Upcoming events and things to do in Asheville, NC. Below is a list of events for festivals, concerts, art exhibitions, group meetups and more.

Interested in adding an event to our calendar? Please click the green “Post Your Event” button below.

Wednesday, September 27, 2023
Beyond the Lens: Photorealist Perspectives on Looking, Seeing, and Painting
Sep 27 @ 11:00 am – 6:00 pm
Asheville Art Museum

Throughout the history of painting from the mid-19th century forward, artists have used an

endless variety of approaches to record their world. Beyond the Lens: Photorealist Perspectives on Looking, Seeing, and Painting continues this thread, offering an opportunity to explore a singular and still forceful aspect of American art. Photorealism shares many of the approaches of historical and modernist realism, with a twist. The use of the camera as a basic tool for organizing visual information in advance of painterly expression is now quite common, but Photorealists embraced the camera as the focal point in their creative process.

Beyond the Lens presents key works from the collection of Louis K. and Susan Pear Meisel,

bringing together paintings and works on paper dating from the 1970s to the present to focus on this profoundly influential art movement. The exhibition includes work by highly acclaimed formative artists of the movement such as Charles Bell, Robert Bechtle, Tom Blackwell, Richard Estes, Audrey Flack, and Ralph Goings as well as paintings by the successive generations of Photorealist artists Anthony Brunelli, Davis Cone, Bertrand Meniel, Rod Penner, and Raphaella Spence. Featured artworks in the exhibition include diverse subject matters, but the primary focus is on the common and every day: urban scenes, “portraits” of cars, trucks, and motorcycles, still life compositions using toys, food, candy wrappers, and salt and pepper shakers. All provide opportunities for virtuoso studies in how light, reflection, and the camera as intermediary shapes our perception of the material world.

This multigenerational survey demonstrates how the 35-mm camera, and later technological

advances in digital image-making, informed and impacted the painterly gesture. Taken together, the paintings and works on paper in Beyond the Lens show how simply spellbinding these virtuosic works of art can be.

Beyond the Lens offers a fascinating look into the Photorealism movement and delves into the profound connection between the artists’ observation and creative process,” says Pamela L. Myers, Executive Director of Asheville Art Museum. “We are delighted to present this curated collection of artworks encapsulating the creative vision and technical precision that defines this artistic genre.”

Photorealism found its roots in the late 1960s in California and New York, coexisting with an explosion of new ideas in art-making that included Conceptual, Pop, Minimalism, Land and Performance Art. At first, representational realism coexisted with the thematic and conceptual explosion but was eventually relegated to the margins regarding critical and curatorial attention. Often misunderstood and sometimes negatively criticized or lampooned as a betrayal of modernism’s commitment to abstraction, the artists involved in Photorealism remained committed explorers of the trail they had blazed. In the decades of the late twentieth century and early twenty-first century, realistic and symbolic painting experienced a renaissance, as contemporary artists are increasingly drawn to narrative and storytelling. Concurrently, using a camera as a preparatory tool equally legitimate and valuable as pencils and pens has made the rubric of Photorealism increasingly relevant.

This exhibition is organized by the Asheville Art Museum and guest curated by Terrie Sultan.

This exhibition is sponsored in part by Jim and Julia Calkins Peterson.

Field of Honor in Black Mountain
Sep 27 @ 11:00 am
Field of Honor

The Kiwanis Club of Black Mountain-Swannanoa is presenting its first Field of Honor®. A field of American flags dedicated to military and first responders will be flying from September 11 – September 30th at the lot between the Black Mountain United Methodist Church and Harwood Home for Funerals (200 W. State Street, Black Mountain, NC 28711). An opening ceremony will be held on Monday, September 11 at 1:00 at the field location and a closing ceremony will take place at 11:00 on September 30 to retire the flags. All funds raised by this event will be distributed to non-profit organizations and used for scholarships in the Black Mountain/Swannanoa area. Donations can be made at: https://www.healingfield.org/blackmountainnc23

Romare Bearden: Ways of Working Exhibition
Sep 27 @ 11:00 am – 6:00 pm
Asheville Art Museum

Romare Bearden (Charlotte, NC 1911–1988 New York, NY), African American writer and artist, is renowned for his collages. He constantly experimented with various techniques to achieve his artistic goals throughout his career. This exhibition highlights works on paper and explores his most frequently used mediums, including screen-printing, lithography, hand-colored etching, collagraph, monotype, relief print, photomontage, and collage.

 

Bearden’s work reflects his improvisational approach to his practice. He considered his process akin to that of jazz and blues composers. Starting with an open mind, he would let an idea evolve spontaneously.

 

Romare Bearden: Ways of Working highlights Bearden’s unique artistic practice and masterful storytelling through art,” says Pamela L. Myers, Executive Director of the Asheville Art Museum. “We are thrilled to collaborate with Jerald Melberg Gallery to present these extraordinary works on paper in conversation with Bearden’s collage Sunset Express, 1984 in the Museum Collection (on view in the Museum’s SECU Collection Hall). This exhibition will also provide a glimpse into the cultural histories and personal interests that influenced his art-making practice, and we hope it encourages introspection and dialogue with our visitors.”

 

Jerald Melberg states, “Romare Bearden’s groundbreaking artistic practice continues to captivate audiences worldwide. With an unparalleled legacy of creativity and innovation, Bearden’s contributions to art remain deeply influential years beyond his life.” We have enjoyed organizing this exhibition with the Asheville Art Museum to showcase his artistic genius and inspire visitors from the Western North Carolina region and beyond.”

 

This exhibition is made possible in part by the Judy Appleton Fund. Many thanks to the Jerald Melberg Gallery for the loan of these important artworks and to Mary and Jerald Melberg for their long-standing support of the arts, artists, and the Asheville Art Museum.

The Art of Food: From the Collections of Jordan D. Schnitzer and His Family Foundation
Sep 27 @ 11:00 am – 6:00 pm
Asheville Art Museum

The Art of Food features works from important postwar artists, like Robert Rauschenberg, Roy Lichtenstein, John Baldessari, Wayne Thiebaud, Ed Ruscha, Andy Warhol, David Hockney, and Jasper Johns, alongside the work of contemporary artists, like Alison Saar, Lorna Simpson, Enrique Chagoya, Rachel Whiteread, and Jenny Holzer, among others.

The Art of Food features more than 100 works in mediums that include drawings, paintings, photographs, prints, sculptures, and ceramics by 37 artists.

Each artist has a unique means of depicting food in their work that, when seen alongside others, creates a nuanced representation of the complex place food holds in everyday life. Cross-historical resonances between artists in the exhibition spark novel meditations on food and its discontents, while speaking to a broad range of audiences.

Western North Carolina Glass: Selections from the Collection
Sep 27 @ 11:00 am – 6:00 pm
Asheville Art Museum

Western North Carolina is important in the history of American glass art. Several artists of the Studio Glass Movement came to the region, including its founder Harvey K. Littleton. Begun in 1962 in Wisconsin, it was a student of Littleton’s that first came to the area in 1965 and set up a glass studio at the Penland School of Craft in Penland, North Carolina. By 1967, Mark Peiser was the first glass artist resident at the school and taught many notable artists, like Jak Brewer in 1968 and Richard Ritter who came to study in 1971. By 1977, Littleton retired from teaching and moved to nearby Spruce Pine, North Carolina and set up a glass studio at his home.

Since that time, glass artists like Ken Carder, Rick and Valerie Beck, Shane Fero, and Yaffa Sikorsky and Jeff Todd—to name only a few—have flocked to the area to reside, collaborate, and teach, making it a significant place for experimentation and education in glass. The next generation of artists like Hayden Wilson and Alex Bernstein continue to create here. The Museum is dedicated to collecting American studio glass and within that umbrella, explores the work of Artists connected to Western North Carolina. Exhibitions, including Intersections of American Art, explore glass art in the context of American Art of the 20th and 21st centuries. A variety of techniques and a willingness to push boundaries of the medium can be seen in this selection of works from the Museum’s Collection.

Author Erica Abrams Locklear discusses her new book Appalachia on the Table
Sep 27 @ 12:00 pm – 1:15 pm
Asheville Art Museum


Free for Members or included with Museum admission; registration not required.

Join guest speaker Erica Abrams Locklear for a conversation about her new book Appalachia on the Table: Representing Mountain Food and People. Following a book discussion, join our Learning & Engagement staff in the galleries for a conversation connecting themes within the book to selected works from the current exhibition The Art of Food: From the Collections of Jordan D. Schnitzer and His Family Foundation. Books are available for purchase at Malaprop’s Bookstore/Café for a 10% discount.

The YMCA Mobile Market
Sep 27 @ 12:00 pm – 1:00 pm
Enka-Candler Library

The YMCA Mobile Market takes place in the Enka-Candler Library community room. Bring your grocery bags and get fresh food for your family. The market provides fresh produce paired with healthy recipes and a Community Engagement Table with valuable services.

While you’re here, stop over to get a library card if you don’t have one, pick up a cookbook or two to experiment with your bundle of groceries, or grab a DVD to watch while snacking.

Distributions are FREE and all community members are welcome. 

Technology Talk: The Cloud
Sep 27 @ 1:00 pm – 2:00 pm
Pack Memorial Library

Free Technology Workshop Lead by “Rent a Millennial”

Topic: The Cloud
The 4 W’s (and one H) of the Cloud. We will cover What, When, Where, Why, and How. There will be time for Q&A and individual attention.

September 27th, 1-2pm
Pack Memorial Library Lord Auditorium
Free
Beginner friendly

Registration is required. Register using the event calendar link, or by calling 828-250-4700, or emailing [email protected].

Rent a Millennial is a local technology company. They focus on broad spectrum of digital technologies including; computer repair, networking, smart appliances, home theaters, mobile devices and more. Founded by a Weaverville native, the company’s mission is to get the technology you already own to work the way you want. They believe in transparency, honesty, and providing support at a price everyone can afford.

YMCA Mobile Market
Sep 27 @ 2:00 pm – 3:00 pm
Leicester Library

The YMCA Mobile Market will be set up in the library parking lot from 2-3 pm. Bring your grocery bags and get fresh food for your family.  All are welcome, regardless of income or family size. Distributions are free and no paperwork is required.

The market provides fresh produce paired with healthy recipes and a Community Engagement Table with valuable services such as cooking demonstrations.

While you’re in the lot, stop in to get a free library card if you don’t have one, pick up a cookbook or two to experiment with your bundle of groceries, or grab a DVD to watch while snacking.

Homemade Health + Wellness Series with Ashley English
Sep 27 @ 6:00 pm – 7:00 pm
Enka-Candler Library

May be an image of 1 person and text that says 'HOMEMADE HEALTH AND WELLNESS SERIES w ASHLEY ENGLISH Learn about homemade health and wellness items with author, teacher, and homesteader, Ashley English, at Enka Candler Library. APRIL 26 MAY 24 SPRING CLEANING: LEARN HOW To MAKE NATURAL CLEANING PRODUCTS FOR YOUR HOME! SPRING PRESERVES STRAWBERRIES UNE 28 JULY 26 NATURAL BODY 6PM 7PM! AUGUST 23 NATURAL HEALTH SEPTEMBER HOME CANNING REGISTRATION IS REQUIRED'

Join us throughout the spring and summer for a class series focusing on homemade health and wellness items with author, teacher, and homesteader, Ashley English. For each class, Ashley will be bringing materials and demonstrating how to make each item. Several handouts will be given to attendees and they’ll detail everything needed for creating the project at home. The class will take place on the 4th Wednesday of every month at 6 PM.
Please register so we know how many people to expect. Class is free to attend and takes place in our library community room. Please call 828-250-4758 or visit the library events calendar at buncombecounty.org/library and scroll to the date to sign up!
April 26- Spring Cleaning: All Purpose Cleaner, Glass Cleaner, Toilet Bowl Cleaner, Wood Polish, Vinyl & Linoleum Floor Cleaner, Citrus Concentrate, Rug & Carpet Odor Sprinkle
May 24- Spring Preserves: Strawberry Jam, Quick Pickled Radishes, Beet & Dill Relish, Pickled Asparagus
June 28- Strawberries: Jam, Sauce, Frozen, Vinegar, Quick Pickled
July 26- Natural Body: Apple Cider Vinegar Rinse, Rosemary Hair Oil. Easy Baking Soda Exfoliant, Rosewater Toner, Everyday Face Oil
August 23- Natural Health: -Bugs Away Insect Repellant, Boo Boo Goo, Sunburn Soother, Electrolyte Replenisher, Sleep Salve
September 27 – Home Canning: Materials & Equipment, Methods, Safety, Storage, Favorite Seasonal Recipe
Ashley English is the author of 11 books, on topics ranging from raising chickens to canning & preserving, and from hosting potlucks to homemade health & wellness products. From handcrafted pies, to natural crafting, Ashley is enamored with all things DIY, slow, and fun! She lives in a forested cove in the mountains of North Carolina with her husband Glenn (with whom she works together full-time), their two young sons, Huxley and Alistair, and a menagerie of animals. (smallmeasure.com)
This program is sponsored by the Friends of Enka-Candler Library.
Thursday, September 28, 2023
Asheville Parks + Recreation Adult fall athletic programs + sports leagues
Sep 28 @ 7:00 am
Various Locations

With multiple parks featuring ballfields and volleyball, pickleball, tennis, and basketball courts, Asheville has plenty of opportunities to join pick-up games or play with organized sports leagues. Asheville Parks & Recreation (APR) offers a broad line-up of youth athletics programs, adult sports leagues, and special events throughout the year with an emphasis on fair play and enjoyment for any level of experience, including the fall opportunities below.

Search Current Asheville Sports and Athletics

Limited spots available, so advance registration at AVLREC.com required. Some activities offer discounted registration for early sign ups. Most team sports also offer “looking for a team” options for free agents. Some activities charge a higher rate for participants who do not live in Asheville.

Leagues

6v6 Indoor Volleyball League, $200 per team

Registration opens November 27, games begin January 16 for winter season

Upper, middle, and lower divisions play at Tempie Avery Montford Community Center.

Over 40 Basketball League, $60 per player

Registration ends August 24, games begin September 12

Asheville’s newest team sports league provides an opportunity for community members over 40 who want to get back into the game or prefer to play with others around the same age. Sign up as an individual to be placed on a team based on height, position, and skill level for games played at Linwood Crump Shiloh Community Center.

Flag Football League, $600 per team

Registration opens August 30, games begin October 17

Upper, middle, and lower divisions play at Asheville Middle School on 211 South French Broad Avenue.

Winter Basketball League, $600 per team

Registration opens October 10, games begin November 27

Upper and lower divisions play at Linwood Crump Shiloh Community Center. Middle division plays at Stephens-Lee Community Center.

Clinics and Tournaments

Tennis Clinic, $20 per player

Registration ends September 6, clinics held each Tuesday and Thursday from September 12-21

Instructional clinics for beginners and intermediate players teach the basics and build on skills each class at Murphy-Oakley Park.

Doubles Grass Volleyball Tournament, $20 per team

Registration ends September 5, tournament on September 16

Six sets to 21 in pool play for advance and intermediate divisions in which all teams advance to the playoffs on a day of music, fun, and volleyball at Carrier Park.

Intro to Golf, $10 for series with players responsible for their own green fees

Registration ends September 28, games played each Wednesday from October 4-25

Travel to a different golf course each week for one-on-one coaching to learn the game. For more info, contact Colt Miller at [email protected] or (828) 707-2376.

Pumpkin Ball Softball Bash Tournament, $150 per team

Registration ends September 30, tournament on October 7

All players hit a 16-inch softball in games played on a 200-foot distance field with unlimited home runs with a three-game guarantee. Winning teams receive prizes and trophies. For more info, contact Zack Stewart at [email protected] or (828) 545-1644.

Late Night Wiffleball Tournament, $5 per team

Registration ends November 9, tournament on November 16

Five-player teams play in this two-game guarantee tournament at Tempie Avery Montford Community Center. For more info, contact Kiley Pritchard at [email protected] or (828) 507-3357.

 

Food Scraps Drop Off: Stephens-Lee Recreation Center
Sep 28 @ 7:00 am – 6:00 pm
Stephens-Lee Recreation Center

Food Scraps Drop Off

The City of Asheville, in partnership with Buncombe County and the Natural Resources Defense Council, is offering a FREE Food Scrap Drop-Off program in

two locations for all Buncombe County residents.  This organic matter will be collected and turned into good clean compost, keeping it OUT of our landfill and reducing greenhouse gas emissions.

 

Register for Food Scraps Drop Off

 

 

 

   

 

 

 

Need a handy kitchen countertop food scrap bin?  Let us know on the registration form! We’ll be having bin giveaways at city and county facilities and would love to give you one.

 

Locations

Stephens-Lee Recreation Center “Food Scrap Shed” next to the Community Garden on the North side of the parking lot

30 Washington Carver Avenue, Asheville

    • Monday – Friday, 7 a.m. – 6 p.m.
    • Saturday, 8 a.m. – 2 p.m.
    • Sunday, 12 – 4 p.m.

Murphy Oakley Community Center and Library – “Food Scrap Bin Shelters” on the east side of the parking lot

749 Fairview Road, Asheville

    • Dawn – Dusk

West Asheville Library – “Food Scrap Bin Shelters” on the south side of the building

942 Haywood Road, Asheville

    • Library open hours
    • Buncombe County Landfill – Convenience Center85 Panther Branch Road, Alexander
        • Monday-Friday, 8 a.m. – 4:30 p.m.
        • Saturday, 8 a.m. – 12:30 pm
Food Scraps Drop Off: Buncombe County Landfill
Sep 28 @ 8:00 am – 4:30 pm
Buncombe County Landfill – Convenience Center

Food Scraps Drop Off

The City of Asheville, in partnership with Buncombe County and the Natural Resources Defense Council, is offering a FREE Food Scrap Drop-Off program in two locations for all Buncombe County residents.  This organic matter will be collected and turned into good clean compost, keeping it OUT of our landfill and reducing greenhouse gas emissions.

 

Register for Food Scraps Drop Off

 

 

 

   

 

 

 

Need a handy kitchen countertop food scrap bin?  Let us know on the registration form! We’ll be having bin giveaways at city and county facilities and would love to give you one.

 

Locations Holidays call for hours

Buncombe County Landfill – Convenience Center

85 Panther Branch Road, Alexander

    • Monday-Friday, 8 a.m. – 4:30 p.m.
    • Saturday, 8 a.m. – 12:30 pm

Murphy Oakley Community Center and Library – “Food Scrap Bin Shelters” on the east side of the parking lot

749 Fairview Road, Asheville

    • Dawn – Dusk

Stephens-Lee Recreation Center “Food Scrap Shed” next to the Community Garden on the North side of the parking lot

30 Washington Carver Avenue, Asheville

    • Monday – Friday, 7 a.m. – 6 p.m.
    • Saturday, 8 a.m. – 2 p.m.
    • Sunday, 12 – 4 p.m.

West Asheville Library – “Food Scrap Bin Shelters” on the south side of the building

942 Haywood Road, Asheville

    • Library open hours
Biltmore Estate: Ciao! From Italy Sculptural Postcard Display
Sep 28 @ 8:30 am
Biltmore Estate

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!

Exhibition: NEO MINERALIA
Sep 28 @ 10:00 am – 6:00 pm
Center for Craft

Photo credit:

Sae Honda. Courtesy of the Artist.

NEO MINERALIA suggests that recent rock formations no longer fit within the traditional groups: Igneous, Metamorphic, and Sedimentary. Instead, the Anthropocene, the era of human influence on the climate and environment, has introduced two post-natural rocks: Synthetic and Digital.

NEO MINERALIA presents a selection of new geological specimens crafted by ten international artists exploring rocks as reflections of our effects on human and nonhuman ecologies. By embedding synthetic materials (plastics, e-waste) and layers of data points (critical, financial, social) into the craftsmanship of these artifacts, the artists transgress the definition of rocks, turning them from passive aggregates of minerals into metaphorical aggregates of data. Within their apparent “rockness” we can decode hopes, warnings, and speculative future scenarios.

The featured works stemming from places as varied as Mexico, Japan, Poland, and Australia (including a curated artists’ books library), collectively signal a new era of planetary and geological consciousness where we are asked to read, feel, and listen to rocks in new ways.

Exhibition: Something earned, Something left behind
Sep 28 @ 10:00 am – 6:00 pm
Center for Craft

Photo credit:

J Diamond, “Pony II,” 2022. Courtesy of the Artist

Something earned, Something left behind is an exhibition of objecthood; a critical analysis of the transactional and political languages of everyday and culturally significant objects. This exhibition challenges a history of exclusion and inclusion of People of Color (POC) and their narratives from the canon of craft based on subject matter. It dissects this history’s origins and precedent as an economic transaction to gain access to white spaces.

Racial and ethnic identity influences the way individuals perceive themselves, the way others perceive them, and the way they choose to behave. For this reason, People of Color are expected to perform certain roles in order to fit into hegemonic institutions. These roles can be an active shrinking of themselves and the racialized part of them, or a personal exploitation of their racialized selves. This exhibition addresses and redresses the ways narrowed populations have been included, and the ways in which they have been asked to participate.

Together, this work creates space for and legitimizes POC narratives with depth and care. The exhibiting artists’ practices work against institutionalized expectations of POC work, expanding discourse and inserting new subjectivity into the canon of craft art. It engages with a community hungry for the revitalization and resuscitation of non-Western voices within art spaces. This exhibition challenges the expectations of art from artists of marginalized backgrounds and embraces a new subjectivity of interrogating one’s inherited experiences.

Exhibition: Crafting Denim
Sep 28 @ 10:00 am – 6:00 pm
Center for Craft

Photo credit:

Photograph by Bowery Blue Makers

Jeans – with their standardized pockets, rivets, and denim – are so much a part of everyday wardrobes that they are easy to overlook. Yet, in workshops across the nation, independent makers are reevaluating the garment and creating jeans by hand, using antiquated equipment and denim woven on midcentury looms. Crafting Denim explores how and why jeans have come to exist at the intersections of industry and craft, modernity, and tradition.

A product of industrial factory production for over a century, jeans are being recast by a new cohort of small-scale makers including craftspeople like Ryan Martin of W.H. Ranch Dungarees, Takayuki Echigoya of Bowery Blue Makers, and Sarah Yarborough and Victor Lytvinenko of Raleigh Denim, who favor choice materials and small-batch fabrication. The jeans they make merge craft traditions with industry and extend the conversation between hand and machine.

Each maker creates a distinctive product but shares a deep appreciation for materials, tools, history, and denim. These jeans are in dialogue with the past and in line with contemporary interests in sustainability. The small workshops featured here are sites of innovation and preservation, and visitors are invited to take a close look at an everyday item and imagine alternative contexts for making and living in our own clothes.

Food Scraps Drop Off: West Asheville Library
Sep 28 @ 10:00 am – 5:00 pm
West Asheville Library

Food Scraps Drop Off

The City of Asheville, in partnership with Buncombe County and the Natural Resources Defense Council, is offering a FREE Food Scrap Drop-Off program in

two locations for all Buncombe County residents.  This organic matter will be collected and turned into good clean compost, keeping it OUT of our landfill and reducing greenhouse gas emissions.

 

Register for Food Scraps Drop Off

 

 

 

   

 

 

 

Need a handy kitchen countertop food scrap bin?  Let us know on the registration form! We’ll be having bin giveaways at city and county facilities and would love to give you one.

 

Locations

West Asheville Library – “Food Scrap Bin Shelters” on the south side of the building

942 Haywood Road, Asheville

Library open hours

Stephens-Lee Recreation Center “Food Scrap Shed” next to the Community Garden on the North side of the parking lot

30 Washington Carver Avenue, Asheville

    • Monday – Friday, 7 a.m. – 6 p.m.
    • Saturday, 8 a.m. – 2 p.m.
    • Sunday, 12 – 4 p.m.

Murphy Oakley Community Center and Library – “Food Scrap Bin Shelters” on the east side of the parking lot

749 Fairview Road, Asheville

    • Dawn – Dusk

 

Buncombe County Landfill – Convenience Center85 Panther Branch Road, Alexander

        • Monday-Friday, 8 a.m. – 4:30 p.m.
        • Saturday, 8 a.m. – 12:30 pm
NC Glass Center pumpkin patch
Sep 28 @ 10:00 am – 5:00 pm
NC Glass Center

Through Oct. 29 the center will showcase hundreds of glass-blown pumpkins available for purchase from local artists. . Open 10 a.m.-5 p.m., closed Tuesday.

Beyond the Lens: Photorealist Perspectives on Looking, Seeing, and Painting
Sep 28 @ 11:00 am – 6:00 pm
Asheville Art Museum

Throughout the history of painting from the mid-19th century forward, artists have used an

endless variety of approaches to record their world. Beyond the Lens: Photorealist Perspectives on Looking, Seeing, and Painting continues this thread, offering an opportunity to explore a singular and still forceful aspect of American art. Photorealism shares many of the approaches of historical and modernist realism, with a twist. The use of the camera as a basic tool for organizing visual information in advance of painterly expression is now quite common, but Photorealists embraced the camera as the focal point in their creative process.

Beyond the Lens presents key works from the collection of Louis K. and Susan Pear Meisel,

bringing together paintings and works on paper dating from the 1970s to the present to focus on this profoundly influential art movement. The exhibition includes work by highly acclaimed formative artists of the movement such as Charles Bell, Robert Bechtle, Tom Blackwell, Richard Estes, Audrey Flack, and Ralph Goings as well as paintings by the successive generations of Photorealist artists Anthony Brunelli, Davis Cone, Bertrand Meniel, Rod Penner, and Raphaella Spence. Featured artworks in the exhibition include diverse subject matters, but the primary focus is on the common and every day: urban scenes, “portraits” of cars, trucks, and motorcycles, still life compositions using toys, food, candy wrappers, and salt and pepper shakers. All provide opportunities for virtuoso studies in how light, reflection, and the camera as intermediary shapes our perception of the material world.

This multigenerational survey demonstrates how the 35-mm camera, and later technological

advances in digital image-making, informed and impacted the painterly gesture. Taken together, the paintings and works on paper in Beyond the Lens show how simply spellbinding these virtuosic works of art can be.

Beyond the Lens offers a fascinating look into the Photorealism movement and delves into the profound connection between the artists’ observation and creative process,” says Pamela L. Myers, Executive Director of Asheville Art Museum. “We are delighted to present this curated collection of artworks encapsulating the creative vision and technical precision that defines this artistic genre.”

Photorealism found its roots in the late 1960s in California and New York, coexisting with an explosion of new ideas in art-making that included Conceptual, Pop, Minimalism, Land and Performance Art. At first, representational realism coexisted with the thematic and conceptual explosion but was eventually relegated to the margins regarding critical and curatorial attention. Often misunderstood and sometimes negatively criticized or lampooned as a betrayal of modernism’s commitment to abstraction, the artists involved in Photorealism remained committed explorers of the trail they had blazed. In the decades of the late twentieth century and early twenty-first century, realistic and symbolic painting experienced a renaissance, as contemporary artists are increasingly drawn to narrative and storytelling. Concurrently, using a camera as a preparatory tool equally legitimate and valuable as pencils and pens has made the rubric of Photorealism increasingly relevant.

This exhibition is organized by the Asheville Art Museum and guest curated by Terrie Sultan.

This exhibition is sponsored in part by Jim and Julia Calkins Peterson.

Field of Honor in Black Mountain
Sep 28 @ 11:00 am
Field of Honor

The Kiwanis Club of Black Mountain-Swannanoa is presenting its first Field of Honor®. A field of American flags dedicated to military and first responders will be flying from September 11 – September 30th at the lot between the Black Mountain United Methodist Church and Harwood Home for Funerals (200 W. State Street, Black Mountain, NC 28711). An opening ceremony will be held on Monday, September 11 at 1:00 at the field location and a closing ceremony will take place at 11:00 on September 30 to retire the flags. All funds raised by this event will be distributed to non-profit organizations and used for scholarships in the Black Mountain/Swannanoa area. Donations can be made at: https://www.healingfield.org/blackmountainnc23

Romare Bearden: Ways of Working Exhibition
Sep 28 @ 11:00 am – 6:00 pm
Asheville Art Museum

Romare Bearden (Charlotte, NC 1911–1988 New York, NY), African American writer and artist, is renowned for his collages. He constantly experimented with various techniques to achieve his artistic goals throughout his career. This exhibition highlights works on paper and explores his most frequently used mediums, including screen-printing, lithography, hand-colored etching, collagraph, monotype, relief print, photomontage, and collage.

 

Bearden’s work reflects his improvisational approach to his practice. He considered his process akin to that of jazz and blues composers. Starting with an open mind, he would let an idea evolve spontaneously.

 

Romare Bearden: Ways of Working highlights Bearden’s unique artistic practice and masterful storytelling through art,” says Pamela L. Myers, Executive Director of the Asheville Art Museum. “We are thrilled to collaborate with Jerald Melberg Gallery to present these extraordinary works on paper in conversation with Bearden’s collage Sunset Express, 1984 in the Museum Collection (on view in the Museum’s SECU Collection Hall). This exhibition will also provide a glimpse into the cultural histories and personal interests that influenced his art-making practice, and we hope it encourages introspection and dialogue with our visitors.”

 

Jerald Melberg states, “Romare Bearden’s groundbreaking artistic practice continues to captivate audiences worldwide. With an unparalleled legacy of creativity and innovation, Bearden’s contributions to art remain deeply influential years beyond his life.” We have enjoyed organizing this exhibition with the Asheville Art Museum to showcase his artistic genius and inspire visitors from the Western North Carolina region and beyond.”

 

This exhibition is made possible in part by the Judy Appleton Fund. Many thanks to the Jerald Melberg Gallery for the loan of these important artworks and to Mary and Jerald Melberg for their long-standing support of the arts, artists, and the Asheville Art Museum.

The Art of Food: From the Collections of Jordan D. Schnitzer and His Family Foundation
Sep 28 @ 11:00 am – 6:00 pm
Asheville Art Museum

The Art of Food features works from important postwar artists, like Robert Rauschenberg, Roy Lichtenstein, John Baldessari, Wayne Thiebaud, Ed Ruscha, Andy Warhol, David Hockney, and Jasper Johns, alongside the work of contemporary artists, like Alison Saar, Lorna Simpson, Enrique Chagoya, Rachel Whiteread, and Jenny Holzer, among others.

The Art of Food features more than 100 works in mediums that include drawings, paintings, photographs, prints, sculptures, and ceramics by 37 artists.

Each artist has a unique means of depicting food in their work that, when seen alongside others, creates a nuanced representation of the complex place food holds in everyday life. Cross-historical resonances between artists in the exhibition spark novel meditations on food and its discontents, while speaking to a broad range of audiences.

Western North Carolina Glass: Selections from the Collection
Sep 28 @ 11:00 am – 6:00 pm
Asheville Art Museum

Western North Carolina is important in the history of American glass art. Several artists of the Studio Glass Movement came to the region, including its founder Harvey K. Littleton. Begun in 1962 in Wisconsin, it was a student of Littleton’s that first came to the area in 1965 and set up a glass studio at the Penland School of Craft in Penland, North Carolina. By 1967, Mark Peiser was the first glass artist resident at the school and taught many notable artists, like Jak Brewer in 1968 and Richard Ritter who came to study in 1971. By 1977, Littleton retired from teaching and moved to nearby Spruce Pine, North Carolina and set up a glass studio at his home.

Since that time, glass artists like Ken Carder, Rick and Valerie Beck, Shane Fero, and Yaffa Sikorsky and Jeff Todd—to name only a few—have flocked to the area to reside, collaborate, and teach, making it a significant place for experimentation and education in glass. The next generation of artists like Hayden Wilson and Alex Bernstein continue to create here. The Museum is dedicated to collecting American studio glass and within that umbrella, explores the work of Artists connected to Western North Carolina. Exhibitions, including Intersections of American Art, explore glass art in the context of American Art of the 20th and 21st centuries. A variety of techniques and a willingness to push boundaries of the medium can be seen in this selection of works from the Museum’s Collection.

TrV Talks (ABCCM Transformation Village Community Engagement Series)
Sep 28 @ 4:00 pm – 5:00 pm
ABCCM Transformation Village

Please join us as Reverend Scott Rogers unveils plans for the expansion of the Transformation Village campus and programs. Find out what’s in store for our residents, volunteers, and community partners as ABCCM continues to fill the gap.

Our ongoing theme is “Action Today-Hope for Tomorrow.”
Come learn how ABCCM’s ministry services and outstanding volunteer support make a positive impact on our community and those whom we serve.

There will be an opportunity to ask questions
Refreshments will be provided

ABCCM Transformation Village / Dining Room
Thursday September 28, 2023 | 4PM
30 Olin Haven Way, Asheville, NC 28806
GPS Address 45 Rocky Ridge Rd

Featuring Scott Rogers, ABCCM Executive Director & Julie Singleton, ABCCM Board Secretary & TrV Advisory Committee. If you would like to attend, send your RSVP to [email protected], 828.398.6985

Sponsored by
Asheville Biltmore Rotary Club

Krafthouse 2023: Forest of the New Trees
Sep 28 @ 5:00 pm – 8:00 pm
The Center for Craft
Center for Craft’s immersive installation asks:
What will Appalachia be in a post-major event future?
– The Center for Craft is thrilled to announce Krafthouse, a new immersive art installation, made for and by the community, that will evolve and change each year in their historic building at 67 Broadway in downtown Asheville.

Local artist Jeannie Regan leads the inaugural year as Creative Director with the vision for Krafthouse 2023: Forest of the New Trees. Between September 28 and October 13, the curious will be rewarded with a ticketed installation that changes nightly, as artist and audience participation weave a story of radical collaboration in Appalachia in the aftermath of a mysterious, world-changing event.

In the spirit of immersive performances, events, and installations like Meow Wolf, Punchdrunk’s Sleep No More, and Burning Man, Krafthouse 2023: Forest of the New Trees invites self-guided exploration of a strange, new landscape and its imagined ecologies and societies, including cultures, customs, and micro currencies. Return visits will reward guests with new perspectives and illuminate new paths through the experience.

Selected local artists working with Center staff and Regan will each interpret the theme in their own way. The end result will be the creation of a small, self-sustaining community that has made itself anew. A night market atmosphere will welcome visitors, who will be able to make, gift, and trade goods with the artists and each other, with the opportunity to take home keepsakes – as well as leave their own imprint on the space.

The installation asks visitors to participate and collaborate to the extent they wish. Guests are invited to come in costume to share their own interpretation of the post-major event, and to bring any of their own offerings for the space. Costumes and materials will also be available onsite for people who would like to step into this new reality more fully when they arrive.

In her exploration of the theme, Regan researched the centuries-old craft traditions of Appalachia, including their relationship to Indigenous wisdom, hillfolks’ lore, and the ancient wildness of the Blue Ridge Mountains. An undercurrent of the installation is the generational resilience of local peoples facing their own “post-major events” and collaborating radically to survive – and thrive – in their aftermath.

The varied lived experiences of people during the early days of the Covid-19 pandemic, when a multitude of realities existed simultaneously, also informed the theme. “There was no united experience in that major event that happened, because we all experienced it very differently,” Regan shares. But it was also a world where, she notes, “multiple realities intersected and radical community collaboration was the only way to survive.”

She continues, “Craft plays into all of that, because what we make says so much about us as individuals. What we make says something about what we want the future to be.”

Krafthouse 2023: Forest of the New Trees–immersive art installation
Sep 28 @ 5:00 pm
Center for Craft

Krafthouse 2023: Forest of the New Trees

an immersive art installation made by Asheville

creative direction by Jeannie Regan

Visit the Center for Craft at 67 Broadway in downtown Asheville, North Carolina, to discover an imagined post-major event Appalachia. You will descend into the basement to enter a world imagined by artists where craft is the only way to survive and thrive.

‍Guests will abide by the rules of the forest – to learn to trade without currency – and see, hear, touch, and wear what artists have crafted as a way to ensure our collective future. Each experience is unrepeatable, creating an impulse to return to explore the world anew.

Special thanks to Jeannie Regan, Creative Director and Futures Bright, Graphic Design.

General admission tickets are $15 and provide guests with a self-guided tour of the immersive installation that runs for approximately 3 weeks between September 28 – October 13 on Thursdays and Fridays from 5 – 8 pm, and on Saturdays from 2 – 4 pm and 6 – 9 pm.

Ticketed tours depart every 10 minutes, and the experience takes approximately 30 minutes. After the experience, guests will be invited to mingle and grab a beverage or snack.

Reservation Start Time indicates the time your group will be escorted from the main level down to the Krafthouse installation experience.

Please plan to arrive at the Center for Craft main entrance at 67 Broadway Street at least 15 minutes prior to your reservation start time.

Queer Music Exploration
Sep 28 @ 5:00 pm – 6:00 pm
LEAF Global Arts

Queer Music Exploration – Students will explore guitar, bass, drums, singing and piano with a focus on learning music by artists from the LGBTQ+ community. Students will have the chance to interact with their peers and share their experiences through music.

Sustainability Symposium
Sep 28 @ 5:30 pm – 7:00 pm
Pack Square Fire Station

Join us at the Sustainability Symposium sponsored by Lenoir Rhyne University and Mountain True. Participants will engage subject matter experts at five subject stations, defining calls to action in each subject area. The objectives of this event are educating, engaging and activating the community to work individually and cooperatively toward the common goal of a healthier Asheville urban ecosystem. Location: Pack Square Fire Station at 100 Court Plaza Discussion Subjects: Green Incentives Urban Forest Ecology Environmental Justice Plastic reduction General Sustainability

Open Play Basketball
Sep 28 @ 6:30 pm – 9:00 pm
Dr. Wesley Grant Sr. Southside Community Center

Open Play

Time scheduled for organized drop-in, pick-up, and open community games at locations around Asheville. For more info, contact [email protected] or (828) 259-5800. All are free unless noted.

Basketball

Open Play

Time scheduled for organized drop-in, pick-up, and open community games

Dr. Wesley Grant Sr. Southside Community Center, starts September 5

  • Tuesday and Thursday, 6:30-9 p.m.
  • Sunday, 12-5 p.m.