What makes a place idyllic?

Start with an emerald river that flows from ancient mountains. Add an abundance of living creatures that co-evolved over millennia. Bring in humans who honor their place in the interconnected web. And rebuild a vital stream that supports us all.

Your support and engagement helps ensure the health of this watershed for the ages! We can’t do it without you.

Foundation Woodworks announces the 2nd Annual Turned and Carved Wood Bowl Exhibition and Sale

River Arts District – Asheville, NC
April 1 – 30, 2022

During the month of April, Foundation Woodworks will feature work from a dozen local and regional wood turning and hand carved wood artisans. In conjunction with the show, the Gallery will offer a 10% discount on select turnings, as well as, turned and hand carved bowls.

Work will be featured from Warren Carpenter (bowls), Seneca, SC, Cris Bifaro (bowls and hollow forms) West Asheville, Bill Wanezek (pedestal bowls) Burnsville, Anne Henschel (bowls and vessels) Asheville, Bill and Tina Collison (embellished bowls) Unicoi, TN, Gary Bills (bowls and platters) Zirconia, Allen Davis and Mike Juett – Winchester Woodworks (segmented bowls) Waynesville, Paul Eisenhauer (hand-carved bowls) Burnsville, Greg Schramek (bowls and other turnings) Weaverville, Ryan Hairgrove – Rugged Woods (large bowls) Lexington, NC, Jo Miller (bowls) Asheville.

Spring is a good time to celebrate local artists – Come and see beautiful turned and carved work by a talented set of local woodworkers at Foundation Woodworks.

The gallery at Foundation Woodworks is open 7 days a week.
Monday – Saturday 11-5, Sunday 12-5.

17 Foundy Street, Asheville, NC
[email protected]
www.foundationwoodworks.com
Instagram: @foundationwoodworks

1. Bricks-And-Mortar

2. Public Education

3. Planning, Survey and Designation

Kate Coleman is the Asheville Gallery of Art’s featured artist for the month of April. Visitors to the gallery will have the entire month to view her outstanding acrylic-on-wood paintings of nature. “Avian Skies” will run from April 1st to April 30th.

April is a lovely month. Winter has passed, the transformation of Spring is upon us, and warmer days are ahead. The fresh skies of Spring flaunt beautiful clouds and ominous storms in the distance. “The colors of paint that I choose are warm and bright, echoing the Spring colors that are emerging in nature. In creating this body of work, I focused on birds and the amazing skies of Spring.”

Kate Coleman can’t remember a time when she wasn’t an artist. “I believe that all children are artists, and I never grew out of it.” After Kate received her degree in Fine Art, she went on to design and create a studio pottery line with her husband. Upon discovery that she and her daughter share a passion for painting, Kate began her newest creative journey. She began on this path of mixed-media due to her passion for nature and her love of painting, and through this journey, she has found herself immersed in painting her unique portraits of birds and nature.

Defining them by more than simple appearance, Kate goes further by layering information, sourced by vintage books and maps, onto each specific piece. She searches used bookstores to find vintage books on birds and nature, and using the pages to apply visual texture to her paints, she applies more information specifically to each piece. The result is a very unique combination of visual texture and defining text, which presents a unique work. Her painted portraits of birds and nature are completed in acrylic paint on wood panels, and she often creates frames that further identify and explain each piece. Giving a warmth and light to each piece she creates, she attempts to reveal the true character of each distinctive image.

Kate’s painting of “The Peacock” is mixed media, acrylic, feathers, and book pages on wood. “I love the dramatic opening of the peacock’s feathers. This unique bird brings beauty to the world.”

“The Tanagers” is a 24 X 52 piece in mixed media, acrylic, book pages and wood. “The male and female Scarlet Tanagers’ differences in color intrigues me. I truly enjoy spotting this beautiful bird from time to time.”

On “Sunset in the Blue Ridge Mountains”, a work in acrylic, “This is a common scene from my home – the Red-Tailed Hawk with mobbing crows. Sunsets here are striking and each one is unique.”

Visitors to the Asheville Gallery of Art will be able to view Kate’s show from April 1st through April 30th in downtown Asheville, NC. Kate will be present for a special event on First Friday, April 1st, to meet the artist from 5pm-8pm.

In response to statewide demand for healthcare
professionals, Blue Ridge Community College announced today an
expansion of the Associate Degree Nursing (ADN) Program. The hands-on
nursing education program added 20 seats, now serving up to 74 students
each year. ADN students learn from highly qualified faculty in state-of-the-art
simulation labs at the College’s Health Science Center in Hendersonville or
Transylvania County Campus in Brevard. Blue Ridge is actively accepting
applications for qualified students. Scholarships and tuition assistance are
available, and more details can be found at http://blueridge.edu/nursing.
“Blue Ridge Community College’s team of experienced and compassionate
instructors plays a vital role in preparing aspiring nurses for jobs today and in
the future,” said AdventHealth Hendersonville Chief Nursing Officer Maureen
Dzialo, MS, RN, NE-BC. “They help students in our local community find
rewarding careers with endless possibilities for advancement. AdventHealth
values their exceptional program and the students that graduate from Blue
Ridge.”
Graduates of the two-year program are prepared and eligible to take the
National Council Licensure Examination (NCLEX-RN) to become registered
nurses and provide hands-on care in a variety of health care settings. In 2021,
Blue Ridge students’ first-time pass rate for this exam was 96%.
“Pardee UNC Health Care is proud to partner with Blue Ridge Community
College to help train the next generation of nurses,” said Carol Stefaniak, DNP,
RN, NE-BC, VP Clinical Services and Chief Nursing Officer at Pardee UNC
Health Care. “Their nursing program graduates are of the highest caliber year
after year, and as we work to recruit a qualified workforce while facing a
national shortage of nurses, we are grateful to Blue Ridge for actively working
to fill that pipeline.”
Educating and training the next generation of nursing professionals is a crucial
step toward meeting the needs of area residents. It also positions the
workforce to respond to increasing demand for healthcare workers.
Furthermore, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics projects that 2.6 million
healthcare occupation jobs will be added between 2020 and 2030.
“Nursing is a rewarding profession that aligns the passion to make a difference
in our community with the desire for a dependable career path,” said Blue
Ridge Community College Dean of Health Sciences Leigh Angel, MSN, RN. “As
essential members of the interdisciplinary healthcare team, nurses use expert
knowledge and clinical reasoning to manage complex care needs – all while
compassionately caring for others during each stage of life.

Buncombe County is seeking project ideas to help the community recover from and respond to COVID-19 and its negative economic impacts. Nonprofits and public organizations can submit projects now for consideration to be funded by federal COVID Recovery Funding. This is the second Request for Proposals issued by the County as part of COVID Recovery Funding, which Buncombe County was allocated $50.7M through the American Rescue Plan Act. So far, the county has awarded $23.1M to 27 projects, leaving $27.6 M available still to award. Buncombe County Commissioners have selected ten categories for this round of proposals: Affordable Housing Aging/Older Adults Business Support/Economic Development Environment/Climate Homelessness K-12 Education Infrastructure and/or Broadband Mental Health/Substance Use NC Pre-K Expansion Workforce If you are interested in applying, the deadline is Tuesday, April 12 at noon. Learn more here. The county is also holding a workshop that will help you better understand what projects the County is looking to fund and best practices on creating a successful application. Learn more about the scope of projects Buncombe County is looking for and have a chance to ask questions. All questions and responses from the session will be posted in the form of an addendum, and a recording of the session will be published. The virtual funding workshop will be held on Monday, March 14 from 1:30-3 p.m. Register here.

As part of the East Asheville Library’s LEED certification, the library has two level 2 (240 volt/30 amp) electric car chargers and special parking spots for both electric and other clean air vehicles, such as hybrids. The chargers add about 25 miles of range per hour of charge time and should be able to charge all types of electric vehicles. Tesla vehicles do require an adapter that comes with the vehicle when purchased.

These features are part of Buncombe County’s long-term plan for sustainable and eco-friendly facilities. To learn more about the Library’s LEED certification, stop by the library and ask for more information.

Think you might need to use an absentee ballot for the Primary Election on May 17? Here’s what you need to know so you can make sure your vote counts.

How to Request an Absentee Ballot

Absentee ballots will be mailed out beginning on March 28. The deadline to submit an Absentee Ballot Request Form is May 10 at 5:00 p.m. for the 2022 Primary Election. Any North Carolina registered voter may request, receive, and vote a mail-in absentee ballot. No special circumstance or reason is needed. Registered voters in North Carolina must request an absentee ballot with an official N.C. Absentee Ballot Request Form. There are two ways to access and submit the form:

1. Online – Request an Absentee Ballot at the N.C. Absentee Ballot Portal.
2. On paper – print the English N.C. Absentee Ballot Request Form for 2022 or the Spanish N.C. Absentee Ballot Request Form for 2022 (not available online currently).

For active-duty military, their family members, and U.S. citizens living abroad, click here. If you have questions about that process, you can call us at (828) 250-4200 or visit buncombecounty.org/vote.

No Printer? You may complete an absentee ballot request form at the Election Services office at 59 Woodfin Place, Asheville, 28801, or call (828) 250-4200 and one will be mailed to you. You may return the request in one of the following ways:

Mail it to:

P.O. Box 7468, Asheville, NC 28802

Hand deliver it to our office:

59 Woodfin Place, Asheville, 28801

Note: The Absentee Ballot Request Form may not be emailed or faxed. Request forms that are hand delivered to the office must be returned only by the voter or the voter’s near relative

How to Return an Absentee Ballot

The deadline to return the completed Absentee Ballot is Tuesday, May 17, 2022, at 5:00 p.m., however, voters are encouraged to return the ballot as early as possible. You may return it to us in one of the following ways:

By mail: Absentee ballots may be mailed to P.O. Box 7468 Asheville, NC 28802. Ballots must be postmarked on or before Tuesday, May 17, 2022 and received by Friday, May 20.

At an Early Voting site: Absentee ballots may be returned to an early voting site during the early voting period, but not at a polling location on the day of the Primary Election. Ballots returned at an early voting site must be delivered to the election official at the check-in station.

In person: Absentee ballots may be returned in person to our office at 59 Woodfin Place between 8 a.m. and 5 p.m. Absentee ballots may be returned only by the voter or the voter’s near relative.

For more information about absentee voting, visit the North Carolina Board of Elections website. Or call us at (828) 250-4200. You can also email your questions to [email protected].

Stories from the House is a virtual tour of our 1840s-era brick mansion as seen through the eyes of many of the people who walked these same hallways over a century ago and whose stories represent a microcosm of the history of western North Carolina. In 1918 vs. 2020, we took an in-depth look at the 1918 influenza epidemic in Western North Carolina through newspaper clippings, advertisements, ephemera, photographs, and oral history and place the events of 1918 into context with our present-day response to the coronavirus pandemic. Old Shiloh was one of Asheville’s first communities established by emancipated people. The community moved to its present-day location – New Shiloh – after George Vanderbilt, in an effort to expand his land holdings as he planned to build his Biltmore Estate, purchased the land and buildings and agreed to relocate the Shiloh church and cemetery.

We invite you to view this 13-minute film and share it with your friends, neighbors, coworkers, and other communities. As you view this film, we hope that you can see your hands, heart, and support at work in the collective efforts of everyone – volunteers, partner agencies, donors, advocates, and our neighbors sharing their lived experience – to address hunger right here in the mountains of Western North Carolina, and to be part of the solution for thousands of families every month.

If you’re behind on your water bill or afraid your water might get cut off, a new resource might be able to help you. On Jan. 4, the Buncombe County Board of Commissioners approved more than $450,000 in federal funding for the Low-Income Household Water Assistance Program (LIHWAP). The initiative is aimed at preventing water disconnections and helping reconnect drinking and wastewater services.

The LIHWAP will be administered by Buncombe County-based Eblen Charities. The nonprofit will make payments directly to utilities on behalf of qualifying households. The program is slated to run through Sept. 30, 2023 or until funds are exhausted.

Eligibility requirements

Households that currently receive Food and Nutrition Services (FNS), Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) or Work First services, or those that received Low-Income Energy Assistance Program (LIEAP) services from Oct. 1, 2020-Sept. 30, 2021, are automatically eligible to receive this benefit if their water services have been cut off or are in danger of being cut off.

For additional eligibility information or to apply, please contact Eblen Charities at (828) 255-3066.