them, making paper not just a support on which to work, but fully a medium in and of itself.

Pulp Potential: Works in Handmade Paper is organized by the Asheville Art Museum and curated by Hilary Schroeder, former assistant curator, with assistance from Alexis Meldrum, curatorial assistant. Special thanks to Dieu Donné, New York, NY.

Included with admission

Back by popular demand, The Vanderbilts at Home and Abroad exhibition offers guests:

• An opportunity to view rarely-seen treasures from the Biltmore collection
• A first-hand look at the Vanderbilts’ lifestyle
• Deeper insights into George, Edith, and Cornelia’s personalities, both at home and on their extensive travels

Access to exhibitions at The Biltmore Legacy is included with Biltmore daytime admission.

In the past 50 years in the United States and beyond, artists have sought to break down social and political hierarchies that include issues of identity, gender, power, race, authority, and authenticity. Unsurprisingly, these decades generated a reconsideration of the idea of pattern and decoration as a third option to figuration and abstraction in art. From 1972 to 1985, artists in the Pattern and Decoration movement worked to expand the visual vocabulary of contemporary art to include ethnically and culturally diverse options that eradicated the barriers between fine art and craft and questioned the dominant minimalist aesthetic. These artists did so by incorporating opulence and bold intricacies garnered from such wide-ranging inspirations as United States quilt-making and Islamic architecture. Too Much Is Just Right: The Legacy of Pattern and Decoration features more than 70 artworks in an array of media from both the original time frame of the Pattern and Decoration movement, as well as contemporary artworks created between 1985 and the present. The artworks in this exhibition demonstrate the vibrant and varied approaches to pattern and decoration in art. Artworks from the 21st century elucidate contemporary perspectives on the employment of pattern to inform visual vocabularies and investigations of diverse themes in the present day. Artworks drawn from the Asheville Art Museum’s Collection join select major loans and feature Pattern and Decoration artists Valerie Jaudon, Joyce Kozloff, Robert Kushner, and Miriam Schapiro, as well as Anni Albers, Elizabeth Alexander, Sanford Biggers, Tawny Chatmon, Margaret Curtis, Mary Engel, Cathy Fussell, Samantha Hennekke, John Himmelfarb, Anne Lemanski, Rashaad Newsome, Peter Olson, Don Reitz, Sarah Sense, Billie Ruth Sudduth, Mickalene Thomas, Shoku Teruyama, Anna Valdez, Kehinde Wiley, and more. This exhibition is organized by the Asheville Art Museum and guest curated by Marilyn Laufer & Tom Butler.

Starting April 8th, you can ride ArtAVL’s new free ArtsAVL Connect Trolley – connecting the Downtown and River Arts Districts with two overlapping routes. The initiative is a partnership between ArtsAVL and Gray Line Asheville. Beginning April 8th, two chartered Gray Line trolleys will circulate on 20-30 minute intervals from 12-8 pm on every Second Saturday. Riders are welcome to hop on and off anywhere along the trolley routes. The Downtown Trolley connects the main areas of the Central Business District to the River Arts District. The River Arts Trolley loops throughout the River Arts District. Residents and visitors can view stops and current location of trolleys through the interactive trolley map on ArtsAVL’s website and the new ArtsAVL app.

Wanna hear the best local music ​and​ drink the best local beers? Hop aboard LaZoom’s Purple Bus and rock out with a local band while we take you on a journey to Asheville’s premiere local breweries.

Included with admission

Embark on a scenic journey across George Vanderbilt’s Italy with a large-scale outdoor display that combines brilliant botanical designs with authentic messages written by Vanderbilt himself.

Beautifully handcrafted of natural elements, each sculptural postcard depicts a location or landmark Vanderbilt visited more than a century ago. This captivating complement to Biltmore’s Italian Renaissance Alive exhibition reveals Vanderbilt’s passions for travel, culture, architecture, and art as well as his personal experience of such renowned Italian cities as Milan, Florence, Venice, Pisa, and Vatican City.

Adding to the charm and visual appeal of Ciao! From Italy—sure to be a hit among kids of all ages—is the G-scale model train that travels in and out of each postcard in this enlightening display!

Andrea Rich’s intricately designed, carved, and printed woodcuts draw viewers in for an up-close look.

Some of the artist’s earliest memories are of drawing animals. Childhood encounters with pets, livestock, and wildlife, including birds, deer, and toads, created a lasting connection to the natural world. Through encounters with creatures both tame and wild, Rich developed a fascination and a compassion for animals integral to her art.

“My prints are a visual record of the intriguing creatures that have enriched my life. The woodcut process challenges me to focus on the essence of my subjects. At the same time, I am drawn to the smell of the wood, its texture and grain, and the pleasure I experience while carving. I begin working on a block of wood and realize later that hours have passed without notice.”

Rich uses a centuries-old medium that requires one carved wood panel for each color – varying from one to sixteen – necessary to develop the composition. These panels are painstakingly aligned one atop another sequentially and pulled through a printing press to create the final woodcut.

The subjects of Rich’s woodcuts range from the wilderness of the Australian outback and the lush tropical Amazon forests to the roaring rivers of Yellowstone Park. Rich has traveled worldwide to study wildlife habitats and these varied firsthand experiences are reflected in her work.

Among Rich’s many achievements are international recognition for her woodcut prints, including a 2009 Award of Excellence from the Society of Animal Artists and a 2009 Medal of Excellence from the Artists for Conservation Foundation. She was named Master Artist by the Leigh Yawkey Woodson Art Museum in 2006. In 2010 her work was featured in a solo exhibition at the Mass Audubon Visual Arts Center, Canton, Massachusetts. Rich is a member of the California Society of Printmakers, Artists for Nature Foundation, the Society of Animal Artists, and Society of Wildlife Artists.

In 2000 Rich designated the Woodson Art Museum as the repository for her artistic oeuvre. An Abundance of Riches is drawn from these holdings, which include an example of each of her woodcuts created since the mid-1980s.

Spring Studio Tour Preview Exhibition 

May 13 – June 4

This exhibition gives visitors an opportunity to have a glimpse into each studio and plan their route. It’s also a great place to begin the tour or take a break from a day of non-stop art and artists.

Explore Biltmore House with an Audio Guide that introduces you to the Vanderbilt family and their magnificent home’s history, architecture, and collections of fine art and furnishings.

PLUS: Immersive, multi-sensory Italian Renaissance Alive exhibition created by Grande Experiences

PLUS: FREE next-day access to Biltmore’s Gardens and Grounds

This visit includes access to:

• Italian Renaissance Alive at Amherst at Deerpark®
• 8,000 Acres of Gardens and Grounds for two consecutive days
• Antler Hill Village & Winery
• Complimentary Wine Tastings at the Winery
• Tastings require a Day-of-Visit Reservation, which can be made by:
  • Scanning the QR Code found in your Estate Guide
  • Visiting any Guest Services location
• Complimentary parking

Art Exhibition: Italian Renaissance Alive

This fascinating experience takes you on a spellbinding tour of Italy, fully immersing you in the beauty and brilliance of iconic masterworks from the greatest artistic period in history

Learn Asheville’s history, discover hidden gems, and laugh at LaZoom’s quirky sense of adventure.

• Guided comedy tour bus of historical Asheville
• 90-Minutes – tours run daily
• 15-minute break at Green Man Brewing
• $39 per person (ages 13+ only)

Asheville Gallery of Art’s May show, “Flower Power,” introduces three new Gallery members: Nick Colquitt, Jean-Pierre Dubreuil, and Yvonne McCabe. This delightful exhibition takes its audience on a journey through the mountains of North Carolina, showcasing the mysterious beauty they display within their natural terrain. The show runs May 1-31 during Gallery hours, 11am-6pm daily.

An enrolled member of the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians, Luzene Hill advocates for Indigenous sovereignty—linguistically, culturally, and individually. Revelate builds upon Hill’s investigation of pre-contact cultures. This has led Hill to incorporate the idea of Ollin, the Nahuatl word for the natural rhythms of the universe, in Aztec cosmology in her work. Before Europeans arrived in North America, Indigenous societies were predominantly matrilineal. Women were considered sacred, involved in the decision-making process, and thrived within communities holding a worldview based on equilibrium.

Ollin emphasizes that we are in constant state of motion and discovery. Adopted as an educational framework, particularly in social justice and ethnic studies, Ollin guides individuals through a process of reflection, action, reconciliation, and transformation. This exhibition combines Hill’s use of mylar safety blankets alongside recent drawings. Capes constructed of mylar burst with energy and rustle with subtle sound, the shining material a signifier of care, awareness, displacement, and presence. Though Hill works primarily in sculpture, drawing has increasingly become an essential part of her practice as she seeks to communicate themes of feminine and Indigenous power across her entire body of work. The energy within her drawings extends to the bursts of light reflecting from her capes or the accumulation of materials in other installation works.

Luzene Hill was born in Atlanta, GA, in 1946. She received her bachelor of fine art and master of fine art from Western Carolina University. She lives and works on the Qualla Boundary, Cherokee, NC.

Paul Wong, Carbon, silver and gold, 2016, pigmented linen and cotton pulp, publisher: Dieu Donné, New York, edition 3/25, 18 × 11 inches. Gift of Dieu Donné, New York, 2022.27.06. © Paul Wong.

On View March 8 through July 24, 2023
The Van Winkle Law Firm Gallery • Level 1

Paper is an essential part of the art-making process for many artists, serving as the base for drawing, painting, printmaking, and other forms of art. As a substrate, paper can vary in weight, absorbency, color, size, and other aspects. Since industrialization, paper has primarily been produced through mechanical means that allow for consistency and affordability.

What happens, then, when an artist chooses to return to the foundations of paper, wherein it is made by hand using pulps, fibers, and dyes that reflect the human element through variations, inconsistencies, flaws, and surprises? Certain artists have sought out these qualities and embraced them, making paper not just a support on which to work, but fully a medium in and of itself.

Pulp Potential: Works in Handmade Paper is organized by the Asheville Art Museum and curated by Hilary Schroeder, former assistant curator, with assistance from Alexis Meldrum, curatorial assistant. Special thanks to Dieu Donné, New York, NY.

Included with admission

Back by popular demand, The Vanderbilts at Home and Abroad exhibition offers guests:

• An opportunity to view rarely-seen treasures from the Biltmore collection
• A first-hand look at the Vanderbilts’ lifestyle
• Deeper insights into George, Edith, and Cornelia’s personalities, both at home and on their extensive travels

Access to exhibitions at The Biltmore Legacy is included with Biltmore daytime admission.

In the past 50 years in the United States and beyond, artists have sought to break down social and political hierarchies that include issues of identity, gender, power, race, authority, and authenticity. Unsurprisingly, these decades generated a reconsideration of the idea of pattern and decoration as a third option to figuration and abstraction in art. From 1972 to 1985, artists in the Pattern and Decoration movement worked to expand the visual vocabulary of contemporary art to include ethnically and culturally diverse options that eradicated the barriers between fine art and craft and questioned the dominant minimalist aesthetic. These artists did so by incorporating opulence and bold intricacies garnered from such wide-ranging inspirations as United States quilt-making and Islamic architecture. Too Much Is Just Right: The Legacy of Pattern and Decoration features more than 70 artworks in an array of media from both the original time frame of the Pattern and Decoration movement, as well as contemporary artworks created between 1985 and the present. The artworks in this exhibition demonstrate the vibrant and varied approaches to pattern and decoration in art. Artworks from the 21st century elucidate contemporary perspectives on the employment of pattern to inform visual vocabularies and investigations of diverse themes in the present day. Artworks drawn from the Asheville Art Museum’s Collection join select major loans and feature Pattern and Decoration artists Valerie Jaudon, Joyce Kozloff, Robert Kushner, and Miriam Schapiro, as well as Anni Albers, Elizabeth Alexander, Sanford Biggers, Tawny Chatmon, Margaret Curtis, Mary Engel, Cathy Fussell, Samantha Hennekke, John Himmelfarb, Anne Lemanski, Rashaad Newsome, Peter Olson, Don Reitz, Sarah Sense, Billie Ruth Sudduth, Mickalene Thomas, Shoku Teruyama, Anna Valdez, Kehinde Wiley, and more. This exhibition is organized by the Asheville Art Museum and guest curated by Marilyn Laufer & Tom Butler.

Come join us for a delightful afternoon at Blue Spiral 1. Enjoy a glass (or two) of bubbly while gallery experts guide us through a teapot invitational exhibit that will feature forty functional and sculptural teapots in a variety of mediums. Next, a high tea featuring Asheville’s High Climate Tea Company will be served with a variety of delightful light bites and desserts.