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.
Robert Turner (1913-2005) arrived at Black Mountain College in 1949 to establish the first studio pottery program at the College. He worked with student architect Paul Williams to design the Potshop and stayed until 1951 as a teacher and potter. There he formed lifelong friendships with M.C. Richards, Joe Fiore, and Natasha Goldowski Renner, and was part of the lively mix of art and ideas generated by Clement Greenberg, Katherine Litz, Kenneth Noland, Theodoros Stamos, and many others. Turner’s education prior to his arrival at Black Mountain included Swarthmore College, Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts, The Barnes Foundation, Penland School of Crafts, and Alfred University.
After Black Mountain, Turner and his family moved to Alfred Station, NY where they bought a farm, and he established a successful studio pottery practice and actively exhibited his work in galleries across the U.S. In 1958 he began teaching pottery and sculpture at Alfred University where he would lead the ceramics program until his retirement in 1979. In addition to his influential teaching position at Alfred, Turner taught at Penland, Haystack, and Anderson Ranch helping a new generation of artists and potters develop their work and establishing his own reputation as a gifted teacher.
Robert Turner’s travels to Africa and to the American Southwest proved to be important life experiences and important to his growth as an artist. Over his lifetime he received many awards for his work, but his humble, gentle demeanor and Quaker background helped keep him centered while also remaining open to exploration and discovery in nature and life.
The exhibition will include work by some of Turner’s students and colleagues at BMC, Alfred University, and Penland as well as work by contemporary ceramic artists whose work fits within the context of the show. Artists include: Meredith Brickell, Cynthia Bringle, Marjorie Dial, Cynthia Homire, Bill C. Jones, Bobby Kaddis, Karen Karnes, Eric Knoche, Jeannine Marchand, Neil Noland, Daniel Rhodes, M.C. Richards, Gay Smith, Tom Spleth, Adele Suska, Lydia C. Thompson, Xavier Toubes, Jerilyn Virden, Peter Voulkos, David Weinrib, and Kensuke Yamáda.
I wanted to work with clay so that the way it moved, the vitality of clay, is not meeting something that’s been on the drawing board. It’s using clay with abstraction to start with and then seeing what it’s going to do, how it will move and change, and always surprise you.
Curated by Alice Sebrell, Director of Preservation
Get ready for a transformational experience – one that’s sure to supercharge your wellbeing by:
• providing clarity and connectedness with the world around us
• releasing stress/emotional/trauma responses
• creating higher states of bliss
• boosting the immune system
Join Michele Schalin, a Mental Fitness Coach and Author of “Mindful Metamorphosis: A Compassionate Guide to Inner Transformation, for Breathwork and Sound Bath Experience.
Experience the power of somatic healing with sound vibrational frequencies paired with a technique called holotropic breathwork originally created for trauma healing in 1974. Both holotropic breathwork and the sound frequencies of crystal singing bowls, gongs, and chimes calm the nervous system and clear and revitalize your body’s energetic system.
These techniques release stagnant energy in your body that can contribute to stress, anxiety, depression, physical pain, and illness. Because you are in a deep meditative state during this workshop and in your theta brain frequency, you can also use it for manifestation – healing the body physically and get insights on questions you have in your life. The workshop will also give you a massive boost to the immune system while the body rests in the parasympathetic system for the majority of the workshop.
ASAP (Appalachian Sustainable Agriculture Project) has released a survey to learn more about how people in Western North Carolina shop for food and why they choose the food they do. The survey, part of a three-year project by ASAP’s Local Food Research Center, is for any resident of Western North Carolina over the age of 18, no matter where or how they shop for food. It can be completed online at surveymonkey.com/r/WNCFoodASAP or over the phone by calling ASAP at 828-236-1282. It should take approximately 8 to 12 minutes to complete and will be open through Oct. 31, 2024. Respondents are encouraged to share the survey widely with families, friends, and co-workers.
“By completing this survey, you are helping local farmers understand and connect with consumers,” said Amy Marion, ASAP Associate Director and lead researcher. “The challenges of our food system are constantly evolving. Improving it requires active participation from all community members. With this research we can better understand consumer values and the barriers they face, and help farmers and food producers improve communications with their customers and their communities.”
The survey is part of a three-year research project, “Connections in Direct Markets: Assessing the feedback loop between consumer values and farmers’ marketing strategies,” which will examine and improve communication and alignment between farmers and consumers in Western North Carolina. The research phase will also employ consumer focus groups, farmer interviews and case studies, and more targeted surveying. The broad consumer survey provides an update to the last consumer survey conducted by the Local Food Research Center in 2014. Results from the current research project will be shared in 2025.
ASAP founded the Local Food Research Center in 2011 to study the economic, environmental, and social impacts of localizing food systems. From its inception, ASAP’s programs and services have been grounded in research and evaluation, adjusting based on a strong feedback loop and observation of current conditions in the food system.
This project is supported in part by the National Institute of Food and Agriculture, U.S. Department of Agriculture, under award number 2022-38640-37488 through the Southern Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education program under subaward number LS23-382. USDA is an equal opportunity employer and service provider.
Camp Bluebird 2024 is coming This September!
Together, We Soar!
Make a Difference in the Lives of Adult Cancer Survivors:
Did you know almost 2 million new cases of cancer were diagnosed in the United States in 2023 alone? Each year, millions of people are directly impacted by cancer with an estimated almost 40% of Americans being diagnosed with cancer at some point during their lifetimes.
For those who’ve heard the dreaded three words “You have cancer,” their lives have changed forever, and their new journey is often filled with tears, worry, isolation, and heartache. At Camp Bluebird, we want to help survivors realize their story is not over when they get their diagnosis, they have merely started writing a new chapter…one filled with resilience, hope, and a new sense of determination. And most importantly, we want them to know they are not alone in this journey.
A camp dedicated to survivors and their journeys of healing and hope…What is Camp Bluebird?
Camp Bluebird is a 3-day, 2-night camp where survivors join together for companionship, arts, wellness and therapeutic activities, and even a DJ dance party! Our camp is designed to empower survivors on their journeys of healing and rediscovery while making lifelong friendships.
This year’s camp will take place September 10-12, 2024 at the Bonclarken Conference Center in historic Flat Rock, NC.
We hope you will consider helping as we reach more campers and make a greater impact in the survivor community!
CAMP BLUEBIRD’S MISSION
At Camp Bluebird, our mission is to provide space for cancer survivors from all walks of life to come together for support, encouragement, and understanding. A place where hearts find rest, strength ignites and spirits SOAR as we share in a journey of healing and hope.
Donate Securely Online
With generous donations from our community and friends like you, we can ensure every deserving survivor can experience the magic of Camp Bluebird. Every donation, no matter the size, makes an impact.
Donations not only help those with financial hardships, but also help pay for camp activities, programs, and supplies. Will you help make an impact this year?
Your gift today makes a difference in the lives of Cancer Survivors!
The Artist Support Grant supports emerging and established artists taking the next steps in their career, with grants ranging from $500-$3,000. Funded by the North Carolina Arts Council, this regional grant program supports artists in creating work, improving business operations, or bringing work to new audiences. Region 17 is led by Haywood County Arts Council and supports artists in Buncombe, Haywood, Henderson, Polk, Rutherford, and Transylvania counties. The application cycle opens late July and closes in early September.
Artists are invited to create artworks with the theme of “Red, White and Blue.“ Apply these patriotic colors at the center of your subjects, however there are no limits to your creativity, your artworks don’t need to be primarily patriotic theme, but viewers should be able to spot the use of recognizable amount of red, white and blue colors.
Located on the second floor until September 18th, the show continues the historical relationship between the Southern Highland Craft Guild and Haywood, an educational center of the Guild. This new generation of craft is led by instructors Amy Putansu in fiber, Brian Wurst in wood, Emily Reason in clay, and Robert Blanton in metals & jewelry. Students of the Haywood program come from all over, with or without prior experience of craft, and sometimes pursuing it as a second or third career. The course of study is challenging, combining craft concentrations with supplemental classes in design, drawing, craft history, business, marketing and photography.
Haywood Community College and the Southern Highland Craft Guild share a history that documents the role of craft education in preserving traditional culture, creating economic opportunity and fostering professional practice. All of the artists represent the vitality and creativity of craft practice today, which is the ultimate purpose of both institutions. Many Haywood graduates have become individual members of the Southern Highland Craft Guild and have served the Guild in various capacities.
Instructor Brian Wurst of the Professional Crafts Wood program says, “Our programs have thrived for nearly five decades, and our relationship with the Craft Guild has been a key part of that. We’re always thrilled to have work showcased at the Folk Art Center, and in turn scores of our alumni have gone on to become active Guild members. The Graduate Show is the capstone of two hard years by these students, and it’s a delight to share it in this beautiful space.”
Haywood Community College is located in Clyde, North Carolina, just west of Asheville. The college’s Professional Crafts Program began in recognition of the region’s strong craft heritage. It was envisioned that students would learn the basics of craft media and how to transform that craft into a business. The clay studio was the first to open in 1974. With the addition of jewelry, wood and fiber studios, a comprehensive curriculum was in place by 1977.
Anyone interested in taking courses at Haywood Community College can contact the success coach, Farrah Rodriguez [email protected] 828.627.4505.
The Haywood Community College Professional Crafts Program, Graduate Show, Class of 2024 is a free exhibit at the Folk Art Center on the Blue Ridge Parkway in East Asheville. For more information, visit www.craftguild.org or call 828-523-4110. For more information about the Professional Crafts Program, call 828-627-4674 or visit creativearts.haywood.edu.
Pieces made from nylon fabric ripstop, which keeps tears from spreading, invite viewers into created, fantastical worlds, only to highlight the complex—even impossible—architectures of their construction. Before the pandemic, Adrian primarily focused on personal experiences and interrogations of queerness, identity, and sexuality. Since then, the work has zoomed out in its scope, still centering identity but placed in larger infrastructure and surveillance systems that mediate, manipulate, and control desire.
Adrian counts queer fiber art, BDSM and kink culture, theatre, camp horror, puppetry, and drag among his many influences. Works in RIPSTOP, like the modernist bounce house sculpture A Fallible Complex (2021), evoke spaces for play, beckoning visitors in through their alluring aesthetic and then blocking their entrance or revealing structural instabilities, like missing floors. Others, like The Sensational Inflatable Furry Divines (2017-19), use sensual materials, like faux fur, spandex, and pleather, which connect to theatrical performance and counterculture. The materials “play on people’s initial associations and serve as a gateway into greater conversations about identity construction, performance, desire, and technology,” he shares.Pieces also nod to the history of quilting, including the AIDS Memorial Quilt, another influence on Adrian’s work. “Even when pieces aren’t explicitly making quilt references, I want the history of quilting and sewing-based craft to be part of the conversation of the work,” he says. “Craft is so much about the processes and histories behind materials. It’s about connecting with communities of people who practice those techniques. It’s about material and technique being a doorway into a greater relationship with an object.”
Themes of transformation—of structures, identities, and bodies—run throughout the show. “What I love about drag and puppetry is the sense of transformation and play, specifically with bodies,” Adrian says. “Within these art forms, a body can become mutable and capable of performing and becoming in unexpected states.” The sculptures also transform throughout viewers’ experiences, going through stages of inflation and deflation and existing in many different states.
RIPSTOP’s constant interplay between surface and depth, assumption and reality, are all a part of what Adrian describes as “looking behind the curtain,” which they trace back to the theatre. “When I’m thinking about systems, and the systems desire fits into, I’m thinking of stage construction, the backstage, the things that go on behind the show, and performance of our desires,” they explain.
As a craft artist, Adrian’s philosophy “comes down to having an intentional relationship with material, process, and technique,” he says. “Those aspects of art making are just as – if not more – important than an intellectualized concept being illustrated by an artwork.”
“Broadened definitions of craft that highlight communities of practice are foundational for the Center for Craft’s new strategic direction,” explains Executive Director Stephanie Moore. “Max Adrian’s work in RIPSTOP exemplifies the expansive and meaningful forms craft can take.” The Center for Craft is an institution Adrian credits for their professional growth. “The Center for Craft has felt like such a supporting institution for me specifically and for so many other craft artists I know,” they note. “To be able to bring this amount of work to Asheville is pretty cool.”
See Max Adrian: RIPSTOP at the Center for Craft Beginning July 26. A reception will be held on August 15. RIPSTOP is organized by Houston Center for Contemporary Craft and curated by Sarah Darro.
In the early 1900s, travel by train and automobile became more accessible in the United States, leading to an increase in tourism and a revitalized interest in landscape painting. The relative ease of transportation, as well as the creation of National Parks, allowed people to experience the breathtaking landscapes of the United States in new ways. Artists traveled along popular routes, recording the terrain they encountered.
This exhibition explores the sublime natural landscapes of the Smokey Mountains of Western North Carolina and Tennessee. While there were several regional schools of painting around this time, this group is largely from the Midwest and many of the artists trained at the Art Institute of Chicago or in New York City. Through their travels, they captured waterfalls, sunsets, thunderstorms, autumn foliage, lush green summers, and snow-covered mountains—elements that were novel for viewers from cities and rural areas. Though some of these paintings include people, they are usually used for scale and painted with little to no detail, highlighting the magnificence of nature.
 |
|
Rudolph F. Ingerle, Mirrored Mountain, not dated, oil on canvas, 28 × 32 inches. Courtesy of Allen & Barry Huffman, Asheville Art Museum. |
Robert Turner (1913-2005) arrived at Black Mountain College in 1949 to establish the first studio pottery program at the College. He worked with student architect Paul Williams to design the Potshop and stayed until 1951 as a teacher and potter. There he formed lifelong friendships with M.C. Richards, Joe Fiore, and Natasha Goldowski Renner, and was part of the lively mix of art and ideas generated by Clement Greenberg, Katherine Litz, Kenneth Noland, Theodoros Stamos, and many others. Turner’s education prior to his arrival at Black Mountain included Swarthmore College, Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts, The Barnes Foundation, Penland School of Crafts, and Alfred University.
After Black Mountain, Turner and his family moved to Alfred Station, NY where they bought a farm, and he established a successful studio pottery practice and actively exhibited his work in galleries across the U.S. In 1958 he began teaching pottery and sculpture at Alfred University where he would lead the ceramics program until his retirement in 1979. In addition to his influential teaching position at Alfred, Turner taught at Penland, Haystack, and Anderson Ranch helping a new generation of artists and potters develop their work and establishing his own reputation as a gifted teacher.
Robert Turner’s travels to Africa and to the American Southwest proved to be important life experiences and important to his growth as an artist. Over his lifetime he received many awards for his work, but his humble, gentle demeanor and Quaker background helped keep him centered while also remaining open to exploration and discovery in nature and life.
The exhibition will include work by some of Turner’s students and colleagues at BMC, Alfred University, and Penland as well as work by contemporary ceramic artists whose work fits within the context of the show. Artists include: Meredith Brickell, Cynthia Bringle, Marjorie Dial, Cynthia Homire, Bill C. Jones, Bobby Kaddis, Karen Karnes, Eric Knoche, Jeannine Marchand, Neil Noland, Daniel Rhodes, M.C. Richards, Gay Smith, Tom Spleth, Adele Suska, Lydia C. Thompson, Xavier Toubes, Jerilyn Virden, Peter Voulkos, David Weinrib, and Kensuke Yamáda.
I wanted to work with clay so that the way it moved, the vitality of clay, is not meeting something that’s been on the drawing board. It’s using clay with abstraction to start with and then seeing what it’s going to do, how it will move and change, and always surprise you.
Curated by Alice Sebrell, Director of Preservation
Check Out Our New Arts Discounts Page
We have exciting news! The ArtsAVL website has a new feature: a discounts page!
At any time, you can head on over to artsavl.org/discounts to see special discount offers our members are offering.
View Offerings
Camp Bluebird 2024 is coming This September!
Together, We Soar!
Make a Difference in the Lives of Adult Cancer Survivors:
Did you know almost 2 million new cases of cancer were diagnosed in the United States in 2023 alone? Each year, millions of people are directly impacted by cancer with an estimated almost 40% of Americans being diagnosed with cancer at some point during their lifetimes.
For those who’ve heard the dreaded three words “You have cancer,” their lives have changed forever, and their new journey is often filled with tears, worry, isolation, and heartache. At Camp Bluebird, we want to help survivors realize their story is not over when they get their diagnosis, they have merely started writing a new chapter…one filled with resilience, hope, and a new sense of determination. And most importantly, we want them to know they are not alone in this journey.
A camp dedicated to survivors and their journeys of healing and hope…What is Camp Bluebird?
Camp Bluebird is a 3-day, 2-night camp where survivors join together for companionship, arts, wellness and therapeutic activities, and even a DJ dance party! Our camp is designed to empower survivors on their journeys of healing and rediscovery while making lifelong friendships.
This year’s camp will take place September 10-12, 2024 at the Bonclarken Conference Center in historic Flat Rock, NC.
We hope you will consider helping as we reach more campers and make a greater impact in the survivor community!
CAMP BLUEBIRD’S MISSION
At Camp Bluebird, our mission is to provide space for cancer survivors from all walks of life to come together for support, encouragement, and understanding. A place where hearts find rest, strength ignites and spirits SOAR as we share in a journey of healing and hope.
Donate Securely Online
With generous donations from our community and friends like you, we can ensure every deserving survivor can experience the magic of Camp Bluebird. Every donation, no matter the size, makes an impact.
Donations not only help those with financial hardships, but also help pay for camp activities, programs, and supplies. Will you help make an impact this year?
Your gift today makes a difference in the lives of Cancer Survivors!
The Artist Support Grant supports emerging and established artists taking the next steps in their career, with grants ranging from $500-$3,000. Funded by the North Carolina Arts Council, this regional grant program supports artists in creating work, improving business operations, or bringing work to new audiences. Region 17 is led by Haywood County Arts Council and supports artists in Buncombe, Haywood, Henderson, Polk, Rutherford, and Transylvania counties. The application cycle opens late July and closes in early September.
Artists are invited to create artworks with the theme of “Red, White and Blue.“ Apply these patriotic colors at the center of your subjects, however there are no limits to your creativity, your artworks don’t need to be primarily patriotic theme, but viewers should be able to spot the use of recognizable amount of red, white and blue colors.
Located on the second floor until September 18th, the show continues the historical relationship between the Southern Highland Craft Guild and Haywood, an educational center of the Guild. This new generation of craft is led by instructors Amy Putansu in fiber, Brian Wurst in wood, Emily Reason in clay, and Robert Blanton in metals & jewelry. Students of the Haywood program come from all over, with or without prior experience of craft, and sometimes pursuing it as a second or third career. The course of study is challenging, combining craft concentrations with supplemental classes in design, drawing, craft history, business, marketing and photography.
Haywood Community College and the Southern Highland Craft Guild share a history that documents the role of craft education in preserving traditional culture, creating economic opportunity and fostering professional practice. All of the artists represent the vitality and creativity of craft practice today, which is the ultimate purpose of both institutions. Many Haywood graduates have become individual members of the Southern Highland Craft Guild and have served the Guild in various capacities.
Instructor Brian Wurst of the Professional Crafts Wood program says, “Our programs have thrived for nearly five decades, and our relationship with the Craft Guild has been a key part of that. We’re always thrilled to have work showcased at the Folk Art Center, and in turn scores of our alumni have gone on to become active Guild members. The Graduate Show is the capstone of two hard years by these students, and it’s a delight to share it in this beautiful space.”
Haywood Community College is located in Clyde, North Carolina, just west of Asheville. The college’s Professional Crafts Program began in recognition of the region’s strong craft heritage. It was envisioned that students would learn the basics of craft media and how to transform that craft into a business. The clay studio was the first to open in 1974. With the addition of jewelry, wood and fiber studios, a comprehensive curriculum was in place by 1977.
Anyone interested in taking courses at Haywood Community College can contact the success coach, Farrah Rodriguez [email protected] 828.627.4505.
The Haywood Community College Professional Crafts Program, Graduate Show, Class of 2024 is a free exhibit at the Folk Art Center on the Blue Ridge Parkway in East Asheville. For more information, visit www.craftguild.org or call 828-523-4110. For more information about the Professional Crafts Program, call 828-627-4674 or visit creativearts.haywood.edu.
Pieces made from nylon fabric ripstop, which keeps tears from spreading, invite viewers into created, fantastical worlds, only to highlight the complex—even impossible—architectures of their construction. Before the pandemic, Adrian primarily focused on personal experiences and interrogations of queerness, identity, and sexuality. Since then, the work has zoomed out in its scope, still centering identity but placed in larger infrastructure and surveillance systems that mediate, manipulate, and control desire.
Adrian counts queer fiber art, BDSM and kink culture, theatre, camp horror, puppetry, and drag among his many influences. Works in RIPSTOP, like the modernist bounce house sculpture A Fallible Complex (2021), evoke spaces for play, beckoning visitors in through their alluring aesthetic and then blocking their entrance or revealing structural instabilities, like missing floors. Others, like The Sensational Inflatable Furry Divines (2017-19), use sensual materials, like faux fur, spandex, and pleather, which connect to theatrical performance and counterculture. The materials “play on people’s initial associations and serve as a gateway into greater conversations about identity construction, performance, desire, and technology,” he shares.Pieces also nod to the history of quilting, including the AIDS Memorial Quilt, another influence on Adrian’s work. “Even when pieces aren’t explicitly making quilt references, I want the history of quilting and sewing-based craft to be part of the conversation of the work,” he says. “Craft is so much about the processes and histories behind materials. It’s about connecting with communities of people who practice those techniques. It’s about material and technique being a doorway into a greater relationship with an object.”
Themes of transformation—of structures, identities, and bodies—run throughout the show. “What I love about drag and puppetry is the sense of transformation and play, specifically with bodies,” Adrian says. “Within these art forms, a body can become mutable and capable of performing and becoming in unexpected states.” The sculptures also transform throughout viewers’ experiences, going through stages of inflation and deflation and existing in many different states.
RIPSTOP’s constant interplay between surface and depth, assumption and reality, are all a part of what Adrian describes as “looking behind the curtain,” which they trace back to the theatre. “When I’m thinking about systems, and the systems desire fits into, I’m thinking of stage construction, the backstage, the things that go on behind the show, and performance of our desires,” they explain.
As a craft artist, Adrian’s philosophy “comes down to having an intentional relationship with material, process, and technique,” he says. “Those aspects of art making are just as – if not more – important than an intellectualized concept being illustrated by an artwork.”
“Broadened definitions of craft that highlight communities of practice are foundational for the Center for Craft’s new strategic direction,” explains Executive Director Stephanie Moore. “Max Adrian’s work in RIPSTOP exemplifies the expansive and meaningful forms craft can take.” The Center for Craft is an institution Adrian credits for their professional growth. “The Center for Craft has felt like such a supporting institution for me specifically and for so many other craft artists I know,” they note. “To be able to bring this amount of work to Asheville is pretty cool.”
See Max Adrian: RIPSTOP at the Center for Craft Beginning July 26. A reception will be held on August 15. RIPSTOP is organized by Houston Center for Contemporary Craft and curated by Sarah Darro.
In the early 1900s, travel by train and automobile became more accessible in the United States, leading to an increase in tourism and a revitalized interest in landscape painting. The relative ease of transportation, as well as the creation of National Parks, allowed people to experience the breathtaking landscapes of the United States in new ways. Artists traveled along popular routes, recording the terrain they encountered.
This exhibition explores the sublime natural landscapes of the Smokey Mountains of Western North Carolina and Tennessee. While there were several regional schools of painting around this time, this group is largely from the Midwest and many of the artists trained at the Art Institute of Chicago or in New York City. Through their travels, they captured waterfalls, sunsets, thunderstorms, autumn foliage, lush green summers, and snow-covered mountains—elements that were novel for viewers from cities and rural areas. Though some of these paintings include people, they are usually used for scale and painted with little to no detail, highlighting the magnificence of nature.
|
|
Rudolph F. Ingerle, Mirrored Mountain, not dated, oil on canvas, 28 × 32 inches. Courtesy of Allen & Barry Huffman, Asheville Art Museum. |
Robert Turner (1913-2005) arrived at Black Mountain College in 1949 to establish the first studio pottery program at the College. He worked with student architect Paul Williams to design the Potshop and stayed until 1951 as a teacher and potter. There he formed lifelong friendships with M.C. Richards, Joe Fiore, and Natasha Goldowski Renner, and was part of the lively mix of art and ideas generated by Clement Greenberg, Katherine Litz, Kenneth Noland, Theodoros Stamos, and many others. Turner’s education prior to his arrival at Black Mountain included Swarthmore College, Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts, The Barnes Foundation, Penland School of Crafts, and Alfred University.
After Black Mountain, Turner and his family moved to Alfred Station, NY where they bought a farm, and he established a successful studio pottery practice and actively exhibited his work in galleries across the U.S. In 1958 he began teaching pottery and sculpture at Alfred University where he would lead the ceramics program until his retirement in 1979. In addition to his influential teaching position at Alfred, Turner taught at Penland, Haystack, and Anderson Ranch helping a new generation of artists and potters develop their work and establishing his own reputation as a gifted teacher.
Robert Turner’s travels to Africa and to the American Southwest proved to be important life experiences and important to his growth as an artist. Over his lifetime he received many awards for his work, but his humble, gentle demeanor and Quaker background helped keep him centered while also remaining open to exploration and discovery in nature and life.
The exhibition will include work by some of Turner’s students and colleagues at BMC, Alfred University, and Penland as well as work by contemporary ceramic artists whose work fits within the context of the show. Artists include: Meredith Brickell, Cynthia Bringle, Marjorie Dial, Cynthia Homire, Bill C. Jones, Bobby Kaddis, Karen Karnes, Eric Knoche, Jeannine Marchand, Neil Noland, Daniel Rhodes, M.C. Richards, Gay Smith, Tom Spleth, Adele Suska, Lydia C. Thompson, Xavier Toubes, Jerilyn Virden, Peter Voulkos, David Weinrib, and Kensuke Yamáda.
I wanted to work with clay so that the way it moved, the vitality of clay, is not meeting something that’s been on the drawing board. It’s using clay with abstraction to start with and then seeing what it’s going to do, how it will move and change, and always surprise you.
Curated by Alice Sebrell, Director of Preservation
Part of Transfigurations IV: Harvest Records Celebrates 20 Years
Found in Sound is a live multimedia storytelling event at the Diana Wortham Theatre on Thursday, August 22nd and Friday, August 23rd. The show is a unique collection of stories from the Harvest Records universe and beyond produced with Erin Brethauer of This Land Films. The stories will be presented live on stage alongside original music, film, animation, photography, and featuring stage design and installations by Swannatopia.
This is the same show presented for two nights.
This is a free event that requires an RSVP via Harvest Records’ website. More information about the whole weekend of events also on their website.
We have exciting news! The ArtsAVL website has a new feature: a discounts page!
At any time, you can head on over to artsavl.org/discounts to see special discount offers our members are offering.
View Offerings
ASAP (Appalachian Sustainable Agriculture Project) has released a survey to learn more about how people in Western North Carolina shop for food and why they choose the food they do. The survey, part of a three-year project by ASAP’s Local Food Research Center, is for any resident of Western North Carolina over the age of 18, no matter where or how they shop for food. It can be completed online at surveymonkey.com/r/WNCFoodASAP or over the phone by calling ASAP at 828-236-1282. It should take approximately 8 to 12 minutes to complete and will be open through Oct. 31, 2024. Respondents are encouraged to share the survey widely with families, friends, and co-workers.
“By completing this survey, you are helping local farmers understand and connect with consumers,” said Amy Marion, ASAP Associate Director and lead researcher. “The challenges of our food system are constantly evolving. Improving it requires active participation from all community members. With this research we can better understand consumer values and the barriers they face, and help farmers and food producers improve communications with their customers and their communities.”
The survey is part of a three-year research project, “Connections in Direct Markets: Assessing the feedback loop between consumer values and farmers’ marketing strategies,” which will examine and improve communication and alignment between farmers and consumers in Western North Carolina. The research phase will also employ consumer focus groups, farmer interviews and case studies, and more targeted surveying. The broad consumer survey provides an update to the last consumer survey conducted by the Local Food Research Center in 2014. Results from the current research project will be shared in 2025.
ASAP founded the Local Food Research Center in 2011 to study the economic, environmental, and social impacts of localizing food systems. From its inception, ASAP’s programs and services have been grounded in research and evaluation, adjusting based on a strong feedback loop and observation of current conditions in the food system.
This project is supported in part by the National Institute of Food and Agriculture, U.S. Department of Agriculture, under award number 2022-38640-37488 through the Southern Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education program under subaward number LS23-382. USDA is an equal opportunity employer and service provider.
Camp Bluebird 2024 is coming This September!
Together, We Soar!
Make a Difference in the Lives of Adult Cancer Survivors:
Did you know almost 2 million new cases of cancer were diagnosed in the United States in 2023 alone? Each year, millions of people are directly impacted by cancer with an estimated almost 40% of Americans being diagnosed with cancer at some point during their lifetimes.
For those who’ve heard the dreaded three words “You have cancer,” their lives have changed forever, and their new journey is often filled with tears, worry, isolation, and heartache. At Camp Bluebird, we want to help survivors realize their story is not over when they get their diagnosis, they have merely started writing a new chapter…one filled with resilience, hope, and a new sense of determination. And most importantly, we want them to know they are not alone in this journey.
A camp dedicated to survivors and their journeys of healing and hope…What is Camp Bluebird?
Camp Bluebird is a 3-day, 2-night camp where survivors join together for companionship, arts, wellness and therapeutic activities, and even a DJ dance party! Our camp is designed to empower survivors on their journeys of healing and rediscovery while making lifelong friendships.
This year’s camp will take place September 10-12, 2024 at the Bonclarken Conference Center in historic Flat Rock, NC.
We hope you will consider helping as we reach more campers and make a greater impact in the survivor community!
CAMP BLUEBIRD’S MISSION
At Camp Bluebird, our mission is to provide space for cancer survivors from all walks of life to come together for support, encouragement, and understanding. A place where hearts find rest, strength ignites and spirits SOAR as we share in a journey of healing and hope.
Donate Securely Online
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The Artist Support Grant supports emerging and established artists taking the next steps in their career, with grants ranging from $500-$3,000. Funded by the North Carolina Arts Council, this regional grant program supports artists in creating work, improving business operations, or bringing work to new audiences. Region 17 is led by Haywood County Arts Council and supports artists in Buncombe, Haywood, Henderson, Polk, Rutherford, and Transylvania counties. The application cycle opens late July and closes in early September.
Artists are invited to create artworks with the theme of “Red, White and Blue.“ Apply these patriotic colors at the center of your subjects, however there are no limits to your creativity, your artworks don’t need to be primarily patriotic theme, but viewers should be able to spot the use of recognizable amount of red, white and blue colors.
Located on the second floor until September 18th, the show continues the historical relationship between the Southern Highland Craft Guild and Haywood, an educational center of the Guild. This new generation of craft is led by instructors Amy Putansu in fiber, Brian Wurst in wood, Emily Reason in clay, and Robert Blanton in metals & jewelry. Students of the Haywood program come from all over, with or without prior experience of craft, and sometimes pursuing it as a second or third career. The course of study is challenging, combining craft concentrations with supplemental classes in design, drawing, craft history, business, marketing and photography.
Haywood Community College and the Southern Highland Craft Guild share a history that documents the role of craft education in preserving traditional culture, creating economic opportunity and fostering professional practice. All of the artists represent the vitality and creativity of craft practice today, which is the ultimate purpose of both institutions. Many Haywood graduates have become individual members of the Southern Highland Craft Guild and have served the Guild in various capacities.
Instructor Brian Wurst of the Professional Crafts Wood program says, “Our programs have thrived for nearly five decades, and our relationship with the Craft Guild has been a key part of that. We’re always thrilled to have work showcased at the Folk Art Center, and in turn scores of our alumni have gone on to become active Guild members. The Graduate Show is the capstone of two hard years by these students, and it’s a delight to share it in this beautiful space.”
Haywood Community College is located in Clyde, North Carolina, just west of Asheville. The college’s Professional Crafts Program began in recognition of the region’s strong craft heritage. It was envisioned that students would learn the basics of craft media and how to transform that craft into a business. The clay studio was the first to open in 1974. With the addition of jewelry, wood and fiber studios, a comprehensive curriculum was in place by 1977.
Anyone interested in taking courses at Haywood Community College can contact the success coach, Farrah Rodriguez [email protected] 828.627.4505.
The Haywood Community College Professional Crafts Program, Graduate Show, Class of 2024 is a free exhibit at the Folk Art Center on the Blue Ridge Parkway in East Asheville. For more information, visit www.craftguild.org or call 828-523-4110. For more information about the Professional Crafts Program, call 828-627-4674 or visit creativearts.haywood.edu.
Pieces made from nylon fabric ripstop, which keeps tears from spreading, invite viewers into created, fantastical worlds, only to highlight the complex—even impossible—architectures of their construction. Before the pandemic, Adrian primarily focused on personal experiences and interrogations of queerness, identity, and sexuality. Since then, the work has zoomed out in its scope, still centering identity but placed in larger infrastructure and surveillance systems that mediate, manipulate, and control desire.
Adrian counts queer fiber art, BDSM and kink culture, theatre, camp horror, puppetry, and drag among his many influences. Works in RIPSTOP, like the modernist bounce house sculpture A Fallible Complex (2021), evoke spaces for play, beckoning visitors in through their alluring aesthetic and then blocking their entrance or revealing structural instabilities, like missing floors. Others, like The Sensational Inflatable Furry Divines (2017-19), use sensual materials, like faux fur, spandex, and pleather, which connect to theatrical performance and counterculture. The materials “play on people’s initial associations and serve as a gateway into greater conversations about identity construction, performance, desire, and technology,” he shares.Pieces also nod to the history of quilting, including the AIDS Memorial Quilt, another influence on Adrian’s work. “Even when pieces aren’t explicitly making quilt references, I want the history of quilting and sewing-based craft to be part of the conversation of the work,” he says. “Craft is so much about the processes and histories behind materials. It’s about connecting with communities of people who practice those techniques. It’s about material and technique being a doorway into a greater relationship with an object.”
Themes of transformation—of structures, identities, and bodies—run throughout the show. “What I love about drag and puppetry is the sense of transformation and play, specifically with bodies,” Adrian says. “Within these art forms, a body can become mutable and capable of performing and becoming in unexpected states.” The sculptures also transform throughout viewers’ experiences, going through stages of inflation and deflation and existing in many different states.
RIPSTOP’s constant interplay between surface and depth, assumption and reality, are all a part of what Adrian describes as “looking behind the curtain,” which they trace back to the theatre. “When I’m thinking about systems, and the systems desire fits into, I’m thinking of stage construction, the backstage, the things that go on behind the show, and performance of our desires,” they explain.
As a craft artist, Adrian’s philosophy “comes down to having an intentional relationship with material, process, and technique,” he says. “Those aspects of art making are just as – if not more – important than an intellectualized concept being illustrated by an artwork.”
“Broadened definitions of craft that highlight communities of practice are foundational for the Center for Craft’s new strategic direction,” explains Executive Director Stephanie Moore. “Max Adrian’s work in RIPSTOP exemplifies the expansive and meaningful forms craft can take.” The Center for Craft is an institution Adrian credits for their professional growth. “The Center for Craft has felt like such a supporting institution for me specifically and for so many other craft artists I know,” they note. “To be able to bring this amount of work to Asheville is pretty cool.”
See Max Adrian: RIPSTOP at the Center for Craft Beginning July 26. A reception will be held on August 15. RIPSTOP is organized by Houston Center for Contemporary Craft and curated by Sarah Darro.
Spend 2+ hours as a jeweler!
Work with silver wire to create a set of three textured stacking rings. Learn the techniques you need to fuse the silver, hammer, and stamp to your liking, and we’ll then polish the rings to a nice shine. Leave class feeling accomplished and ready to show off your work!
You will use a torch! (Don’t be intimidated, our highly skilled and fun instructors will walk you through it!)
Please wear close-toed shoes and tie long hair back for safety. All tools and materials needed for class will be provided.
*Class times and availability are subject to change. Sign up in advance online to ensure your time and space.
Runs from Aug 23, 2024 to Nov 16, 2024 and happens every:
Fridays: 10:00am – 12:15pm Timezone: EDT
Fridays: 10:00am – 12:15pm Timezone: EDT
Saturdays: 10:00am – 12:15pm Timezone: EDT
In the early 1900s, travel by train and automobile became more accessible in the United States, leading to an increase in tourism and a revitalized interest in landscape painting. The relative ease of transportation, as well as the creation of National Parks, allowed people to experience the breathtaking landscapes of the United States in new ways. Artists traveled along popular routes, recording the terrain they encountered.
This exhibition explores the sublime natural landscapes of the Smokey Mountains of Western North Carolina and Tennessee. While there were several regional schools of painting around this time, this group is largely from the Midwest and many of the artists trained at the Art Institute of Chicago or in New York City. Through their travels, they captured waterfalls, sunsets, thunderstorms, autumn foliage, lush green summers, and snow-covered mountains—elements that were novel for viewers from cities and rural areas. Though some of these paintings include people, they are usually used for scale and painted with little to no detail, highlighting the magnificence of nature.
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Rudolph F. Ingerle, Mirrored Mountain, not dated, oil on canvas, 28 × 32 inches. Courtesy of Allen & Barry Huffman, Asheville Art Museum. |