Calendar of Events
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.
To mark the 10th Anniversary of the Windgate Fellowship, the Center for Craft awarded a total of ten, $10,000 Project Grants. This exhibition showcases how the next generation of craft artists used their funds to explore scale, installation, and community practice.
Artists: Andrea Donnelly (Richmond, VA), Josh Copus (Marshall, NC), Dustin Farnsworth (Montreal, QC), Brian Fleetwood (La Mesilla, NM), Ani Geragosian (Salem, MA), Adam Ledford (Philadelphia, PA), Rebecca Manson (Bedford Hills, NY), Rachel Mauser (Louisville, KY), Aaron McIntosh (Richmond, VA), and Mark Reigelman II (Brooklyn, NY).
School of Art & Design Alumni Invitational Exhibition
Exhibition: February 13 – May 4, 2018
Reception: February 15, 2018
In celebration of the 10th anniversary of the College of Fine & Performing Arts, the WCU Fine Art Museum invites 12 accomplished alumni of the School of Art & Design back to campus for this exhibition. Exhibiting artists include Amy M. Anderson, Connie Bostic, Mary Charles Griffin, Luzene Hill, Sally Jacobs, Cole Johnson, Dakota Ling, Jeff Marley, Olivia Mears, Tom Pazderka, Byron Tenesaca, and Preston Tolbert.
Image Caption: Tom Pazderka, Angels of the New Light, 2017, ash, charcoal, and oil on burned panel, 43 x 43 in
SAHC Community Farm
Volunteer to help create a pollinator garden! We will plant the area around our farmhouse with all-native species to create habitat for pollinators and other wildlife. After lunch, enjoy a 1.5-mile educational walk to see SAHC’s bee yard and learn about other ongoing projects on the Community Farm property.
Willie Cole: Soles and Boards
Exhibition: January 16 – May 4, 2018
Since 1989, Willie Cole has employed the image of the clothes iron in his work. Cole morphs this utilitarian object to represent and reference a range of associations from African masks to scarification to slavery and the transatlantic slave trade. This exhibition presents prints from Cole’s time working at Highpoint Editions in Minneapolis, Minnesota from 2011-2012.
Image Caption: Image Courtesy of Highpoint Editions and Willie Cole
Event Type: Story Time for Kids
Age Group: Preschool – (ages 3-5)
Preschool story times are geared towards 3-5 year-olds and include singing, stretchers, and creative activities.
Phone: (828) 250-4758
Email: [email protected]
Event Type: Story Time for Kids
Age Group: Preschool – (ages 3-5)
Library: Enka-Candler
Location: 1404 Sandhill Rd. – Candler
Preschool story times are geared towards 3-5 year-olds and include singing, stretchers, and creative activities.
Event Type: Story Time for Kids
Age Group: Toddler – (ages 18 mos.-2 yrs.)
Toddler Times are interactive story times for children ages 18 months to 3 years.
Phone: (828) 250-6482
Email: [email protected]
Event Type: Performance,Story Telling
Age Group: Preschool – (ages 3-5)
Library: Weaverville
Preschoolers, Get Ready! This year’s “Preschoolers We Love You!” show promises to be one of the silliest ever. This popular variety show for children began as a special valentine to the library’s youngest book lovers and continues to be one of our most favorite events. Each year, shows regularly draw over 1,000 children for the multiple performances. The program is a book inspired musical revue especially designed for preschoolers, with puppets, dancing and other lighthearted fun. The talented performers are drawn from the library staff across the county.
The dates and locations for this year’s performances are:
- Tuesday, April 17 at Pack Memorial Library; Shows at 9:30 and 10:45
- Wednesday, April 18 at the Weaverville United Methodist Fellowship Center ; Shows at 9:30 and 10:45
- Thursday, April 19 at the Black Mountain United Methodist Church; Shows at 9:30 and 10:45
All shows are free, but space is limited. All school groups wanting to attend must call 250-4729 to make a reservation.
Event Type: Story Time for Kids
Age Group: Family – (children of all ages)
A movement based story time for children of all ages.
The Asheville Downtown Association is partnering with Asheville GreenWorks for Downtown Clean Up Day on Wednesday, April 18 as part of Earth Month. The Clean Up will occur from 11am to 1pm, headquartered in Pritchard Park.
On our recent Downtown Census Survey, 31% of businesses indicated that cleanliness is an issue in downtown, so here’s an opportunity to be part of a solution.
We encourage businesses to sign up as a team, but individual volunteers are great too! We’ll partner you up with a group. All supplies will be provided and we’ll assign your team an area upon check in.
Let’s show downtown some love!
Asheville Downtown Association is partnering with Asheville GreenWorks for Downtown Clean Up Day on Wednesday, April 18 as part of Earth Month. The Clean Up will occur from 11am to 1pm, headquartered in Pritchard Park.
On our recent Downtown Census Survey, 31% of businesses indicated that cleanliness is an issue in downtown, so here’s an opportunity to be part of a solution.
We encourage businesses to sign up as a team, but individual volunteers are great too! We’ll partner you up with a group. All supplies will be provided and we’ll assign your team an area upon check in.
Let’s show downtown some love! RSVP on Facebook or email [email protected] to confirm participation.
Event Type: Story Time for Kids
Age Group: Preschool – (ages 3-5)
Preschool story times are geared towards 3-5 year-olds and include singing, stretchers, and creative activities.
On April 7 through 23, Grovewood Gallery will host Spring Awakening, a pediatric patients’ exhibition to benefit Arts For Life, an Asheville-based nonprofit that provides pediatric patients and their families with arts education and engagement opportunities. An opening reception will take place on Saturday, April 7 from 2-5pm and feature live music by the Haw Creek Sweet Hots, ice cream by The Hop, and craft activities for kids. Admission is free.
All artwork will be available for sale, and 100% of proceeds will benefit Arts For Life. Grovewood Gallery will also donate 10% of all regular gallery sales from the exhibition’s opening day.
Every day across North Carolina, Arts For Life’s team of staff members, volunteers, interns, and teaching fellows brighten the lives and healthcare experiences of children and families facing serious illnesses and disabilities. By bringing visual art, music, and creative writing education into hospitals and clinics, they help these children and teens remember that they’re not just patients: they’re artists, musicians, and poets, with a world of possibility at their fingertips.
Event Type: Story Time for Kids
Age Group: Toddler – (ages 18 mos.-2 yrs.)
Toddler Times are interactive story times for children ages 18 months to 3 years.
Event Type: Story Time for Kids
Age Group: Toddler – (ages 18 mos.-2 yrs.)
Toddler Times are interactive story times for children ages 18 months to 3 years.
Email: [email protected]
Phone: (828) 774-3000
Link: http://www.leicestercommunitycenter.com
Welcome Table Free Meal every Wednesday 11:30am-1:30pm
Come cheer on the Cavaliers!
Visitors to Grovewood Village will have the opportunity to learn the story of Biltmore Industries on a guided history tour, offered Wednesday – Saturday at 1pm during April – November. The tour includes a visit to Biltmore Industries’ production facility (aka Dye House), where guests can peek into the past and view the original looms, carding machines, spinning mule and dye vats used to make the famed Biltmore Handwoven Homespun.
The tours last approximately 45 minutes and operate on a first-come, first-served basis, open to 25 people. There is no charge to take the tour, but donations are appreciated. Tours begin at the Homespun Museum in Grovewood Village, where a docent will give a detailed overview of Biltmore Industries’ historic importance before leading guests into the 100-year-old Dye House (usually closed to the public).
Private group tours are also offered for a fee and should be scheduled at least one week in advance.
Come cheer on the Cavaliers!
Event Type: Arts & Crafts
Age Group: School Age – (grades K-5)
Bleacher season is here. Create your own comfy cushion to last all Summer long. Participants will be entered to win free Asheville Tourist Tickets! Lucky winners will be announced during the program.
Garden & Gun’s Mint Julep Month is underway, and MG Road is joining the party! From April 5 to May 5, the Asheville lounge is whipping up their own version of the classic cocktail – dubbed the MG Julep – composed of Olmeca Altos Reposado tequila, coriander, ginger and lime zest syrup, all served over crushed ice and garnished with fresh cilantro. Bottoms up!
Phone: (828) 250-4718
Email: [email protected]
Event Type: Informational
Age Group: Adult
Library: Pack Memorial
Location: 67 Haywood St. – Asheville
Pack Library welcomes Executive Director of Equinox Ranch, Dr. Margo Caparelli.
Dr. Caparelli will talk about the effects of PTSD
for combat veterans and how this behavior can trickle down
to family life. She will also talk about her program, Equinox Ranch, and what that program can do for combat veterans who feel emotionally numb & whose traumatic experiences have left them closed off. The program will end with a Q & A for anyone in attendance who may have questions. Veterans and their family and friends are welcome to this program, no registration required.
Come cheer on the Bulldogs!
The Asheville Tourists are a minor league baseball team based in Asheville, North Carolina. They play in the Class A South Atlantic League and have been a farm team of the Colorado Rockies since 1994.
Asheville teams have played under the Tourists moniker in different leagues and classifications for decades, with the earliest dating to 1897. The current team has played continuously in what is now known as the South Atlantic League since 1976. They have won three league championships, first in 1984 and most recently in 2014. Previous Tourists teams won a total of four additional championships.
The Tourists play home games at McCormick Field. The park opened in 1924, renovated in 1959, and renovated again for the 1992 season. McCormick Field seats 4,000 fans, and is notable for the scoreboard which reads “Visitors” in the guest slot and “Tourists” in the home slot
Come cheer on the Tourists!
The 51st Annual UNC Asheville Juried Student Exhibition will be held in the Thom Robinson and Ray Griffin Exhibition Space. This year, UNCA’s Art Guild will be sponsoring the exhibit. Art Guild, is a campus – wide student arts organization that is open to all forms of art visual art, music, theatre. Entry in the Juried Exhibition is open to any registered student on campus.
This year’s juror will be Robert Tynes. Robert Tynes was born in Chicago and spent his formative years in Birmingham, Alabama, with regular summer retreats to the mountains of North Carolina. He received a BA degree in Art from Rhodes College and a MFA degree in Painting from East Carolina University.
Tynes has held over twenty-five solo exhibitions of his work and has participated in more than a hundred and fifty group shows across the country. He is the recipient of several artist-in-residence grants including two from the Roswell Museum and Art Center, New Mexico and one from the Ucross Foundation in Wyoming. In addition, he has completed several large-scale commissions for The Doubletree Hotel in Kansas City, IBM Corporation in Atlanta, and the city of Charlotte’s Convention Center.
Currently Professor of Art in Painting at UNCA, Tynes has also taught at the University of Hawaii, Humboldt State University in California, and East Carolina University. He was the first Chairman of the Board for the Black Mountain College Museum & Arts Center, and has served as a member of the Boards of Directors for both the Asheville Area Arts Council and the Black Mountain Center for the Arts.
An opening reception will be Friday, April 6, 2018 from 5:00 pm – 8:00 pm. The exhibit will be open to the public Monday – Friday, 10:00 am – 5:00 pm. The closing reception will be Friday, May 4, 2018.
With 20 years of silk painting experience, WNC-based artist Kathy Goodson uses poncho jackets, scarves and framed wall art as part of her exhibit, Dream Silks, on display in the Education Center daily January 13 – April 22, 2018. Using a multi-step process, Goodson applies French dyes to crepe de Chine using various techniques that are often layered, creating vibrant, rich colors. After steam setting, the paintings are often re-stretched and treated with fabric paints and/or wax to create additional effects. Inspired by natural beauty, Goodson primarily focuses on plants, flowers and leaves in her work.
arth Skin is based upon the forms and textures of the earth using inspiration from aerial photography of Western North Carolina and topographical maps of local areas, including Pisgah National Forest and Balsam Range. Created by ceramic artists Trish Salmon and Crystal Allen, Earth Skin includes wall structures and pieces designed for mantles, shelves and tables. All works are available for purchase and a portion of the sales will be donated to The North Carolina Arboretum Society.
About the Artists
Trish Salmon
Trish has been studying clay for many years through the various classes available to her when she lived in the Atlanta area. Taking classes at Penland was a life changing experience and a turning point in her desire to become a studio ceramicist. She and her husband moved to Western North Carolina in 2007, and she has pursued her claywork full time after her career as a kitchen designer. Immediately after retirement, she enrolled in Haywood Community College’s Professional Crafts Program in clay where she received her Associate’s Degree in 2014. She currently is a member of the Odyssey Coop Gallery in the River Arts District in Asheville, NC. She is also a founding member of Artisans on Main in downtown Weaverville where her studio is and where her work is primarily displayed.
Crystal Allen
Before discovering ceramics, Crystal earned a degree in Graphic Art and Design. She has also taught calligraphy, dabbled in watercolors and and learned how to felt, dye and spin natural fibers from her own llamas and sheep. Most recently, Crystal completed the Professional Crafts: Clay Associates degree at Haywood Community College. Her pottery is primarily functional, with altered or hand built additions. Her pieces are produced in her studio, one of her favorite places on earth!
The AAAC is excited to announce Zander Stefani’s upcoming exhibition: “I Am, Are U?” in the Front Gallery of the Refinery Creator Space. An exhibition that ponders the phrase: ‘I am’, Stefani exemplifies the constant moral battle between self and other. The way all past experiences blend to become a reflection of the present moment. Life is a monumental journey and we are mere human beings facing the infinite universe. He explores the questions of identity that we are all forced to face each day, contemplating the boundaries society embeds on us from the moment we are born. While this new body of work has a more developed sense of style, Stefani’s figures continue to portray the same sense of entrapment; plagued by the illusions presented in this world, yet realizing the infinite depths of reality. Intertwining tones of spirituality and street style fill the visual plane in Stefani’s work, bringing to light the palpable connection between the pure expression of graffiti and the intense meditation of spirituality. He tends to work autonomously, allowing the painting to reveal itself through many transparent layers of acrylic paint.
Zander Stefani (b. 1994, Toronto) is a graduate of Savannah College of Art and Design, in Savannah, GA with a BFA in painting. He currently lives in Asheville and has exhibited along the eastern United States. His work can be seen in the homes of collectors throughout North America.
Stefani on his latest body of work:
“Our world these days is so reliant on labels and beliefs in order to be properly delineated and judged. It is hard to have a conversation with a young adult that doesn’t end up revolving around social media, orientation, goals for the future, the steps you will take to get there, etc. We place so much importance on how we identify ourselves that our true spirit gets lost in the mix.
The confusion that comes after asking the first question, “who am I?” only leads to more questions: “what am I doing here?”, “what is my purpose?” “what can I accomplish in this lifetime?” “Do I stand up to those that have come before me?”. Growing up in a society that is so focused on the end result and the next step, it is all too easy to lose sight of ourselves and our connection to the universe. I try to create work that visually represents the melancholy attuned to human existence, an attempt at divulging the questions with no answers.”
The exhibition will be open to the public in the Front Gallery from Friday, April 6 – Friday, May 25, 2018 with an opening reception Friday, April 6th from 5-8 pm. The first 50 attendees to arrive will receive a free signed and editioned poster!