Help local underprivileged students start the school year with the supplies they need for success! Asheville Outlets will host a Pack 2 School Supplies Drive from Saturday, July 10 through Saturday, August 7, 2021. Throughout the five-week drive, marked bins will be available in the food court for donation drop-off. Student supply needs include: #2 pencils, erasers, colored pencils, crayons, glue sticks, school scissors, folders, spiral notebooks, marbled composition notebooks, dry ease markers (pencil & regular size) and pencil pouches. Classroom needs include white & color copy paper, Band-Aids, Kleenex, hand sanitizer, Ziploc bags, disinfectant wipes, and hand soap. School children at four local elementary schools will be the recipients of supplies collected during the program. The campaign will conclude on Saturday, August 7 with a live remote broadcast with iHeart Radio and gift card giveaways. For more information, visit ShopAshevilleOutlets.com.

11am–6pm. Late-night Thursdays until 9pm; closed Tuesdays.

Public Domain: Photography and the Preservation of Public Lands presents works drawn from the Asheville Art Museum’s Collection by artists looking both regionally and nationally at lands that are either state or federally managed or have become so. This exhibition will be on view in the Asheville Art Museum’s Van Winkle Law Firm Gallery May 19 through August 30, 2021. 

“The Asheville Art Museum’s growing collection of photography features a variety of artworks that consider humankind’s impact on our environment and world,” said Hilary Schroeder, assistant curator. “The imagery featured in Public Domain reminds us of the critical role that artists play in environmental activism and preservation, affecting change at a range of levels”. 

Through images capturing the beauty, changes, and even devastation to the American landscape, photographers have played a vital role in advocating for the preservation of nature via the establishment and maintenance of state parks, national parks and monuments, and other federally protected lands. From George Masa and Timothy McCoy’s photographs of Great Smoky Mountains National Park to a selection of works from Robert Glenn Ketchum’s Overlooked in America: The Success and Failure of Federal Land Management series, these artworks provoke contemplation of both nature’s beauty and a calling to protect it. This year marks the 75th anniversary of the Bureau of Land Management whose mission is to sustain the health, diversity, and productivity of the public lands for the use and enjoyment of present and future generations. 

Photographers include Robert Glenn Ketchum, George Masa, Timothy McCoy, Benjamin Porter, Sally Gall, and more. 

This exhibition is organized by the Asheville Art Museum and curated by Hilary Schroeder, assistant curator. 

Artist Walter B. Stephen (Clinton, IA 1875–1961 Asheville, NC) contributed to Western North Carolina’s identity as a flourishing site for pottery production and craftsmanship in the early 20th century. Walter B. Stephen Pottery: Cameo to Crystalline features art pottery and functional vessels from each stage of Stephen’s career, from his origins discovering the medium alongside his mother Nellie C. Randall Stephen in Shelby County, TN from 1901 through 1910 to his multi-decade production just outside of Asheville. This exhibition will be on view in the Asheville Art Museum’s Debra McClinton Gallery July 28, 2021 through January 17, 2022.

In 1926, Stephen founded his third and last pottery studio, Pisgah Forest, in Arden, NC, which he operated until his death in 1961. It was at this studio that the artist perfected the “cameo” decoration technique for which he became best known. His hand-painted images, achieved with layers of white translucent clay, often feature American folk imagery, from covered wagons and livestock to cabins and spinning wheels. A selection of works from the Museum’s Collection showcase his innovation in form and in decorative surface details, including experimentation with crystalline glazing.

Jack’s Bluegrass Brunch is every Sunday! Our menu kicks off at 12Noon with live tunes by Supper Break from 1-3pm. Try our $6 Bloody Mary or Mimosa, or grab a $15 Bottles of Champagne & OJ! Try one of our tasty brunch specials or order from our artisanal sandwich menu. Sláinte Y’all!

Mountain Makers Craft Market is a monthly indie art fair designed to cultivate community in Western NC. Located in Downtown Waynesville, we bring together 20+ artisans selling handmade and vintage goods that’ll make you smile! Join us on the first Sunday of each month from 12p-4p at 308 N. Haywood Street, and visit MountainMakersMarket.com

Bender Gallery is honored to present One Day I Will Disappear, a solo exhibition of current paintings by Czech American artist Tom Pazderka. His captivating work is deeply personal and is an elegant metaphor for life’s darker side: of landscape, of nature, of memory. The exhibition runs from July 3 through August 31 during regular business hours. There will be an opening reception for Pazderka on Saturday July 3, from 6 to 9 PM by RSVP only.

Pazderka is a painter, an installation artist, an intellectual, and a writer who spent his undergraduate years in the Asheville area. He was born near Prague in 1981 during the waning of the Communist era in Czechoslovakia. He lived in a panelák, a Soviet-style concrete apartment block, until emigrating to the US in 1994 at the age of twelve. Contrary to what we may envision in America, Pazderka has fond memories of his time there. Although life was basic and creativity was not encouraged, his family was never in need and they enjoyed regular visits to their family cottage in the country. However, most of Pazderka’s life has been lived in the US and he also considers himself American. His work and life are deeply influenced by what he describes as the “incompleteness of the immigrant experience”. Pazderka explores humanity’s quest for a universal truth. The work reflects his reverence for history and the failed Soviet promise of utopia of his native land. It is thus a balancing act between this history and his assimilation into the capitalist consumer culture of the United States.

The works shown in One Day I Will Disappear consist of oil, ash, and charcoal paintings on burned panel and paper. They feature clouds, mountains, portraits, ephemera, and remnants of nature. They are conceptually dark, yet haunting and beautiful at the same time. Pazderka uses humble materials such as found plywood panels that he burns with a torch before beginning the painting process. He transforms the painting surface with the destructive, yet creative power of fire. He states, “Materials and process are components of the work that are as important as the image and what the work is about”.

Pazderka chooses to work in a colorless palette reminiscent of aged black and white photographs. He explains, “Photographs interest me because it is a tangible memory, but photographs are really residue of the photographic process.”  They are themselves a memory of a memory. Much of Pazderka’s work is based on old family photographs and photos taken from nature and architecture relaying the past, the present, and the hope of a better future. The work appears otherworldly and fleeting, like ghosts of his memories. In Pazderka’s words, “The present is all there is in the end.”

Pazderka holds a BFA from Western Carolina University and an MFA from U.C. Santa Barbara. He has received many awards and fellowships and has held residencies in the US, France, and the Czech Republic. He lives and works in Ojai, CA.

Stop by on the first Sunday of the month 2-5pm to grab a beer, have a bite to eat and possibly meet your new best friend from Charlie’s Angels Animal Rescue.

In conjunction with Sunday Sessions Live (and virtual) music: Food Truck Sundays will bring a new or rotating “staff favorite” cuisine each week to the Beechams Curve offerings.
Gan Shan West, our main culinary provider 6 days a week, is closed on Sundays. Enjoy the convenience, delicious variety and the music – all in one Sunday Funday stop!

Jack of the Wood : Sunday-Irish Session 

Sundays

1 till who knows when?

Traditional Irish music is kept alive at Jack of the Wood with our unplugged Sunday session.

Jack of the Wood

95 Patton ave

Asheville, NC 28801

(828) 252.5445

http://www.jackofthewood.com/

The Episcopal Church of St. John in the Wilderness and Friends of Music will present tenor Alexander Harrelson in the third in a series of concerts entitled “Accent on Youth” on Sunday, August 1, at 3:30 p.m. in the Parish Hall.

The Tryon native will sing a varied program of music from Scarlatti, Samuel Barber, Beethoven, Lehar, as well as songs from musical theater.  He will be accompanied by Music Director Dewitt Tipton.

Harrelson is a graduate of Davidson College and studied at the Musica Lirica in Novafeltria, Italy and at the International Vocal Artists Academy in Payerback, Austria. He competed at the national level of the Classical Singers Convention and has won prizes in the YoungArts competition.

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Alex Harrelson has performed with the Hendersonville Youth Symphony Orchestra (in Mozart’s Bastien und Bastienne), attended the North Carolina Governor’s School for Choral Music, and attended Cannon Music Camp after receiving a generous scholarship from Laurel Lake Music Society.

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The concert is free and open to the public.  The Parish Hall is located at 1905 Greenville Highway across Rutledge Drive from the church.  Donations will be accepted, all of which will go to the concert artist.

These performances have been rescheduled in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Previously purchased tickets will be honored for the rescheduled date.

The Amazing Acro-cats Featuring Tuna and the Rock Cats are a troupe of touring performing house cats. This one-of-a-kind, two hour long purrformance features talented domesticated house cats who roll on balls, ride skateboards, jump through hoops, and more!

The finale is the only all-cat band in the entire world – Tuna and the Rock Cats! The current band lineup features St. Clawed on guitar, Bue on drums, Nue on keyboard, and NOW some brand new members: Ahi on woodblocks and Albacore on cowbell, Roux on trumpet, and Oz on Saxophone. There is even a chicken – Cluck Norris – rockin the tambourine!

“I can die happy now!” an audience member has claimed after seeing the band.

It all started with Chief Executive Human (or CEH for short) and cat lover Samantha Martin. Training animals at a young age, she knew instantly she would be working with animals for the rest of her life. By founding Rock Cats Rescue, the real reason behind having a traveling animal show, she has saved the lives of over 230 cats and kittens. Using the magic of clicker training, Samantha (and a few other humans) travel with over 15 cats and kittens all across the United States, educating and entertaining audiences that cats actually can be trained while she tenaciously continues to save the lives of cats and kittens through rescue, foster, and adoption.

Featured on national TV shows like the 2018 Puppy Bowl on Animal Planet, Tuna and the Rock Cats purrformed the half-time honors! Their most recent national appearance was on a PBS special about cats and dogs.

Grammy Award-winning musician Aoife O’Donovan has become one of the most sought-after singers and songwriters of her generation.

She’s garnered international recognition both as a solo artist and as a collaborator. Aoife is the lead vocalist for alt-bluegrass band Crooked Still, a string quartet with a fresh perspective on traditional folk tunes. Since then, she’s also co-founded the band I’m With Her with Sarah Jarosz and Sara Watkins. Together, the trio was nominated for two Grammy Awards; Best American Roots Performance and Best American Roots Song, winning the latter. In addition to the bands she is part of, Aoife collaborated with Yo-Yo Ma, Stuart Duncan, Edgar Meyer and Chris Thile on The Goat Rodeo Sessions, which won two Grammy Awards: Best Folk Album and Best Engineered Album, Non-Classical.

The folk-country artist has released three critically-acclaimed solo albums that showcase her esteemed songwriting skills. Her trademark is weaving Gaelic tales into her songs that reflect her Irish-American roots and upbringing.

Official Website

A lot of artists defy categorization. Some do so because they are tirelessly searching for the place they fit, while others are constantly chasing trends. Some, though, are genuinely exploring and expressing their myriad influences. Amy Ray belongs in the latter group. Pulling from every direction — Patty Griffin to Patti Smith, Big Star to Bon Iver — Ray’s music might best be described as folk-rock, though even that would be a tough sell, depending on the song.

Ray’s musical beginnings trace back to her high school days in Atlanta, Georgia, when she and Emily Saliers formed the duo that would become the Indigo Girls. Their story started in 1981 with a basement tape called “Tuesday’s Children” and went on to include a deal with Epic Records in 1988, a Grammy in 1990, and nearly 20 albums over more than 30 years.

Rooted in shared passions for harmony and justice, the Indigo Girls have forged a career that combines artistry and activism to push against every boundary and box anyone tries to put them in. As activists, they have supported as many great causes as they can, from LGBTQ+ rights to voter registration, going so far as to co-found an environmental justice organization, Honor the Earth, with Winona LaDuke in 1993. As artists, they have dipped their toes into a similar multitude of waters — folk, rock, country, pop, and more — but the resulting releases are always pure Indigo.

Ray’s six solo sets — and three live albums — have charted even wider seas, from the political punk of 2001’s Stag to the feminist Americana of 2018’s Holler. Each effort seems to lean into her influences in different ways, whether it’s the Allman Brothers or the Carter Family. One album finds the Butchies on full blast, another features Alison Brown on bluegrass banjo.

Both Stag and its follow-up, Prom (2005),found Ray addressing societal woes, ranging from the dangers of homophobia to the machismo of rock & roll, all while channeling her inner Replacements into a Southern punk sound that she has called “subversiveness with a smile.” Ray softened her sonic stance a bit for her next two efforts, 2008’s Didn’t It Feel Kinder and 2012’s Lung of Love, both of which felt closer in tone to her work with Indigo Girls, confronting cultural issues alongside personal ones.

In retrospect, it’s easy to see how songs like Lung of Love’s “Bird in the Hand” and “The Rock Is My Foundation” served as signposts of what was to come next for Ray. With Goodnight Tender in 2014, she recorded in Asheville, North Carolina, and stepped squarely into the country music that has been a part of everything she’s done. But it’s not the kind of country heard on the radio; it’s the country music culled from folk, bluegrass, gospel, and Southern rock, going so far as to title a tune after Duane Allman.

For 2018’s Holler, Ray recorded, once again, with her Carolina country kin, adding horns and strings to all but split the musical distance between Kinder and Tender to create a soulful, country-tinged, gospel-infused Americana sound. More cohesively than her prior releases, Holler encompasses and imparts all the disparate aspects of Ray’s influences in a singular offering.

Ray’s vast artistic inspirations are matched only by the deep peer admiration that is reflected in her albums’ guest appearances, which have included Vince Gill, Brandi Carlile, Justin Vernon, Jim James, Derek Trucks, Susan Tedeschi, Phil Cook, and others. That kind of good will is something only built from a lifetime of good deeds and great music.

While she partnered with Compass Records to issue Holler, Ray’s home base is Daemon Records, the not-for-profit label she founded in 1990 to support grassroots artists, including Kristen Hall, Rose Polenzani, Danielle Howle, John Trudell, Gerard McHugh, the Rock-A-Teens, and others. With Daemon, as with everything, Ray aimed to give something back to the community from which she has gotten so much.

When 2020 found the world immersed in a pandemic, Amy and her band turned to the digital world and started producing and recording singles from their own makeshift studios. “Tear it Down” released along with a video in November, 2020 wrestled with Amy’s upbringing in the cradle of the confederacy and pays tribute to activists working to dismantle racism.

In February, 2021, Amy Ray Band released another video and song, “Muscadine”,  to sing of dogs and what they teach us of unconditional love. Another song, “Chuck Will’s Widow” is due for release this summer 2021.

Solo or duo, with a band or an orchestra, together and apart, both Ray and Saliers pour themselves into every performance, and their audiences still soak up every ounce of that generosity, spilling their own hearts and souls out as they sing along to every song. Theirs isn’t a fanbase; it’s a family.

Come enjoy an evening of live music, food and drinks on the Isis Music Hall Lawn. Reservations are highly recommended.

Bruce Hornsby is on a roll. After taking the music world by surprise with his wide-ranging, critically acclaimed 2019 album Absolute Zero, the singer, songwriter, composer and bandleader returns with a follow-up that picks up where its predecessor left off. Non-Secure Connection features 10 new songs exploring a broad range of themes, from civil rights to computer hackers, mall salesmen to the Darwinian aspects of AAU basketball.

Hornsby plays piano, of course, but the songs on Non-Secure Connection also feature Hornsby’s electric sitar and Chamberlin, along with guitars, horns, strings and subtle samples from sources as varied as minimalist composer John Cage and Scottish rockers Franz Ferdinand. Like Absolute Zero, Non-Secure Connection also features a wealth of collaborators: singer James Mercer of The Shins and Broken Bells, singer and poet Jamila Woods, Living Colour guitarist Vernon Reid, Bon Iver leader Justin Vernon and the late Leon Russell, who appears thanks to a demo that he and Hornsby recorded together more than 25 years ago.

“I must be the only person around that has a record with James Mercer, Jamila Woods, Leon Russell and Vernon Reid,” Hornsby says with a laugh. “It’s a great, disparate crowd.”

It’s the kind of unexpected roster that listeners have come to expect from Hornsby, who has built a distinctly unique career since his debut with The Range on their multi-platinum 1986 album The Way It Is. From there, Hornsby has steered his way through a stint on keyboards for the Grateful Dead, writing music for Spike Lee’s films, and albums exploring jazz, bluegrass and contemporary classical music.

“I’m often looking to make a sound that I haven’t heard before, and find a place in what I guess is the context of popular song for some new information,” he says.

Please note: Auditorium seating is reserved. Lawn seating is general admission.