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.

Friday, March 31, 2023
Seeking Executive Director for Literacy Together
Mar 31 all-day
online w/ Literacy Together

Position Announcement
Executive Director, Literacy Together
Asheville, NC
Spring 2023

Literacy Together is seeking an experienced and passionate candidate to lead the organization as
executive director and add to its exceptional 36-year history.

Our Mission
To transform lives and communities through the power of literacy.

Our Vision
A just and equitable community in which literacy is accessible and achievable by all.

The Organization
Literacy Together is a strong, stable organization with solid infrastructure poised to move to the next
level of greater impact with the inspired leadership of the right individual.
Literacy Together’s core values include Lifelong Learning, Individual Dignity, Equity and Justice,
Leadership and Innovation. Literacy Together believes literacy is a social justice issue and
acknowledges and works to address the systemic barriers to literacy experienced by its students.
Literacy Together teaches individuals of all ages basic reading, writing, and English language skills
through specialized instruction provided by trained volunteer tutors. Programs include Adult Literacy,
English for Speakers of Other Languages, Youth Literacy, and Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library®.
Students gain self-confidence and self-sufficiency to transform their lives as individuals, parents,
workers, and citizens.

Literacy Together, a nonprofit organization accredited by ProLiteracy and serving the community since
1987, provides highly individualized tutoring to fit the needs of over 300 students annually through the
skilled instruction of over 250 volunteer tutors. Literacy Together is governed by a 12-member board
of directors and staffed by nine highly skilled professionals. The organization has an annual budget of
$462,000, funded primarily by a mix of individual donations, foundations, and government grants. The
organizational culture is collaborative, committed, mission-driven, and service-oriented.

The Position
The next ED will take advantage of Literacy Together’s strong infrastructure, high-quality programs,
and existing partnerships by continuing to develop collaborations and build relationships with donors
and funders to broaden the organization’s impact. The next ED will also be a dynamic presence and
an effective communicator strongly aligned with the organizational values of Lifelong Learning,
Individual Dignity, Equity and Justice, Leadership and Innovation.

Organizational Priorities
The Board of Directors and staff of Literacy Together have identified the following as the highest
priorities for the new executive, the board, and the staff over the next 12 to 18 months:

● Continue Literacy Together’s track record of securing sustainable funding from diverse
revenue sources by focusing primarily on a growing individual and major donor base
● Strengthen existing and build new partnerships and collaborations to meet the community’s
need
● Support staff in delivering high-quality tutoring services as prioritized in the 2020-2025
Strategic Plan
● Further define and deepen the organization’s ongoing diversity, equity, and inclusion
efforts, in order to identify and work to remove barriers to literacy
● Conduct an organizational compensation and benefit analysis, with continued exploration of
healthcare coverage and other benefits, to retain and motivate talented, dedicated staff.

Summer Camps at Pisgah Astronomical Research Institute-PARI
Mar 31 all-day
PARI

Camps for all passions and interests

Summer STEM & Astronomy, and Space Exploration Camps

Residential summer camps for kids in grades 6th-12th on topics like astronomy, robotics, cryptography, and 3D modeling and printing, and more. Including our premiere camp experience, Above and Beyond.

25" Optical telescope observing at night

Weekend STEM & Astronomy, and Space Exploration Camps

Curriculum or astronomical event based camps for educators and scout leaders.

Don Cline making presentation

Tailored Camps

Build your own camping experience according to your interest.

Summer Counselor Application
6/1 – 7/31
Ages 17 years 6 months – 99
$0.00
REGISTER
Counselor in Training Application – Full Summer Session
6/11 2 PM – 7/27 10 AM
Ages 16 years 6 months – 18 years 6 mont
$0.00
REGISTER
Counselor in Training Application – Mini Session 1
6/11 2 PM – 6/30 10 AM
Ages 16 years 6 months – 18 years 6 mont
$0.00
REGISTER
Exoplanet Exploration
6/11 4 PM – 6/22 10 AM
Grades 8th – 12th
$3,960.00
REGISTER
Secrets of a Spy Station
6/25 4 PM – 6/30 10 AM
Grades 6th – 8th
$1,700.00
REGISTER
Counselor in Training Application – Mini Session 2
7/2 2 PM – 7/27 10 AM
Ages 16 years 6 months – 18 years 6 mont
$0.00
REGISTER
Above & Beyond
7/2 4 PM – 7/13 10 AM
Grades 9th – 12th
$3,960.00
REGISTER
Milky Way Trailblazers
7/16 4 PM – 7/27 10 AM
Grades 9th – 12th
$3,960.00
REGISTER
The Curator’s Journal: A Year-long Insider’s View of American Bonsai at The North Carolina Arboretum
Mar 31 all-day
online w/ The North Carolina Arboretum

Registration is ongoing through the year. Get new updates and access all previous entries in a convenient online library.

The Curator’s Journal by Bonsai Curator Arthur Joura is a year-long course offering the ultimate insider’s view of bonsai at The North Carolina Arboretum. Regular entries chronicle growing an art and growing an enterprise. Some journal entries will be long and others more brief; some will be mostly words and others mostly pictures; some will be close-up studies of detail and others will step back to take in the wider scene. The path will not be linear, but all the entries will be steps along a journey.

You’re invited to come along.

The Kesha Young Health Careers Scholarship 
Mar 31 all-day
online

Mission Health is accepting applications from throughout the community for the Kesha Young Health
Careers Scholarship , with the aim of supporting the education goals for high school seniors and college
students of color from Western North Carolina who are pursuing careers in healthcare.
For more than 25 years, Mission Health has been awarding the Kesha Young Health Careers Scholarship,
with more than $1 million given to make college more affordable for high school seniors and college
students of color from Western North Carolina who are pursuing careers in healthcare. The scholarship
is named in honor of Kesha Young, a 22-year-old, bi-racial woman who was born with mental and
physical disabilities and underwent multiple surgeries at Mission Hospital. Kesha died just months
before she was scheduled to earn her high school diploma. Despite her health struggles, Kesha was
described by her adoptive parents as embodying the characteristics that are vital to how healthcare
team members engage with patients, families and visitors, with a strong spirit, warm smile and positive
encouragement.
At Mission Health, we recognize that having a diverse workforce, especially in healthcare, is very
important to provide the best possible care to our patients and communities. This is integral to who we
are as a company. Our mission statement is based around recognizing and affirming the unique and
intrinsic worth of each individual: “Above all else, we are committed to the care and improvement of
human life.”
The completed application, along with all additional materials, must be received by 5 p.m. on Friday,
April 14th, 2023 for consideration. Recipients will be notified in early May and invited to a reception at
Mission Hospital on Wednesday June 7th.

The Learning Garden: A Hub of Gardening Education in 2023
Mar 31 all-day
Buncombe County Extension Office

After six years of hard work, the dream of using The Learning Garden as a hub for public gardening education is finally a reality. The Learning Garden, located at the Extension Office, 49 Mt. Carmel Road, is offering the public the opportunity to Visit and Learn in the garden on selected 2nd and 4th Thursdays, February – October. The Thursday in-person programs will consist of five garden-specific series. Visitors can walk around before or after the program and soak in our lovely gardens. Our gardens will open at 9:00 a.m. and all the demonstration programs run between 10-11:30 a.m.  To ensure a good learning experience, attendance will be limited and registration will be required.

Dahlia_labbradolci_CC BY-NC 2.0_Flickr

Dahlia Series
February 23
 – Getting Your Dahlias Ready for Planting
August 3
 – Disbudding Dahlias for Better Blooms
October 26 – Dividing and Storing Dahlias

 

Naturally dyed cotton_by Lucia Garcia Gonzalez_CC 1.0_Flickr

Dye Garden Series
May 4 – Planning Your Dye Garden
June 22 – Introduction to Natural Dyeing
July 27 – Fresh Indigo
August 24 – Botanical Printing: Printing with Leaves and Flowers
September 28 – Dyeing with Hopi Black Sunflower
November 9 – The Magic of Indigo

Rose Garden Series
March 9 – Pruning Roses
April 6 – Climbing Roses
April 13 – Rose Pests and Pathogens
May 20 – Growing Beautiful Roses (Saturday Seminar)

 

Sun & Shade Garden Series
May 11 – Planting a Native Butterfly Host Plant Garden
June 29 – Foodscaping Edible Plants in Flower Beds
August 31 – Dealing with “the Good, the Bad, and the Ugly” Plants
Sept 14 – Native Butterfly Life Cycles in the Fall Garden

 

Vegetable Garden Series
March 23
 – Building an ADA Compliant Raised Garden
April 26
 – Planting Root Crops: Leeks, Onions, Carrots, Parsnips
May 25 – Planting a Seed Saving Garden
June 8 – Common Vegetable Garden Pests
July 13 – Kid Friendly Gardening
                                       August 10 – Preserving Your Vegetable Harvest

In addition to the Thursday programs listed above, The Learning Garden will present a series of ninety minute (+/-) hands-on seminars covering various gardening topics. These in-person programs will be held at The Learning Garden on selected Saturday mornings, February – September.

Saturday Seminars
February 18 – Tool Selection and Sharpening
March 18 – Pruning Trees and Shrubs
April 22 – Gardening for the Birds
May 20 – Growing Beautiful Roses
June 17 – Pollinator Plants in The Learning Garden
September 16 – Bulbs for All Seasons

Each of the programs in The Learning Garden will be announced individually through this blog and on our website two weeks before each program.  Each announcement will include instructions on how to register. Mark your calendar and register to attend as many as you can.

Work out for free at Linwood Crump Shiloh Community Center
Mar 31 all-day
Linwood Crump Shiloh Community Center

Asheville Parks & Recreation (APR) recently renovated fitness centers at Linwood Crump Shiloh and Stephens-Lee community centers – and community members can enjoy use of cardio equipment, exercise machines, free weights, open gym time, and more through June 30, 2023. During this time, APR will waive membership and daily pass fees so more people can access the necessities for a regular fitness routine. Locals can sign up online or at either community center to receive a fitness center key fob that can be scanned at either location.

 

“Our team is committed to creating spaces in which everyone feels welcome,” according to D. Tyrell McGirt, APR Director. “We are in the community building business. The gyms and fitness rooms at these two locations are filled with everything you’d expect from other top-notch fitness facilities and dedicated to body positivity and accessible wellness. By waiving the cost to use them for the first six months of the year, we hope more friends and neighbors will be able to connect with each other and maintain healthy lifestyles.”

Work out for free at Stephens-Lee Community Center
Mar 31 all-day
Stephens-Lee Community Center

Asheville Parks & Recreation (APR) recently renovated fitness centers at Linwood Crump Shiloh and Stephens-Lee community centers – and community members can enjoy use of cardio equipment, exercise machines, free weights, open gym time, and more through June 30, 2023. During this time, APR will waive membership and daily pass fees so more people can access the necessities for a regular fitness routine. Locals can sign up online or at either community center to receive a fitness center key fob that can be scanned at either location.

 

“Our team is committed to creating spaces in which everyone feels welcome,” according to D. Tyrell McGirt, APR Director. “We are in the community building business. The gyms and fitness rooms at these two locations are filled with everything you’d expect from other top-notch fitness facilities and dedicated to body positivity and accessible wellness. By waiving the cost to use them for the first six months of the year, we hope more friends and neighbors will be able to connect with each other and maintain healthy lifestyles.”

Food Scraps Drop Off: Buncombe County Landfill
Mar 31 @ 8:00 am – 4:30 pm
Buncombe County Landfill – Convenience Center

Food Scraps Drop Off

The City of Asheville, in partnership with Buncombe County and the Natural Resources Defense Council, is offering a FREE Food Scrap Drop-Off program in two locations for all Buncombe County residents.  This organic matter will be collected and turned into good clean compost, keeping it OUT of our landfill and reducing greenhouse gas emissions.

 

Register for Food Scraps Drop Off

 

 

 

   

 

 

 

Need a handy kitchen countertop food scrap bin?  Let us know on the registration form! We’ll be having bin giveaways at city and county facilities and would love to give you one.

 

Locations Holidays call for hours

Buncombe County Landfill – Convenience Center

85 Panther Branch Road, Alexander

    • Monday-Friday, 8 a.m. – 4:30 p.m.
    • Saturday, 8 a.m. – 12:30 pm

Murphy Oakley Community Center and Library – “Food Scrap Bin Shelters” on the east side of the parking lot

749 Fairview Road, Asheville

    • Dawn – Dusk

Stephens-Lee Recreation Center “Food Scrap Shed” next to the Community Garden on the North side of the parking lot

30 Washington Carver Avenue, Asheville

    • Monday – Friday, 7 a.m. – 6 p.m.
    • Saturday, 8 a.m. – 2 p.m.
    • Sunday, 12 – 4 p.m.

West Asheville Library – “Food Scrap Bin Shelters” on the south side of the building

942 Haywood Road, Asheville

    • Library open hours
RAIL Project Symposium
Mar 31 @ 8:00 am – 5:00 pm
UNCA Campus

Schedule for RAIL Project Symposium – March 30, 31, and April 1

Thursday, March 30 – Mannheimer Room, OLLI

7:00 PM – Keynote: Dr. Darin Waters, Deputy Secretary, NC Office of Archives and History

Reception following

Friday, March 31 – Mountain View Room, Kimmel Arena

8:30 AM – Coffee and Pastries

9:00 – Welcome – Dr. Tracey Rizzo (Dean of Humanities, UNCA)

9:15 – Session 1

How We Began, What We Did, and What It All Means

RAIL Board Member Roundtable

Moderator – Steve Little (Mayor, City of Marion)

Ray McKesson (CFO McDowell Technical College, ret.)

Stephanie Stepson Twitty (President and CEO Eagle Market Streets Development Corp.)

RoAnn Bishop (Director, Mountain Gateway Museum)

Ashley Whittle (Archives and Special Collections Assistant ,UNCA)

Jim Stokely (President, Wilma Dykeman Legacy)

Jeff Futch (Western Regional Supervisor, NC Department of Cultural and Natural Resources)

10:45 – Break

11:00 – Session 2

Using Human Remains Detection Dogs and Ground Penetrating Radar to Help Locate Historic

Burial Grounds

Moderator – Dr. Sarah Judson (Chair, Department of History, UNCA)

Cat Warren (Department of English, NC State University, Author: What the Dog Knows)

Blair Tormey (Program for the Study of Developed Shorelines, Western Carolina University)

Paul Martin (Martin Archaeology Consultants)

12:30 – Lunch Break

1:30 – Session 3

Moderator – Dr. Abena Boakyewa-Ansah (Department of History, UNCA)

Partners in Memorializing: The Asheville African American Cemeteries Project, The Buncombe

County Remembrance Project, and The African Americans in the Smokies Project

Dr. Ellen Holmes Pearson (Department of History, UNCA and South Asheville and The 828

Digital Archives for Historical Equity Project)

Dr. Joseph Fox (CEO Fox Management Consulting Enterprises and Buncombe County

Remembrance Project)

Antoine Fletcher (Science Communicator, Great Smoky Mountains National Park)

 

3:00 – Break

3:15 – Session 4

Where Do We Go From Here: Challenges and Opportunities

Moderator – Dr. Dan Pierce (Department of History, UNCA)

Cayla Colclasure (Ph.D. candidate, Department of Anthropology, UNC-CH)

Dr. Jeff Keith (Department of Global Studies, Warren Wilson College)

Dr. Kevin Kehrberg (Department of Music, Warren Wilson College)

Anne Chesky-Smith (Director, WNC Historical Association)

Saturday, April 1

Four Field Opportunities: Session 1 @ 10:00 AM; Session 2 @ 11:30 AM

The Swannanoa Gap – Anne Chesky Smith

Andrews Geyser and the RAIL Memorial – Steve Little and Paul Twitty

Andrews Geyser and Human Remains Detection Dogs – Cat Warren

A Walk Down the Point Lookout Greenway (2 miles on pavement) – Dan Pierce

WNC Farmers Market
Mar 31 @ 8:00 am – 5:00 pm
WNC Farmers Market

NCDA&CS - Marketing Division - Western North Carolina Farmers Market

The WNC Farmers Market is the premier destination for buying and selling the region’s best agriculture products directly from farmers & food producers to household & wholesale customers in an environment that celebrates the region’s diverse culture, food & heritage.

House of Operation:

WNC Farmers Market: 24/7, 361 days a year market access for farmers
Office: Monday- Friday, 8am-5pm
Market Shops: 7 days a week, 8 am-5 pm
Wholesale and Truck Sheds: 7 days a week

An Abundance of Riches
Mar 31 @ 9:00 am – 5:00 pm
NC Arboretum

Andrea Rich’s intricately designed, carved, and printed woodcuts draw viewers in for an up-close look.

Some of the artist’s earliest memories are of drawing animals. Childhood encounters with pets, livestock, and wildlife, including birds, deer, and toads, created a lasting connection to the natural world. Through encounters with creatures both tame and wild, Rich developed a fascination and a compassion for animals integral to her art.

“My prints are a visual record of the intriguing creatures that have enriched my life. The woodcut process challenges me to focus on the essence of my subjects. At the same time, I am drawn to the smell of the wood, its texture and grain, and the pleasure I experience while carving. I begin working on a block of wood and realize later that hours have passed without notice.”

Rich uses a centuries-old medium that requires one carved wood panel for each color – varying from one to sixteen – necessary to develop the composition. These panels are painstakingly aligned one atop another sequentially and pulled through a printing press to create the final woodcut.

The subjects of Rich’s woodcuts range from the wilderness of the Australian outback and the lush tropical Amazon forests to the roaring rivers of Yellowstone Park. Rich has traveled worldwide to study wildlife habitats and these varied firsthand experiences are reflected in her work.

Among Rich’s many achievements are international recognition for her woodcut prints, including a 2009 Award of Excellence from the Society of Animal Artists and a 2009 Medal of Excellence from the Artists for Conservation Foundation. She was named Master Artist by the Leigh Yawkey Woodson Art Museum in 2006. In 2010 her work was featured in a solo exhibition at the Mass Audubon Visual Arts Center, Canton, Massachusetts. Rich is a member of the California Society of Printmakers, Artists for Nature Foundation, the Society of Animal Artists, and Society of Wildlife Artists.

In 2000 Rich designated the Woodson Art Museum as the repository for her artistic oeuvre. An Abundance of Riches is drawn from these holdings, which include an example of each of her woodcuts created since the mid-1980s.

An Abstract Classicist: California Hard-Edge
Mar 31 @ 10:00 am – 6:00 pm
Bender Gallery
Johal’s process is part painstaking and part intuitive. She begins by arranging cut out shapes or creating sketches of the overall composition, which is of utmost importance, balanced and full of energy. She then transfers the design onto a sanded canvas using tape, templates, or other tools to achieve a clean hard edge. Now the music begins. Using high quality acrylic paints, Johal spontaneously applies color to the canvas, letting the music guide her choices. Her understanding of Color Theory is instinctive yet effective and, along with her forms, creates a kind of dance on the surface.
Angela Johal (b.1962), US, has a Bachelor of Fine Art (BFA) Magna Cum Laude from San Jose State University in San Jose, CA. Johal has taken part in solo and group exhibitions in prestigious institutes and such as de Young Museum, San Francisco, SFMOMA Artist’s Gallery, San Francisco and in art galleries in LA, Boston, NY, Montreal, and more.
Asheville Parks + Rec. 2023 Winter-Spring program guide
Mar 31 @ 10:00 am
online

The beginning of the year is a great time for Ashevillians of all ages to explore, connect, and discover. Asheville Parks & Recreation  (APR)’s new winter-spring program guide is filled with registration dates, information, and listings for hundreds of fitness and active living offerings, sports and clubs, arts and culture programs, out-of-school time activities, outdoor recreation, special events, parks and facilities’ hours of operation, and more.

 

The free guide is available at all APR community centers and online as a PDF or enhanced digital flipbook. Community members may also download the APR app for iPhone or search programs on avlREC.com.

Winter-Spring 2023 Guide Highlights

  • Exercise at fitness centers with a free membership (through June 30, 2023).

  • Walk, roll, or run your way to 50 miles in February and March during the Fit 50 Challenge for a free T-shirt.

  • Celebrate Black Legacy Month with food, art, and festivals throughout the city in February.

  • Meet neighbors over cards, board games, bingo, trivia contests, and community meals.

  • Get an up-close look at big trucks, small trucks, transit buses, construction rigs, rescue vehicles, and public works equipment during Truck City AVL on April 15.

  • Experience the fun, fellowship, fitness, arts, and competition of Asheville-Buncombe Senior Games and Silver Arts Classic for local adults over 50..

  • Flex creativity at art, painting, writing, scrapbooking, and crafting classes.

  • Connect with neighbors over sports such as basketball, flag football, volleyball, pickleball, tennis, and archery for kids, teens, and adults.

  • Enjoy the honor of dirty hands with community garden workdays and Green Thumbs Garden Club at Grove Street Community Center’s greenhouse.

  • Witness the power of gravity at the Montford Pinewood Derby in May.

  • Refine square, tap, line, and West African dance skills at multiple locations.

  • And so much more!

Center for Craft: Cowork Office Available
Mar 31 @ 10:00 am – 6:00 pm
Center for Craft
Located on the second floor of our building downtown Asheville, North Carolina, Cowork at Center for Craft provides space for creative entrepreneurs and small businesses to work alongside each other while building community.

We have one private office available as well as our more flexible desk spaces! If you are local to Asheville or planning to relocate here soon, visit our page to learn about our plans and schedule a tour.

Some perks of being a Coworker in our space include strong and reliable internet, mail service, monthly conference room credits, complimentary color printing, a full kitchen, and access to a wide network of creative professionals.

Ways to Cowork

Private Office

$500–$1200

  • Unlimited access during extended hours
  • Direct fiber internet
  • 14 hrs/month of conference room usage

Anchor Desk

$300

  • Unlimited access during extended hours
  • Dedicated desk space & storage
  • 10 hrs/month of conference room usage

F/T Flex Plan

$200

  • Unlimited access during standard hours
  • Shared desk space
  • 6 hrs/month of conference room usage

P/T Flex Plan

$150

  • Access 10 days/month during standard hours
  • Shared desk space
  • 3 hrs/month of conference room usage
Exhibition: NEO MINERALIA
Mar 31 @ 10:00 am – 6:00 pm
Center for Craft

Photo credit:

Sae Honda. Courtesy of the Artist.

NEO MINERALIA suggests that recent rock formations no longer fit within the traditional groups: Igneous, Metamorphic, and Sedimentary. Instead, the Anthropocene, the era of human influence on the climate and environment, has introduced two post-natural rocks: Synthetic and Digital.

NEO MINERALIA presents a selection of new geological specimens crafted by ten international artists exploring rocks as reflections of our effects on human and nonhuman ecologies. By embedding synthetic materials (plastics, e-waste) and layers of data points (critical, financial, social) into the craftsmanship of these artifacts, the artists transgress the definition of rocks, turning them from passive aggregates of minerals into metaphorical aggregates of data. Within their apparent “rockness” we can decode hopes, warnings, and speculative future scenarios.

The featured works stemming from places as varied as Mexico, Japan, Poland, and Australia (including a curated artists’ books library), collectively signal a new era of planetary and geological consciousness where we are asked to read, feel, and listen to rocks in new ways.

Exhibition: Something earned, Something left behind
Mar 31 @ 10:00 am – 6:00 pm
Center for Craft

Photo credit:

J Diamond, “Pony II,” 2022. Courtesy of the Artist

Something earned, Something left behind is an exhibition of objecthood; a critical analysis of the transactional and political languages of everyday and culturally significant objects. This exhibition challenges a history of exclusion and inclusion of People of Color (POC) and their narratives from the canon of craft based on subject matter. It dissects this history’s origins and precedent as an economic transaction to gain access to white spaces.

Racial and ethnic identity influences the way individuals perceive themselves, the way others perceive them, and the way they choose to behave. For this reason, People of Color are expected to perform certain roles in order to fit into hegemonic institutions. These roles can be an active shrinking of themselves and the racialized part of them, or a personal exploitation of their racialized selves. This exhibition addresses and redresses the ways narrowed populations have been included, and the ways in which they have been asked to participate.

Together, this work creates space for and legitimizes POC narratives with depth and care. The exhibiting artists’ practices work against institutionalized expectations of POC work, expanding discourse and inserting new subjectivity into the canon of craft art. It engages with a community hungry for the revitalization and resuscitation of non-Western voices within art spaces. This exhibition challenges the expectations of art from artists of marginalized backgrounds and embraces a new subjectivity of interrogating one’s inherited experiences.

Exhibition: Crafting Denim
Mar 31 @ 10:00 am – 6:00 pm
Center for Craft

Photo credit:

Photograph by Bowery Blue Makers

Jeans – with their standardized pockets, rivets, and denim – are so much a part of everyday wardrobes that they are easy to overlook. Yet, in workshops across the nation, independent makers are reevaluating the garment and creating jeans by hand, using antiquated equipment and denim woven on midcentury looms. Crafting Denim explores how and why jeans have come to exist at the intersections of industry and craft, modernity, and tradition.

A product of industrial factory production for over a century, jeans are being recast by a new cohort of small-scale makers including craftspeople like Ryan Martin of W.H. Ranch Dungarees, Takayuki Echigoya of Bowery Blue Makers, and Sarah Yarborough and Victor Lytvinenko of Raleigh Denim, who favor choice materials and small-batch fabrication. The jeans they make merge craft traditions with industry and extend the conversation between hand and machine.

Each maker creates a distinctive product but shares a deep appreciation for materials, tools, history, and denim. These jeans are in dialogue with the past and in line with contemporary interests in sustainability. The small workshops featured here are sites of innovation and preservation, and visitors are invited to take a close look at an everyday item and imagine alternative contexts for making and living in our own clothes.

Food Scraps Drop Off: West Asheville Library
Mar 31 @ 10:00 am – 5:00 pm
West Asheville Library

Food Scraps Drop Off

The City of Asheville, in partnership with Buncombe County and the Natural Resources Defense Council, is offering a FREE Food Scrap Drop-Off program in

two locations for all Buncombe County residents.  This organic matter will be collected and turned into good clean compost, keeping it OUT of our landfill and reducing greenhouse gas emissions.

 

Register for Food Scraps Drop Off

 

 

 

   

 

 

 

Need a handy kitchen countertop food scrap bin?  Let us know on the registration form! We’ll be having bin giveaways at city and county facilities and would love to give you one.

 

Locations

West Asheville Library – “Food Scrap Bin Shelters” on the south side of the building

942 Haywood Road, Asheville

Library open hours

Stephens-Lee Recreation Center “Food Scrap Shed” next to the Community Garden on the North side of the parking lot

30 Washington Carver Avenue, Asheville

    • Monday – Friday, 7 a.m. – 6 p.m.
    • Saturday, 8 a.m. – 2 p.m.
    • Sunday, 12 – 4 p.m.

Murphy Oakley Community Center and Library – “Food Scrap Bin Shelters” on the east side of the parking lot

749 Fairview Road, Asheville

    • Dawn – Dusk

 

Buncombe County Landfill – Convenience Center85 Panther Branch Road, Alexander

        • Monday-Friday, 8 a.m. – 4:30 p.m.
        • Saturday, 8 a.m. – 12:30 pm
Italian Renaissance Alive
Mar 31 @ 10:00 am
Biltmore Estate

Explore Biltmore House with an Audio Guide that introduces you to the Vanderbilt family and their magnificent home’s history, architecture, and collections of fine art and furnishings.

PLUS: Immersive, multi-sensory Italian Renaissance Alive exhibition created by Grande Experiences

PLUS: FREE next-day access to Biltmore’s Gardens and Grounds

This visit includes access to:

  • Italian Renaissance Alive at Amherst at Deerpark®
  • 8,000 Acres of Gardens and Grounds for two consecutive days
  • Antler Hill Village & Winery
  • Complimentary Wine Tastings at the Winery
  • Tastings require a Day-of-Visit Reservation, which can be made by:
    • Scanning the QR Code found in your Estate Guide
    • Visiting any Guest Services location
  • Complimentary parking

Art Exhibition: Italian Renaissance Alive

This fascinating experience takes you on a spellbinding tour of Italy, fully immersing you in the beauty and brilliance of iconic masterworks from the greatest artistic period in history

LAZOOM: CITY COMEDY TOUR
Mar 31 @ 10:00 am
LaZoom Room

Learn Asheville’s history, discover hidden gems, and laugh at LaZoom’s quirky sense of adventure.

  • Guided comedy tour bus of historical Asheville
  • 90-Minutes – tours run daily
  • 15-minute break at Green Man Brewing
  • $39 per person (ages 13+ only)
Hora del Cuento/ bilingual story time Oakley Library
Mar 31 @ 10:30 am – 11:30 am
Oakley Library

Buncombe County Public Libraries offers 16 story times a week at library locations all across the County. Did you know there are two bilingual story times included in our story time schedule?

Parents can find Hora del Cuento at the Skyland/South Buncombe Library every Friday at 10:30 a.m. and at the Oakley Library every Tuesday at 10:30 a.m. We’ll share books, rhymes, and songs in Spanish and English–fun for the whole family. Speakers of all languages and children of all ages are welcome to attend.

Let us know if you have any questions and we look forward to seeing you at the Library!

Hora del Cuento bilingual en la Biblioteca

Buncombe County Public Libraries ofrecen 16 story times a la semana en las bibliotecas de todo el Condado.  ¿Sepa que hay dos Horas del Cuento bilinguales que están incluidos en nuestro horario de story time?

Puede encontrar Hora del Cuento en la biblioteca de Skyland/South Buncombe cada Viernes a las 10:30am y en la biblioteca de Oakley cada Martes a las 10:30am.   Vamos a compartir libros, ritmos, y canciones en Espanol y Ingles.  ¡Diversión para toda la familia!  Hablantes de todas las lenguas y niños de todas las edades son bienvenidos.

Nos avisan de cualquier pregunta, y nos vemos en la Biblioteca!

Hora del Cuento/ bilingual story time at Skyland/South Buncombe Library
Mar 31 @ 10:30 am – 11:30 am
Skyland/South Buncombe Library

Buncombe County Public Libraries offers 16 story times a week at library locations all across the County. Did you know there are two bilingual story times included in our story time schedule?

Parents can find Hora del Cuento at the Skyland/South Buncombe Library every Friday at 10:30 a.m. and at the Oakley Library every Tuesday at 10:30 a.m. We’ll share books, rhymes, and songs in Spanish and English–fun for the whole family. Speakers of all languages and children of all ages are welcome to attend.

Let us know if you have any questions and we look forward to seeing you at the Library!

Hora del Cuento bilingual en la Biblioteca

Buncombe County Public Libraries ofrecen 16 story times a la semana en las bibliotecas de todo el Condado.  ¿Sepa que hay dos Horas del Cuento bilinguales que están incluidos en nuestro horario de story time?

Puede encontrar Hora del Cuento en la biblioteca de Skyland/South Buncombe cada Viernes a las 10:30am y en la biblioteca de Oakley cada Martes a las 10:30am.   Vamos a compartir libros, ritmos, y canciones en Espanol y Ingles.  ¡Diversión para toda la familia!  Hablantes de todas las lenguas y niños de todas las edades son bienvenidos.

Nos avisan de cualquier pregunta, y nos vemos en la Biblioteca!

Art Exhibit: RAUSCHENBERG: A Gift in Your Pocket
Mar 31 @ 11:00 am – 5:00 pm
Black Mountain College Museum + Arts Center
RAUSCHENBERG: A Gift in Your Pocket From the Collections of Friends in Honor of Bradley Jeffries

Robert Rauschenberg, Autobiography, 1968

In the late 70s, Bradley Jeffries had a chance meeting with Robert Rauschenberg outside his home on Captiva Island, and they bonded immediately. Bradley was hired to be the artist’s business and life manager. Her employment with him for over 30 years, until his death in 2008, involved many roles on the Board of Directors of Change, Inc and The Rauschenberg Foundation. Bradley’s travels with Rauschenberg took her on incredible adventures all over the world and exposed her to extraordinary opportunities. Throughout their friendship and work together, Rauschenberg gifted Bradley with many of his original artworks.

The family and friends of Bradley Jeffries will use her expansive and never previously exhibited Rauschenberg collection as a means of memorializing Bradley through this traveling exhibition. “Rauschenberg: A Gift in Your Pocket” opens on April 25, 2022 at the Bob Rauschenberg Gallery at Florida Southwestern State College in Ft. Myers for display throughout the summer. After which her collection will travel to The University of Kentucky Art Museum followed by its culminating exhibition at BMCM+AC.

Once her collection of Rauschenberg’s artwork completes its planned memorial exhibitions, pieces will be donated to each of the involved institutions in an ongoing memorial to Bradley and her legacy of promoting the arts and artists.

Curated by Jade Dellinger, Director of the Bob Rauschenberg Gallery at Florida Southwestern State College.

Asheville Gallery of Art “Awakenings” Group Show
Mar 31 @ 11:00 am – 6:00 pm
Asheville Gallery of Art

Asheville Gallery of Art’s March show, “Awakenings” features work by three new Gallery members: Jon Sebastian, Sara Bell, Andrea Stutesman. The show runs daily March 1 through March 31st, 2023 during gallery hours, 11am-6pm. An opening reception will be held March 3, 5-8pm; everyone is welcome.

The three artists will showcase their passion through three mediums, respectively. Not unlike the delicate and elusive trillium of the North Carolina mountain beds, these artists spring forward in the presentation of “Awakenings.” As featured artists of the month, Andrea Stutesman, Sara Bell, and Jon Sebastian join forces in presenting this amazing show by rendering their art using pastels, watercolors, and oil paints. Mesmerizing spring colors will grace the windows and walls of the gallery, rendering imagery of flowers, exotic and endangered animals, and vibrant landscapes. “Awakenings” is the second of three group shows featuring new artists to the gallery.

Andrea Stutesman
Andrea’s early art explorations began with pastels under the guidance of her mother, an accomplished painter. Her work is from the heart, inspired by her interactions with people and places or by the stories brought to her with requests for commissions. She strives to transform a sense of calm and connection that she experiences when painting that will invite viewers to slow down and enjoy the beauty of life.

Jon Sebastian
Art and painting in particular is, for artist Jon Sebastian, the selective recreation of reality according to his own principles and what he deems interesting and just in this world we share. Jon cannot remember a time when he did not paint. At Asheville Gallery of Art, Jon is now moving forward with confidence that others will find his works a compelling addition to their own collections. Jon paints immersive works filled with color, light and shadow. His subjects are of nature and of the peace and spirituality in which they envelope us.

Sara Bell
Sara Bell has always loved drawing. It’s a form of meditation for her and has now become a way for her to find peace and sanity when her world gets too overwhelming, which, as a single mom with a neuro-divergent teen, happens quite often. When it does, Sara follows John Muir’s quote, “Off into the woods I go to lose my mind and find my soul.” The results of these adventures are delightful sketches and photography of the forests. Sara then works from her photos to create her watercolors and intaglio prints.
Come visit this engaging and thoughtful exhibition at 82 Patton Avenue in downtown Asheville. For further information about this show, contact the Asheville Gallery of Art at (828) 251-5796, visit the Gallery’s website at ashevillegallery-of-art.com, or go to the Gallery’s Facebook page.

Luzene Hill: Revelate
Mar 31 @ 11:00 am – 6:00 pm
Asheville Art Museum

An enrolled member of the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians, Luzene Hill advocates for Indigenous sovereignty—linguistically, culturally, and individually. Revelate builds upon Hill’s investigation of pre-contact cultures. This has led Hill to incorporate the idea of Ollin, the Nahuatl word for the natural rhythms of the universe, in Aztec cosmology in her work. Before Europeans arrived in North America, Indigenous societies were predominantly matrilineal. Women were considered sacred, involved in the decision-making process, and thrived within communities holding a worldview based on equilibrium.

Ollin emphasizes that we are in constant state of motion and discovery. Adopted as an educational framework, particularly in social justice and ethnic studies, Ollin guides individuals through a process of reflection, action, reconciliation, and transformation. This exhibition combines Hill’s use of mylar safety blankets alongside recent drawings. Capes constructed of mylar burst with energy and rustle with subtle sound, the shining material a signifier of care, awareness, displacement, and presence. Though Hill works primarily in sculpture, drawing has increasingly become an essential part of her practice as she seeks to communicate themes of feminine and Indigenous power across her entire body of work. The energy within her drawings extends to the bursts of light reflecting from her capes or the accumulation of materials in other installation works.

Luzene Hill was born in Atlanta, GA, in 1946. She received her bachelor of fine art and master of fine art from Western Carolina University. She lives and works on the Qualla Boundary, Cherokee, NC.

Natural Collector | Gifts of Fleur S. Bresler
Mar 31 @ 11:00 am – 6:00 pm
Asheville Art Museum

Natural Collector is organized by the Asheville Art Museum. IMAGE: Christian Burchard, Untitled (nesting bowls), 1998, madrone burl, various from 6 × 6 × 6 to ⅜ × ⅜ × ⅜ inches. Gift of Fleur S. Bresler, 2021.76.01.
Natural Collector Gifts of Fleur S. Bresler features around 15 artworks from the collection of Fleur S. Bresler, which include important examples of modern and contemporary American craft including wood and fiber art, as well as glass and ceramics. These works that were generously donated by contemporary craft collector Bresler to the Asheville Art Museum over the years reflect her strong interest in wood-based art and themes of nature.

According to Associate Curator Whitney Richardson, “This exhibition highlights artworks that consider the natural element from which they were created or replicate known flora and fauna in unexpected materials. The selection of objects displayed illustrates how Bresler’s eye for collecting craft not only draws attention to nature and artists’ interest in it, but also accentuates her role as a natural collector with an intuitive ability to identify themes and ideas that speak to one another.”

This exhibition presents work from the Collection representing the first generation of American wood turners like Rude Osolnik and Ed Moulthrop, as well as those that came after and learned from them, such as Philip Moulthrop, John Jordan, and local Western North Carolina (WNC) artist Stoney Lamar. Other WNC-based artists in Natural Collector include Anne Lemanski, whose paper sculpture of a snake captures the viewer’s imagination, and Michael Sherrill’s multimedia work that tricks the eye with its similarity to true-to-life berries. Also represented are beadwork and sculpture by Joyce J. Scott and Jack and Linda Fifield.

Pulp Potential: Works in Handmade Paper
Mar 31 @ 11:00 am – 6:00 pm
Asheville Art Museum

Paul Wong, Carbon, silver and gold, 2016, pigmented linen and cotton pulp, publisher: Dieu Donné, New York, edition 3/25, 18 × 11 inches. Gift of Dieu Donné, New York, 2022.27.06. © Paul Wong.

On View March 8 through July 24, 2023
The Van Winkle Law Firm Gallery • Level 1

Paper is an essential part of the art-making process for many artists, serving as the base for drawing, painting, printmaking, and other forms of art. As a substrate, paper can vary in weight, absorbency, color, size, and other aspects. Since industrialization, paper has primarily been produced through mechanical means that allow for consistency and affordability.

What happens, then, when an artist chooses to return to the foundations of paper, wherein it is made by hand using pulps, fibers, and dyes that reflect the human element through variations, inconsistencies, flaws, and surprises? Certain artists have sought out these qualities and embraced them, making paper not just a support on which to work, but fully a medium in and of itself.

Pulp Potential: Works in Handmade Paper is organized by the Asheville Art Museum and curated by Hilary Schroeder, former assistant curator, with assistance from Alexis Meldrum, curatorial assistant. Special thanks to Dieu Donné, New York, NY.

Stained with Glass: Vitreograph Prints from the Studio of Harvey K. Littleton Exhibition
Mar 31 @ 11:00 am – 6:00 pm
Asheville Art Museum
 
Left: Thermon Statom, Frankincense, 1999, siligraphy from glass plate with digital transfer on BFK Rives paper, edition 50/50, 36 1/4 × 29 3/8 inches. Asheville Art Museum. © Thermon Statom. | Right: Dale Chihuly, Suite of Ten Prints: Chandelier, 1994, 4-color intaglio from glass plate on BRK Rives paper, edition 34/50, image: 29 ½ × 23 ½ inches, sheet: 36 × 29 ½ inches. Asheville Art Museum. © Dale Chihuly / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York.
Asheville, N.C.—The selection of works from the Asheville Art Museum’s Collection presented in Stained with Glass: Vitreograph Prints from the Studio of Harvey K. Littleton features imagery that recreates the sensation and colors of stained glass. The exhibition showcases Littleton and the range of makers who worked with him, including Dale Chihuly, Cynthia Bringle, Thermon Statom, and more. This exhibition—organized by the Asheville Art Museum and curated by Hilary Schroeder, assistant curator—will be on view in The Van Winkle Law Firm Gallery at the Museum from January 12 through May 23, 2022.

In 1974 Harvey K. Littleton (Corning, NY 1922–2013 Spruce Pine, NC) developed a process for using glass to create prints on paper. Littleton, who began as a ceramicist and became a leading figure in the American Studio Glass Movement, expanded his curiosity around the experimental potential of glass into innovations in the world of printmaking. A wide circle of artists in a variety of media—including glass, ceramics, and painting—were invited to Littleton’s studio in Spruce Pine, NC, to create prints using the vitreograph process developed by Littleton. Upending notions of both traditional glassmaking and printmaking, vitreographs innovatively combine the two into something new. The resulting prints created through a process of etched glass, ink, and paper create rich, colorful scenes reminiscent of luminous stained glass.

“Printmaking is a medium that many artists explore at some point in their career,” says Hilary Schroeder, assistant curator. “The process is often collaborative, as they may find themselves working with a print studio and highly skilled printmaker. The medium can also be quite experimental. Harvey Littleton’s contribution to the field is very much so in this spirit, as seen in his incorporation of glass and his invitation to artists who might otherwise not have explored works on paper. Through this exhibition, we are able to appreciate how the artists bring their work in clay, glass, or paint to ink and paper.” 

The Vanderbilts at Home and Abroad
Mar 31 @ 11:00 am – 7:00 pm
Biltmore Estate

Included with admission

Back by popular demand, The Vanderbilts at Home and Abroad exhibition offers guests:

  • An opportunity to view rarely-seen treasures from the Biltmore collection
  • A first-hand look at the Vanderbilts’ lifestyle
  • Deeper insights into George, Edith, and Cornelia’s personalities, both at home and on their extensive travels

Access to exhibitions at The Biltmore Legacy is included with Biltmore daytime admission.

Too Much Is Just Right: The Legacy of Pattern and Decoration
Mar 31 @ 11:00 am – 6:00 pm
Asheville Art Museum

In the past 50 years in the United States and beyond, artists have sought to break down social and political hierarchies that include issues of identity, gender, power, race, authority, and authenticity. Unsurprisingly, these decades generated a reconsideration of the idea of pattern and decoration as a third option to figuration and abstraction in art. From 1972 to 1985, artists in the Pattern and Decoration movement worked to expand the visual vocabulary of contemporary art to include ethnically and culturally diverse options that eradicated the barriers between fine art and craft and questioned the dominant minimalist aesthetic. These artists did so by incorporating opulence and bold intricacies garnered from such wide-ranging inspirations as United States quilt-making and Islamic architecture.

Too Much Is Just Right: The Legacy of Pattern and Decoration features more than 70 artworks in an array of media from both the original time frame of the Pattern and Decoration movement, as well as contemporary artworks created between 1985 and the present. The artworks in this exhibition demonstrate the vibrant and varied approaches to pattern and decoration in art. Artworks from the 21st century elucidate contemporary perspectives on the employment of pattern to inform visual vocabularies and investigations of diverse themes in the present day.

Artworks drawn from the Asheville Art Museum’s Collection join select major loans and feature Pattern and Decoration artists Valerie Jaudon, Joyce Kozloff, Robert Kushner, and Miriam Schapiro, as well as Anni Albers, Elizabeth Alexander, Sanford Biggers, Tawny Chatmon, Margaret Curtis, Mary Engel, Cathy Fussell, Samantha Hennekke, John Himmelfarb, Anne Lemanski, Rashaad Newsome, Peter Olson, Don Reitz, Sarah Sense, Billie Ruth Sudduth, Mickalene Thomas, Shoku Teruyama, Anna Valdez, Kehinde Wiley, and more.

This exhibition is organized by the Asheville Art Museum and guest curated by Marilyn Laufer & Tom Butler.