• Explore the Collection and exhibitions virtually on our website.
• Get to know our staff and volunteers, take deeper dives into artwork with our Works of the Week, and more on the Museum blog.
• Relive the grand reopening parties, check out artist interviews, and learn about the history of Pack Square on our YouTube channel.
• Play “I Spy” with your kids using artwork from our Collection.
• Color our Collection (kids and adults) with downloadable coloring sheets and note cards.
• Follow us on social media on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook.

We’ll update this page with virtual tours, children’s activities, and more, as we continue to develop content to provide inspiration, calm, comfort, and yes, even some fun during this unprecedented time.

Last Monday, Arts NC and the North Carolina Arts Council shared a new reopening guide for the arts in NC. The purpose of this document is to provide recommendations for arts organizations as they respond to the COVID-19 pandemic and develop plans for reopening to the public. A webinar (recording above) was also held on Wednesday to go over the document and address questions.

In response to COVID-19, grants between $5,000 and $20,000 are available to statewide or regional arts and cultural service organizations.

Important Dates & Deadlines

• Applications must be submitted on or before June 10, 2020.
• Applicants will be notified by email within three weeks of the deadline.
• Funded expenses must occur between July 1, 2020 and June 30, 2021.

1. Normal routine cleaning with soap and water will decrease how much of the virus is on surfaces and objects, which reduces the risk of exposure.
2. Disinfection using EPA-approved disinfectants against COVID-19 external icon can also help reduce the risk. Frequent disinfection of surfaces and objects touched by multiple people is important.
3. When EPA-approved disinfectants external icon are not available, alternative disinfectants can be used (for example, 1/3 cup of bleach added to 1 gallon of water, or 70% alcohol solutions). Do not mix bleach or other cleaning and disinfection products together. This can cause fumes that may be very dangerous to breathe in. Keep all disinfectants out of the reach of children.

The Craft Futures Fund will fund up to $30,000 each month from May 2020 – October 2020 to support craft-based education projects. These one-time, unrestricted grants of $5,000 will be disbursed to craft-based education projects that envision and build new futures for craft.

• Explore the Collection and exhibitions virtually on our website.
• Get to know our staff and volunteers, take deeper dives into artwork with our Works of the Week, and more on the Museum blog.
• Relive the grand reopening parties, check out artist interviews, and learn about the history of Pack Square on our YouTube channel.
• Play “I Spy” with your kids using artwork from our Collection.
• Color our Collection (kids and adults) with downloadable coloring sheets and note cards.
• Follow us on social media on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook.

We’ll update this page with virtual tours, children’s activities, and more, as we continue to develop content to provide inspiration, calm, comfort, and yes, even some fun during this unprecedented time.

Last Monday, Arts NC and the North Carolina Arts Council shared a new reopening guide for the arts in NC. The purpose of this document is to provide recommendations for arts organizations as they respond to the COVID-19 pandemic and develop plans for reopening to the public. A webinar (recording above) was also held on Wednesday to go over the document and address questions.

In response to COVID-19, grants between $5,000 and $20,000 are available to statewide or regional arts and cultural service organizations.

Important Dates & Deadlines

• Applications must be submitted on or before June 10, 2020.
• Applicants will be notified by email within three weeks of the deadline.
• Funded expenses must occur between July 1, 2020 and June 30, 2021.

Toe River Arts will host BIG INK at its Spruce Pine gallery October 23-24, 2020
for a large-scale woodblock printmaking workshop. BIG INK, founded in 2012 by Lyell Castonguay
and Carand Burnet, and based in Newmarket, New Hampshire, provides opportunities for large-scale
woodblock printing workshops in host institutions. Big Ink’s mission is to inspire a greater public
appreciation of large-scale woodblock printmaking and to extend its practice as an artistic discipline.
Toe River Arts invites artists, high school students and recent high school graduates to apply to
participate in this workshop. Twelve artists and twelve students or recent high school graduates will
collaborate to carve woodblocks to be printed on BIG INK’s “The Big Tuna,” their large-scale,
traveling printing press. No previous knowledge of woodblock printing is necessary. The workshop
fee will be waived for students and supplies will be provided. Artists will be expected to pay a $100
workshop fee and pay supply costs, with Toe River Arts members receiving a discount.
The deadline to apply is July 1, 2020 at 11:59 PM EST. Chosen applicants will be notified July 22, at
which time they will be given material lists. Participants are encouraged to attend socially distanced
“Carving Nights.” Hosted by Toe River Arts and closed to the public, these meetings will give the
artists and students the opportunity and venue to work together on their carvings. Tentatively
scheduled for August, the exact dates and locations for these events will be determined based on the
appropriate social distancing requirements at that time.
While workshop participation is limited to 12 students and 12 artists, the printing process will be open
for the public to observe. If large gatherings are determined to be unsafe due to social distancing
requirements, a limit will be placed on how many people can observe in person, and/or arrangements
will be made for online viewing of the workshop.
This workshop will accompany Think BIG Prints, an exhibition of works by BIG INK artists, in the Toe
River Arts Spruce Pine Gallery’s upstairs ARC space September 11-October 24, 2020. A reception is
planned for October 9, 5-7 PM, but will be rescheduled or moved online if large gatherings are
deemed unsafe.
This workshop is made possible by in part by support from the Blumenthal Foundation.
Information about BIG INK can be found at www.bigink.org. Information about the workshop and the
Think BIG Prints exhibition, and the application to apply to participate in the workshop can be found at
www.toeriverarts.org/artists/education-outreach/big-ink. Please contact Community Outreach
Coordinator Melanie Finlayson at [email protected] for more information.

1. Normal routine cleaning with soap and water will decrease how much of the virus is on surfaces and objects, which reduces the risk of exposure.
2. Disinfection using EPA-approved disinfectants against COVID-19 external icon can also help reduce the risk. Frequent disinfection of surfaces and objects touched by multiple people is important.
3. When EPA-approved disinfectants external icon are not available, alternative disinfectants can be used (for example, 1/3 cup of bleach added to 1 gallon of water, or 70% alcohol solutions). Do not mix bleach or other cleaning and disinfection products together. This can cause fumes that may be very dangerous to breathe in. Keep all disinfectants out of the reach of children.

The 13th annual Firefly Gathering will take place June 3-7, 2020 at Deerfields in Mills River, NC, just 30 minutes outside of Asheville.

We gather each summer to learn and celebrate the skills necessary to live with the Earth. Our family-friendly classes, experiential learning, and culture bring together folks of all ages.

Each day is full of workshops spanning wilderness survival skills to permaculture, plant identification to cooking over fire, cow milking to bowl carving, basket weaving to blacksmithing. Through our time together at Firefly, we not only share skills to connect to the land, we connect also with ourselves, one another, our ancestors, and our future generations.

The Craft Futures Fund will fund up to $30,000 each month from May 2020 – October 2020 to support craft-based education projects. These one-time, unrestricted grants of $5,000 will be disbursed to craft-based education projects that envision and build new futures for craft.

• Explore the Collection and exhibitions virtually on our website.
• Get to know our staff and volunteers, take deeper dives into artwork with our Works of the Week, and more on the Museum blog.
• Relive the grand reopening parties, check out artist interviews, and learn about the history of Pack Square on our YouTube channel.
• Play “I Spy” with your kids using artwork from our Collection.
• Color our Collection (kids and adults) with downloadable coloring sheets and note cards.
• Follow us on social media on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook.

We’ll update this page with virtual tours, children’s activities, and more, as we continue to develop content to provide inspiration, calm, comfort, and yes, even some fun during this unprecedented time.

Last Monday, Arts NC and the North Carolina Arts Council shared a new reopening guide for the arts in NC. The purpose of this document is to provide recommendations for arts organizations as they respond to the COVID-19 pandemic and develop plans for reopening to the public. A webinar (recording above) was also held on Wednesday to go over the document and address questions.

In response to COVID-19, grants between $5,000 and $20,000 are available to statewide or regional arts and cultural service organizations.

Important Dates & Deadlines

• Applications must be submitted on or before June 10, 2020.
• Applicants will be notified by email within three weeks of the deadline.
• Funded expenses must occur between July 1, 2020 and June 30, 2021.