Our pick-your-own tulips are a spring crop, and you are invited to pick as many of these beauties as you like. We charge $2 per stem. You will not need clippers. You can bring your own container or buy one from us.

Tulip season will start on Friday, March 22, 2024.

Hours:
Friday: 11 a.m. to 4 p.m.
Saturday: 11 a.m. to 4 p.m.
Sunday: 1 to 4 pm.

Exhibition and Public Programming

Vera B. Williams, an award-winning author and illustrator of children’s books, started making pictures almost as soon as she could walk. She studied at Black Mountain College in a time where summer institutes were held with classes taught by John Cage and Merce Cunningham. Williams studied under the Bauhaus luminary Josef Albers and went on to make art for the rest of her life. At the time of her death, The New York Times wrote: “Her illustrations, known for bold colors and a style reminiscent of folk art, were praised by reviewers for their great tenderness and crackling vitality.” Despite numerous awards and recognition for her children’s books, much of her wider life and work remains unexplored. This retrospective will showcase the complete range of Williams’ life and work. It will highlight her time at Black Mountain College, her political activism, and her establishment, with Paul Williams, of an influential yet little-known artist community, in addition to her work as an author and illustrator.

Author and illustrator of 17 children’s books, including Caldecott medal winner, A Chair for My Mother, Vera B. Williams always had a passion for the arts. Williams grew up in the Bronx, NY, and in 1936, when she was nine years old, one of her paintings, called Yentas, opens a new window, was included in an exhibition at the Museum of Modern Art. While Williams is widely known for her children’s books today, this exhibition’s expansive scope highlights unexplored aspects of her artistic practice and eight decades of life. From groundbreaking, powerful covers for Liberation Magazine, to Peace calendar collaborations with writer activist Grace Paley, to scenic sketches for Julian Beck and Judith Malina’s Living Theater, to hundreds of late life “Aging and Illness” cartoons sketches and doodles, Vera never sat still.

Williams arrived at Black Mountain College in 1945. While there, she embraced all aspects of living, working, and learning in the intensely creative college community. She was at BMC during a particularly fertile period, which allowed her to study with faculty members Buckminster Fuller and Josef Albers, and to participate in the famed summer sessions with John Cage, Merce Cunningham, M.C. Richards, and Robert Rauschenberg. In 1948, she graduated with Josef Albers as her advisor and sculptor Richard Lippold as her outside examiner. Forever one of the College’s shining stars, Vera graduated from BMC with just six semesters of coursework, at only twenty-one years old. She continued to visit BMC for years afterward, staying deeply involved with the artistic community that BMC incubated.

Anticipating the eventual closure of BMC, Williams, alongside her husband Paul Williams and a group of influential former BMC figures, founded The Gate Hill Cooperative Artists community located 30 miles north of NYC on the outskirts of Stony Point, NY. The Gate Hill Cooperative, also known as The Land, became an outcropping of Black Mountain College’s experimental ethos. Students and faculty including John Cage, M.C. Richards, David Tudor, Karen Karnes, David Weinrib, Stan VanDerBeek, and Patsy Lynch Wood shaped Gate Hill as founding members of the community. Vera B. Williams raised her three children at Gate Hill while continuing to make work.

The early Gate Hill era represented an especially creative phase for the BMC group. For Williams, this period saw the creation of 76 covers for Liberation Magazine, a radical, groundbreaking publication. This exhibition will feature some of Williams’ most powerful Liberation covers including a design for the June 1963 edition, which contained the first full publication of MLK’s “Letter from Birmingham Jail.” Williams’ activism work continued throughout her life. As president of PEN’s Children Committee and member of The War Resisters league, she created a wide range of political and educational posters and journal covers. Williams protested the war in Vietnam and nuclear proliferation while supporting women’s causes and racial equality. In 1981, Williams was arrested and spent a month in a federal prison on charges stemming from her political activism.

In her late 40’s, Williams embarked in earnest on her career as a children’s book author and illustrator, a career which garnered the NY Public Library’s recognition of A Chair for My Mother as one of the greatest 100 children’s books of all time. Infinitely curious and always a wanderer at heart, Williams’ personal life was as expansive as her art. In addition to her prolific picture making, Williams started and helped run a Summerhill-based alternative school, canoed the Yukon, and lived alone on a houseboat in Vancouver Harbor. She helped to organize and attended dozens of political demonstrations throughout her adult life.

Her books won many awards including the Caldecott Medal Honor Book for A Chair for My Mother in 1983, the Boston Globe–Horn Book Award– Fiction category– for Scooter in 1994, the Jane Addams Honor for Amber Was Brave, Essie Was Smart in 2002, and the NSK Neustadt Prize for Children’s Literature in 2009. Her books reflected her values, emphasizing love, compassion, kindness, joy, strength, individuality, and courage.

Images:

Cover of Vera B. Williams’ A Chair for My Mother, published in 1982.

Vera B. Williams, Cover for Liberation Magazine, November 1958.

Celebrate The New Salon exhibition with an afternoon of creativity and community engagement. Enjoy free Museum admission!

Images (left to right) Robert Williams, The Shattered Rose, 2010. Oil on linen, 30 × 36 inches. Courtesy of the Artist. Lauren YS, (美人鱼) Měirényú, 2020. Acrylic on panel, 36 × 24 inches. Courtesy of the Artist.

Visit LEAF Global Arts every Saturday for an in-house cultural exchange with Adama Dembele. Experience the Ivory Coast with our Culture Keeper from the House of Djembe.

Calling adventurous tweens/teens! Join us for Dungeons & Dragons at the Weaverville Library! This program is open to tweens and teens ages 12+.

All skill levels are welcome.

Space for this program is limited. Registration is required. Please stop by the Weaverville Library or call 828-250-6482 to reserve your space!

The Buncombe County Public Library system is delighted to welcome you to an exciting new chapter with our inaugural countywide book club called One Book, One Buncombe. The vision for this communal effort is to have as many people as possible read, discuss, meditate, and ultimately have the shared experience of collectively reading the same book this spring. “Hosting a community reading program has long been a goal for our library system. With so many divisive issues in the world today, now feels like the perfect time for us to launch a program that seeks to bring people together,” says Library Director Jason Hyatt. “Our hope is for participants to engage with their friends, family, neighbors, fellow library patrons, and the community at large through meaningful shared experiences.”

For our first One Book, One Buncombe we have picked The Violin Conspiracy by North Carolina-based author Brendan Slocumb. “We selected The Violin Conspiracy for several reasons: the author’s real-life roots and the story’s primary setting in North Carolina; the theme of the power of the arts, which is so important to our region’s unique cultural landscape; and the examination of racial identity and discrimination, which has the potential to spark thought-provoking community conversations,” explains Jason.

We will officially kick off the countywide book club on March 2 and hope you will join us for this first installment of One Book, One Buncombe as we write a new story celebrating community and collaboration through a shared reading experience. “We’d love it if one of those readers is you! Your participation will help us discover the many ways that one book can bring us all together,” exclaims Jason. “The Violin Conspiracy is a page-turner brimming with heart and soul that is sure to resonate with readers across Buncombe County.”

Below this article, you will find a complete list of events, places to borrow or buy the book, how to get a book club facilitation kit, and additional details. Please note this page will be updated with new information, additional events, and more.

Overview

The Buncombe County Public Libraries are launching a community read for Spring 2024 “One Book, One Buncombe”. We have selected The Violin Conspiracy by Brendan Slocumb for our first book. The novel deals with themes such as musical talent and expression, family, the value of art, greed and commerce, and racism. The author is from Fayetteville, NC and has taught at UNC Greensboro.

Our goal for One Book, One Buncombe is to create a shared experience of reading among a wide spectrum of people. The initiative will culminate with a free community event featuring author Brendan Slocumb on Saturday, April 27 at 2 p.m.

The Book

Buncombe County Public Libraries have purchased a limited number of copies of The Violin Conspiracy to be given away to readers on a first come, first served basis. These copies will be available to the public beginning on March 2. Interested readers can visit or telephone their local Buncombe County Library branch to learn whether copies are available.

Library staff can also assist library patrons in accessing circulating library copies of the book at any time. Limited free downloads of e-reading and audiobook versions are also available digitally through the Libby app.

Copies of the book will be available for purchase at three local independent bookstores, which are all offering a 10% discount to One Book, One Buncombe readers through the end of April:

• Daymoon Coffeebar and Booksellers at 381 Old Charlotte Highway in Fairview
• Firestorm Books at 1022 Haywood Road in West Asheville or via Firestorm Online Ordering with promo code BOOKCLUB10
• Malaprop’s Bookstore / Café at 55 Haywood Street in Downtown Asheville or via Malaprop’s Online Ordering with promo code VIOLIN

We are encouraging all readers to share their free and purchased book copies with friends and family to expand the circle of readers more widely.

Author Event

The initiative will culminate with a free community event featuring author Brendan Slocumb on Saturday, April 27 at 2 p.m. This event will take place at Ferguson Auditorium at AB Tech. 19 Tech Drive, Asheville, 28801. Admission is free and everyone is welcome! No advance registration is required to attend this program.

If you can’t make it, the event will be streamed on the County’s Facebook page.

Slocumb will speak about the book and sign books after the formal program. Books will also be available for purchase at this event.

Learn more about Brendan Slocumb and The Violin Conspiracy on his author page here.

Pages in the Parks

In celebration of our community’s love of reading, our beautiful public parks, and in the spirit of community, we are hosting public reads at local parks. The concept is simple, come to the park and bring something to read. This isn’t a book club; just a time to come together, to enjoy the act of reading, and to remind our community that reading is an essential element to learning, relaxing, and connecting.

Please plan to join us for an hour or two of reading, relaxing, and gathering in our most beautiful public spaces at one of the following times. Things to bring: a book, a friend, a blanket or lawn chair, snacks, and your love of reading!

Buncombe County Public Library staff will be there to sign people up for library cards and answer all of your book and library questions.

• Saturday, April 6 from 2-4 p.m. at Lake Julian Park: 37 Lake Julian Road Arden, NC 28704

Let’s Go Surfin’ Now…you get it! At over 80 shows a year, Sail On is the most booked Beach Boys Tribute band in the world! Sail On plays all of the Beach Boys’ classic hits, plus some treasures from the band’s brilliant extended catalog, recreating the soundtrack to an Endless Summer completely live and in rich detail. If you are looking for an authentic Beach Boys concert experience, you won’t find one better than Sail On! It’s all Good Vibrations!

Follow the Terriers on Twitter at @WoffordBaseball

Short Stories, Linda Gritta Solo Exhibition Exhibition Dates April 6 – April 30, 2024 Opening Reception April 6th, 5-8pm Bender Gallery is excited to announce our first exhibition of 2024, Short Stories, a solo exhibition of new paintings by Linda Gritta. We will have the opening reception for Short Stories on April 6th from 5-8pm. Gritta has been hard at work on many new large paintings. All the paintings are an exploration of color with the desire to create a world that allows the viewer a short refuge from reality. These large works are immersive and begging to be explored. Above image: Improv Three, mixed media on canvas, 48 x 60 inches

Enjoy live music at the picturesque Jump Off Rock, which overlooks the French
Broad River valley and the Blue Ridge Mountains beyond. Musical offerings ranging from jazz to country, rockabilly, pop, rock and
blues.

Ayyyyy, you’re not gonna believe this! Get ready for Gabba Fools, A Sopranos themed party! Call your therapist, because this April 6th at 6pm, we ain’t even jokin’. Bada Bing!

A night of track suits, gold chains, and slick back hair, where we toast the 25th year anniversary of everyone’s favorite family rom-com, The Sopranos. With all due respect, you’re a fool if you miss this!

It’s gonna be a real banger, capeesh? Come decked out as your favorite character. Get ready to bust a move to the beats of Dj Bridal Parti Bucardi and sip on some all new secret Vaperil Fools surprise brews!(If you’ve read this far, it’ll make sense later, I promise) Maybe even get into some “funny business” with our jello “mug” shots and “Some Pulp” Creamsicle Hard Slushies.

Gabba Fools at DSSOLVR, when you’re here, you’re family.

Explore the dark side of Beer City on LaZoom’s Ghosted Tour!

Duration

1 hour

About

Come enjoy our most popular Asheville tour!

About

Bachelorette/Bachelor Parties are not permitted on this tour. The Fender Bender Bus is bachelorette/bachelor friendly!

Learn about Asheville’s strange, sometimes sordid past from our ghoulish guides. You’ll laugh! You’ll scream! You’ll discover mysteries and chilling tales of scandal and murder on the blood-stained streets of this picturesque town!

Ghosted runs approximately 60 minutes. Beer and wine are welcome onboard, but no open containers, and absolutely no liquor, please! All beer and wine must be purchased from the LaZoom Room. (Passengers must be at least 21 years old to drink on the bus, and must have valid ID.)

Age Restrictions

17 and up. No exceptions.

What’s Included

A bunch of bus seats
History of murders, ghosts and tragedies in the Land of the Sky
Tongue-in-cheek comedy
A live (not dead) tour guide

What’s Not Included

Bathroom breaks (It’s 60 minutes long – plan accordingly!)
Beer or Wine (Purchase at our bar, the LaZoom Room, and take on the bus)
Laughing (we’ll give you the funny, but it’s up to you to laugh)
Gratuity (guides only accept dead president currency)

Waitlist

If your desired time and availability is full, then please give us a call to be added to the waitlist.

When you hear Gabriel Fauré’s haunting Élégie as performed by Principal Cello Seth Russell, you will feel something. We don’t presume to tell you what, but sensitive artistry is required, and Seth has it in spades.  The last movement from the Pelléas et Mélisande suite was played at the composer’s own funeral is beautiful enough to make the rest of us cry too.

Speaking of feelings, your patriotism will surge as you hear the sweeping sounds of Aaron Copland’s Appalachian Spring.  How could one person so perfectly encapsulate what America sounds like? The richness and pain and expansiveness and playfulness you hear in this piece composed for chamber orchestra in 1944 is Copland’s calling card. Fiddler Mark O’Connor and Bassist Edgar Meyer collaborated to create Appalachia Waltz in 1993 as a poignant expression of longing for home.

This concert experience might remind you of what it feels like to be on the top of a mountain watching the sunrise.

Thomas Joiner, conductor
Seth Russell, cello
Gabriel Fauré: Pelléas et Mélisande suite for orchestra
Fauré: Elégie
Aaron Copland: Appalachian Spring
Mark O’Connor: Appalachia Waltz

When you hear Gabriel Fauré’s haunting Élégie as performed by Principal Cello Seth Russell, you will feel something. We don’t presume to tell you what, but sensitive artistry is required, and Seth has it in spades. The last movement from the Pelléas et Mélisande suite was played at the composer’s own funeral is beautiful enough to make the rest of us cry too.
Speaking of feelings, your patriotism will surge as you hear the sweeping sounds of Aaron Copland’s Appalachian Spring. How could one person so perfectly encapsulate what America sounds like? The richness and pain and expansiveness and playfulness you hear in this piece composed for chamber orchestra in 1944 is Copland’s calling card. Fiddler Mark O’Connor and Bassist Edgar Meyer collaborated to create Appalachia Waltz in 1993 as a poignant expression of longing for home.
This concert experience might remind you of what it feels like to be on the top of a mountain watching the sunrise.

Thomas Joiner, Conductor

Thomas Joiner has appeared as a conductor, violinist, chamber player, and teacher throughout the United States and eleven foreign countries. As Professor Emeritus of Violin and Orchestral Activities at Furman University, he conducted the Furman Symphony Orchestra in orchestral, operatic, and oratorio performances. As Music Director of the Hendersonville Symphony Orchestra for 21 years, Joiner’s creative programming led to growth, community support, sold-out performances, and annual curriculum-based concerts for 3rd and 6th graders.
As a guest conductor, Joiner led the Orquestra da Camera Theatre Sao Pedro during two residencies in Porto Alegre, Brazil, the Greenville Symphony Chamber Orchestra, the Asheville Lyric Opera, the Philharmonic Orchestra of the Masterworks Music Festival, and All-State Orchestras in Alabama, Georgia, and South Carolina.
As an orchestral violinist Joiner has shared the stage with conductors Robert Shaw, Jorge Mester, John Nelson, and Keith Lockhart and soloists Renee Fleming, Frederica von Stade, Peter Serkin, Itzhak Perlman, Yo-Yo Ma, Gil Shaham and Joshua Bell. As an Artistic Ambassador for the United States Information Agency, he presented seventeen violin recitals with pianist Douglas Weeks during a five-week tour of western Africa and the Middle East. During a sabbatical Joiner studied in Paris with eminent maestro John Nelson. He has twice served as visiting professor at the Academia dell’Arte in Arezzo, Italy.
For many years Joiner held the Dr. & Mrs. William J. Pendergrast, Sr. Artist Chair at the Brevard Music Festival where he served on the conducting staff and as a concertmaster of the Festival Orchestra. He was honored with his wife, violist Anna Barbrey Joiner, with the Distinguished Alumni Award. Previous positions include Professor of Violin and Orchestral Activities at the University of Georgia School of Music, Associate Principal Second Violin of the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra, first violinist with the Louisville Orchestra, SC president of the American String Teachers Association, and a national board member of the Conductors Guild.
Joiner earned the DMA in Violin Performance from Florida State University, the MM in Church Music and Musicology from Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, and the BM in Violin Performance from Furman University. He is a native of Rock Hill, SC where he was drum major of the Rock Hill High School Bearcat Band!

Guest Artist: Seth Russell, Cellist

Dr. Seth Russell performs internationally as a chamber musician, soloist, and orchestral player. Audiences have praised his technical wizardry, adventurous programming, and inspiring musicianship. He has performed solo and chamber music recitals in venues such as Carnegie Hall’s Weill Recital Hall, Boston’s Jordan Hall, Eastman’s Kodak Hall, and Taipei’s Elite Performance Hall. In 2017 and 2019 he was awarded a top prize in the New York International Artists Competition. He is currently in his second season as Principal Cellist of the Greenville Symphony Orchestra in South Carolina.
Seth is passionate about creating new ways to connect with audiences. He recently formed the Parrish Cello Trio with cellists Jamie Clark and Kenny Lee in Spring of 2022. In October 2022 the trio had their inaugural residency in Greenville, SC. The trio led a masterclass with local students and performed a featured concert of diverse genres and arrangements at the Fine Arts Center. In 2014, Seth formed the Oceanus Quartet with colleagues in Boston, which received a New England Conservatory Entrepreneurial grant for a tour of Taiwan in May-June, 2015. The quartet performed and coached students at universities, schools, and concert halls throughout Taiwan. Seth was also a founding member of Phoenix, an innovative chamber orchestra in Boston that creates unique concert experiences through programming, venue, and audience engagement. Now in its ninth season, Phoenix has won the Improper Bostonian’s “Boston’s Best Classical Ensemble,” and was reviewed by the Boston Globe as “eminently worthy of your attention.”
Dedicated to pedagogy and music education, Seth has worked with students of diverse levels and backgrounds. In 2015-16 he served as the Visiting Assistant Professor of Cello and cellist of the Ceruti Quartet at University of Memphis in Tennessee. His private students have been accepted into the “Rising Stars” Piccolo Spoleto Festival, the University of North Dakota, and Oberlin Conservatory. He has served on the faculty of several summer music festivals, including the Longhorn Music Camp, Furman Orchestra Camp, and MasterWorks Festival.
Seth holds a Bachelor’s degree in Cello Performance and a Performer’s Certificate from the Eastman School of Music where he studied with David Ying. He received a Master’s degree in Cello Performance from New England Conservatory where he studied with Paul Katz. He studied with Bion Tsang at the University of Texas at Austin where he received his Doctorate of Musical Arts degree in 2019. His Doctorate research document, “House Concerts: Classical Music at the Heart of Community,” highlights the crucial role of house concerts in the history of classical music as well as the modern music scene. Seth has also studied with Lluis Claret, Gary Hoffman, Ralph Kirshbaum, and Pieter Wispelwey, and worked with the Ying, Borromeo, Brentano, Shanghai, and Miro Quartets. Seth and his wife Chelsea are natives of Greenville, SC.

Memorable and moving moments from some of our favorite
movies of all time, including Harry Potter, Star Wars, E. T., Somewhere in Time, and many more.

By Nick Payne
Directed by Nichole Sumpter
Feichter Studio

Join Roland, a beekeeper, and Marianne, a quantum physicist, as their relationship unfolds in a kaleidoscope of scenes, revealing diverse outcomes shaped by tiny choices and chance events. This captivating romantic drama delves into the mesmerizing world of multiverse theory, exploring the boundless possibilities of love. Brace yourself for an emotionally charged experience that goes beyond the ordinary, as Constellations invites you to ponder the intricate threads of destiny and love. Embark on a mesmerizing journey through the cosmos with Constellations.

Suitable for all audiences.

Let’s Go Surfin’ Now…you get it! At over 80 shows a year, Sail On is the most booked Beach Boys Tribute band in the world! Sail On plays all of the Beach Boys’ classic hits, plus some treasures from the band’s brilliant extended catalog, recreating the soundtrack to an Endless Summer completely live and in rich detail. If you are looking for an authentic Beach Boys concert experience, you won’t find one better than Sail On! It’s all Good Vibrations!

Directed by Angie Flynn-McIver

RIVETING | THOUGHT-PROVOKING | DARK COMEDY

A charming devil arrives in the quiet village of Edmonton to bargain for the souls of its residents in exchange for their darkest wishes. Elizabeth should be his easiest target, having been labeled a “witch” and cast out by the town, but her soul is not so readily bought. As the devil returns –and returns again– to convince her, unexpected passions flare, alliances are formed, and the village is forever changed.

Content advisory: strong language, staged violence

Join us for a beautiful sound healing concert inside the Salt Cave. The concert will be performed by Billy From @Skinny Beats Sound Shop. Come enjoy the sounds of the handpan, gong, crystal bowls as well as many other various instruments. The music will vibrate through the walls of the salt cave and reach to the deepest part of your soul. These two treatments combined create wonderful space for deep healing.

Join us for a beautiful Sound Healing Concert inside the majestic Cave of Salt with performances by our friend from Skinny Beats Drum Shop and Gallery-Billy Zanski. Come enjoy the sounds of singing crystal bowls, unique African instruments, and various drums.

The music will vibrate throughout the walls of the Salt Cave, reaching and healing the deepest parts of your soul.

$60 per person

In consideration of all our guests, please refrain from smoking or heavy perfume use at least two hours prior to your session beginning.

The Emo Night Tour is coming to Asheville! The greatest tribute night to the music that was never just a phase… (including this event, which has been raging all across the country since 2015 and is only getting BIGGER AND BETTER)! The Emo Night Tour DJ’s will be spinning all the angst your teenage dirtbag heart desires all night long and will make you feel like you’re at Warped Tour ‘08 minus all the dust and melting in the sun! So just imagine going to a show and hearing Taking Back Sunday, Fall Out Boy, Panic! At The Disco, My Chemical Romance and many more, all only playing their best songs…all night long in a dance club atmosphere. These shows will be selling out and fast, so make sure to Tell All Your Friends and Sugar, Come Down!