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.
March 23 AM – Virtual Visits & Facebook Live
| 8:00 – 12:00 | Virtual Advocacy Visits – Contact your County Captain to be included in your county group. |
| 8:00 | Advocacy 101 / 2021 Agenda – an introduction to the nuts, bolts, process, and landscape of arts advocacy in North Carolina Nate McGaha, Executive Director, Arts North Carolina |
| 9:00 | Legisative Kickoff Event – Wayne Martin, Laurelyn Dossett, Sec. of Natural and Cultural Resources & more TBA |
Ikebana International of Asheville is continuing its creative program of friendship through flowers. We invite you to join us for a ZOOM presentation of “Using Baskets in Ikebana.” This demonstration is from the 18th North and Central American Regional Conference as presented by NCAR Advocate Committee in 2019 in collaboration with Ikebana Iwaya Fund. Valerie Eccleston of the Ichiyo School is the presenter. In this demonstration she will convey the beauty of Ichiyo Ikebana and her personal connection with nature and the materials she chooses.
Valerie Eccleston was introduced to Ikebana in 1975 while living in Yokohama, Japan with her husband and children. After receiving her Ichiyo School Instructor’s certificate she returned to her native England then moved to the United States in 1984. She received her Master’s Certificate in 1992, and in 2006 was appointed President of the Washington DC Chapter of the Ichiyo School by the late Iemoto (Headmaster) Akihiro Kasuya. In 2009 she was appointed to the rank of Executive Master, which is the Ichiyo School’s highest rank held outside of Japan.
Guests who are interested in learning more about ikebana can join us on the ZOOM presentation. Please contact Lynn Forbes at the number or email above to obtain the necessary information.
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Ikebana provides a well-matched creative expression for modern Asheville as it combines nature, reflection, and art. The Asheville Chapter of Ikebana International presents a program on ikebana flower design and/or Japanese culture on the fourth Tuesday of every month, February through October.
| 11:00 | Arts North Carolina: What a Year It Has Been – Nate McGaha, Executive Director, Arts North Carolina |
| 11:40 | Networking Lunch |
| 12:30 | Living in an Age of Uncertainty – Steven Petrow & Melody Moezzi |
| 1:00 | John Brown |
| 1:30 | Performance |
| 1:40 | 20 Minute Break |
| 2:00 | DEAI: Power in Community – Tamara Brothers |
| 2:30 | Art as the Advocate – Mike Williams |
| 3:00 | Performance |
| 3:10 | 20 Minute Break |
| 3:30 | Authority of the Fez: Keeping a Lid on Reopening Risk – Steve Adelman, Event Safety Alliance |
| 3:30 | Arts Ed Advocacy and the High School Graduation Requirement |
| 4:30 | Why Am I The Only Black Person In This Room? – William Henry Curry |
| 5:00 | Networking Happy Hour |
Desire Paths looks at makers within the discourse of craft and those existing on the periphery of the craftscape who focus on the movement of the body towards something desirable. These desires of the body are in relationship to nature, technology, self, and society. Using architectural theory and queer curatorial strategies, Desire Paths examines the possibilities and futures of bodies, revealing connections between the corporeal and craft.
“Desire paths,” a term taken from urban planning, are lines trodden in the landscape when constructed walkways do not provide a direct or desired route. Through action, repetition, and intentionality, desire paths are crafted modifications to the landscape that allow for a body to move towards a horizon. The format of the works include traditional craft media, performance, video, and interactive web-based work. Through this variety of media and performative tactics the makers in Desire Paths consider how we view, value, and ascribe meaning to a body/the body/the others body. They show us the power and agency held in body and present us with crafted visions of the body that confront and expand expectations
The works in this exhibition reclaim the concept of craft from its historical associations with the decorative, frivolous, feminine, indigenous, and the other. The makers use the medium of craft, and the action of crafting, to produce powerful representations and counter narratives to dominant culture.
Two Ways to View
Virtual Tour
Online visitors can register to attend a virtual tour of this exhibition. This is a free event. A $5-10 donation at time of registration is recommended.
In-Person
The Center is offering free, unguided visits and affordable tours of its exhibitions to the public. Guests can reserve a 30-minute visit to explore the current exhibitions, learn more about the Center’s national impact in their Craft Research Fund Study Collection, and enjoy interactive activities. The Center is open to the public Tuesday-Friday, 11 am -5 pm. Hours of operation may be subject to change.
Center for Craft is monitoring the effects of COVID-19 on the community and following the instruction of federal, state, and local health departments. Our top priority is always the health and safety of our staff, coworkers, and visitors. At this time, the Center can only allow a maximum of five guests in its public space at once and will require the use of masks or face coverings by all visitors, including children. The Center reserves the right to refuse entry to any visitor that will not comply.
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“Guggisberg and Baldwin have laid a new avenue. By joining Italian coldworking to the Swedish overlay, they have embarked upon an innovative sequence of experimentation and research not only on surfaces, but also on color and the interplay of color and texture through surface treatment. These explorations have increasingly drawn them to probe the expressive fields of textural elements. Initially soft and tactile, with the new strong angles, facets and deep cuts, the surface itself takes on a kind of fourth dimension, something sculptural that moves beyond the limits set by height, width, and volume.”
A quote from Louise Berndt, writing in “Battuto 2002: Philip Baldwin and Monica Guggisberg”
Plein Air Painting Tips
Don Osterberg has illustrated some of his advice on plein air painting with step-by-step stages of his pastel “Looking Glass Falls in Pisgah Forest.”
The watermedia and mixed media paintings, drawings, and monotype prints of Costanza Knight, also known as Connie Knight, are contemporary expressions that explore and celebrate the human form and the landscape. Poetry and narratives are often her creative touchstone, but she also takes inspiration from the landscapes she loves. Her diverse interests are evident in her varied styles.
Diane Dean talks about the process of painting a commission painting
Acrylic Painter, Diane Dean teaches her technique for creating heavily textured acrylic paintings using heavy gesso for surface texture, fluid and heavy body acrylics, brushes and palette knives.
Mary Alice Braukman presented “Free Up: Collage Surprise,” a workshop that was videotaped for viewing on the League’s YouTube channel. Students: Lisa Casperson, JoAnn Jenson and Sharon Richmond participated. Lynn Padgett and Diane Dean video recorded this event for publication on the Art League website for all members to view.
Braukman was the Director of the Kanuga Watercolor Workshops for 17 years, held at the Kanuga Conference Center in Hendersonville, North Carolina. She teaches workshops throughout the United States, in experimental water media painting and collage for intermediate and advanced painters, consults on workshops, lectures, serves as juror in national, state and regional water media exhibitions.
Pat has been teaching workshops for over 20 years and has received several local and regional awards and has had solo shows as well as Kindred Spirit exhibits with her friend and colleague Janet Campbell. She is a signature member of the North East Watercolor Society, Audubon Artists, Inc. and a former elected member of the New Jersey Water Color Society and the Salmagundi Club in NYC.
Diane Dean demonstrates using a palette knife to complete a dogwood painting.
Acrylic Painter, Diane Dean teaches her technique for creating heavily textured acrylic paintings using heavy gesso for surface texture, fluid and heavy body acrylics, brushes and palette knives.
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We know you love Buncombe County parks! We get tagged in lots of pics on Facebook and Instagram. Why not get a sweet reward for your photo skills?
Each month, we’ll announce a theme. Post your favorite photos to Instagram or Facebook showing the theme in one of our parks. Make sure to tag @BuncombeRecreation and use the hashtag #IHeartBCParks. Be sure your photo is set to “public” and use the hashtag or we won’t be able to find it. (Full rules below.)
Our theme for April is… (drumroll, please) Game On! You play soccer, disc golf, volleyball, kickball, gaga, horse shoes, fishing, bocce, lacrosse, softball, baseball, and more in Buncombe County parks. Post your best pics by Apr. 30; you can submit an unlimited number of photos. Be creative and think outside the box.
The winning photo will receive:
- Cool I Heart Parks swag: rope bag cross body sling, water bottle, compass, first aid kit, pen, and stickers
- Picture set as the cover photo for Buncombe County Recreation Service’s Facebook page for a month
- Bragging rights
Want to get a jump on the competition? Future themes include kids, pets, autumn views, and Leave No Trace.
#IHeartBCParks Photo Contest Rules and Guidelines
- Photos MUST be taken at a Buncombe County park. Tag or identify your location in your post.
- You do not need to be a Buncombe County resident to enter. Everyone is eligible to submit an entry*.
- Photos must be posted on Facebook or Instagram.
- Entry participants must be a follower of Buncombe County Recreation Services on Facebook or Instagram. Non-followers are not eligible.
- To enter, post your photo on Facebook or Instagram tagging @BuncombeRecreation on Facebook or Instagram. Use the hashtag #IHeartBCParks. (If you do not use this hashtag we won’t be able to find your photo.)
- Make sure your photo is set to “public” so we can see it.
- By submitting your photo, you warrant that your entry is an original work of authorship. You understand and agree that Buncombe County Recreation Services can re-post your photo and credit your name/username in any future promotions hereafter.
- All photos must be posted within the time frame to be eligible.
- Individuals may submit an unlimited number of photos.
- Prizes cannot be substituted, transferred, or returned for cash. No purchase necessary to enter or win. A purchase does not increase the chances of winning.
- This contest is not sponsored, administered, or endorsed by Facebook or Instagram.
- Be creative and think outside the box. Get out and enjoy your Buncombe County parks, pools, and open spaces!
*Entries must be submitted by individuals ages 18 or older. Employees of Buncombe County, the contest’s participating sponsors, and members of the immediate family of any such persons are not eligible to participate and win. The term “immediate family” includes spouses, siblings, parents, children, grandparents, and grandchildren, whether it is “in-laws,” or by current or past marriage(s), remarriage(s), adoption, co-habitation or other family extension, and any other persons residing at the same household whether or not related.
To receive the I Heart Parks monthly newsletter, sign up online.
The Asheville Art Museum is the only museum in North Carolina to be selected as a finalist for this award. Chapel Hill Public Library is the only library to be selected in North Carolina.
The National Medal is the nation’s highest honor given to museums and libraries that demonstrate significant impact in their communities. For more than 25 years, the award has honored institutions that demonstrate excellence in service to their communities.
To celebrate this honor, IMLS is encouraging the Asheville Art Museum’s community members to share stories, memories, pictures, and videos on social media as part of the Share Your Story Campaign, using the #IMLSmedals hashtag, and engage with IMLS on Facebook and Twitter. For more information, please visit the IMLS website. The Asheville Art Museum will be featured on IMLS’s social media accounts on Tuesday, March 30, and we invite all to also share the content with the community.
National Medal winners will be announced in late spring. Representatives from winning institutions will be honored for their extraordinary contributions during a virtual National Medal Ceremony this summer.
To see the full list of finalists and learn more about the National Medal, visit the IMLS website.
Show Us What the River Means to You!
Every spring we host our Voices of the River: Art & Poetry Contest. We ask kids to use the river as a source of inspiration to showcase their creativity. Each year we are so amazed by the talent of these young artists, poets, and performers. Submissions can include 2D and 3D works in various mediums, poems and creative writings, and video compositions of songs, dances, or skits. Winners are selected by a council of judges made up of local artists, writers, and community leaders. Many generous businesses also donate prizes for winners from each age group and category.
This year we want you to show us “How has the river helped you during this time of isolation?”
All entries are due by Thursday April 22nd
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Membership is not limited to Henderson County. Artists and art lovers from elsewhere are welcome to join.
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March 24 AM – Virtual Visits & Facebook Live
| 8:00 – 12:00 | Virtual Advocacy Visits – Contact your County Captain to be included in your county group. |
| 9:00 | Arts Caucus Chairs – Remarks from the chairs of the Caucus on Arts and Arts Education. |
2021 WNC Regional Scholastic Art Awards
The Museum, with the assistance of its volunteer docents and support from the Asheville Area Section of the American Institute of Architects, is proud to sponsor the WNC Regional Scholastic Art Awards. Students in grades 7–12 from all across our region are invited to submit work for this special juried competition. The Museum works with the Alliance for Young Artists & Writers to facilitate regional judging of student artwork and recognition of our community’s burgeoning artistic talent.
In early spring each year, award winners are featured in an exhibition, and are honored at a ceremony. Regional Gold Key recipients’ work is sent to the National Scholastic Art competition hosted by the Alliance for Young Artists & Writers.
Across the Atlantic
Across the Atlantic
American Impressionism Through the French Lens
This extraordinary exhibition, drawn from the collection of the Reading Public Museum, explores the path to Impressionism through the 19th century in France. The show examines the sometimes complex relationship between French Impressionism of the 1870s and 1880s and the American interpretation of the style in the decades that followed. More than 65 paintings and works on paper help tell the story of the “new style” of painting which developed at the end of the 19th century—one that emphasized light and atmospheric conditions, rapid or loose brushstrokes, and a focus on brightly colored scenes from everyday life, including both urban and rural settings when artists preferred to paint outdoors and capture changing effects of light during different times of day and seasons of the year.
Across the Atlantic: American Impressionism through the French Lens is organized by the Reading Public Museum, Reading, Pennsylvania.
Generous support for this project provided by Art Bridges and The Maurer Family Foundation.
The Asheville Art Museum announces Meeting the Moon, an exhibition featuring prints, photographs, ceramics, sculptures, and more from the Museum’s Collection. This exhibition will be on view in the Asheville Art Museum’s McClinton Gallery February 3 through July 26, 2021.
2021 marks the 60th anniversary of the beginning of the Apollo space program at NASA, but its inception was hardly the beginning of humankind’s fascination with Earth’s only moon. Before space travel existed, the moon—its shape, its mystery, and the face we see in it—inspired countless artists. Once astronauts landed on the moon and we saw our world from a new perspective, a surge of creativity flooded the American art scene, in paintings, prints, sculpture, music, crafts, film, and poetry.
This exhibition, whose title is taken from a 1913 Robert Frost poem, examines artwork in the Asheville Art Museum’s Collection of artists who were inspired by the unknown, then increasingly familiar moon. Meeting the Moon includes works by nationally renowned artists Newcomb Pottery, James Rosenquist, Maltby Sykes, Paul Soldner, John Lewis, Richard Ritter (Bakersville, NC), and Mark Peiser (Penland, NC). Western North Carolina artists include Jane Peiser (Penland, NC), Jak Brewer (Zionville, NC), Dirck Cruser (Asheville, NC), George Peterson (Lake Toxaway, NC), John B. Neff (NC), and Maud Gatewood (Yanceyville, NC).
“Meeting the Moon offers the opportunity to combine science and popular culture with works of art in the Museum’s Collection,” says Whitney Richardson, associate curator. “I think all visitors will find something that draws them into this exhibition, whether it’s the artwork, poetry, music, or science of space travel. It’s such an affirmation of humanity to find these mysteries, like the moon, which enchant us all.”
This exhibition is organized by the Asheville Art Museum and curated by Whitney Richardson, associate curator. Visit ashevilleart.org for more information about this and other exhibitions.
This exhibition features archival objects from the Theodore Dreier Sr. Document Collection presented alongside artworks from the Museum’s Black Mountain College Collection to explore the connections between artworks and ephemera. This exhibition is organized by the Asheville Art Museum and curated by lydia see, fall 2020 curatorial fellow, with support from a Digitizing Hidden Collections grant through the Council on Library and Information Resources.
Desire Paths looks at makers within the discourse of craft and those existing on the periphery of the craftscape who focus on the movement of the body towards something desirable. These desires of the body are in relationship to nature, technology, self, and society. Using architectural theory and queer curatorial strategies, Desire Paths examines the possibilities and futures of bodies, revealing connections between the corporeal and craft.
“Desire paths,” a term taken from urban planning, are lines trodden in the landscape when constructed walkways do not provide a direct or desired route. Through action, repetition, and intentionality, desire paths are crafted modifications to the landscape that allow for a body to move towards a horizon. The format of the works include traditional craft media, performance, video, and interactive web-based work. Through this variety of media and performative tactics the makers in Desire Paths consider how we view, value, and ascribe meaning to a body/the body/the others body. They show us the power and agency held in body and present us with crafted visions of the body that confront and expand expectations
The works in this exhibition reclaim the concept of craft from its historical associations with the decorative, frivolous, feminine, indigenous, and the other. The makers use the medium of craft, and the action of crafting, to produce powerful representations and counter narratives to dominant culture.
Two Ways to View
Virtual Tour
Online visitors can register to attend a virtual tour of this exhibition. This is a free event. A $5-10 donation at time of registration is recommended.
In-Person
The Center is offering free, unguided visits and affordable tours of its exhibitions to the public. Guests can reserve a 30-minute visit to explore the current exhibitions, learn more about the Center’s national impact in their Craft Research Fund Study Collection, and enjoy interactive activities. The Center is open to the public Tuesday-Friday, 11 am -5 pm. Hours of operation may be subject to change.
Center for Craft is monitoring the effects of COVID-19 on the community and following the instruction of federal, state, and local health departments. Our top priority is always the health and safety of our staff, coworkers, and visitors. At this time, the Center can only allow a maximum of five guests in its public space at once and will require the use of masks or face coverings by all visitors, including children. The Center reserves the right to refuse entry to any visitor that will not comply.
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The Asheville Art Museum presents Fantastical Forms: Ceramics as Sculpture on view at the Museum November 4, 2020 through April 5, 2021. The 25 works in this exhibition—curated by associate curator Whitney Richardson—highlight the Museum’s Collection of sculptural ceramics from the last two decades of the 20th century to the present. Each work illustrates the artist’s ability to push beyond the utilitarian and transition ceramics into the world of sculpture.
North and South Carolina artists featured include Elma McBride Johnson, Neil Noland, Norm Schulman, Virginia Scotchie, Cynthia Bringle, Jane Palmer, Michael Sherrill, and Akira Satake. Works by American artists Don Reitz, Robert Chapman Turner, Karen Karnes, Toshiko Takaezu, Bill Griffith, and Xavier Toubes are also featured in the exhibition.
Join Sarah Reincke, master docent and Steve Bennett, touring docent, virtually for an interactive conversation about artworks in our Collection. Connections is an arts-based program serving community-dwelling adults with mild to moderate memory loss and their care partners. This program takes place via Zoom; space is limited. Generous support for this program is provided by TD Charitable Foundation. More info and register for this virtual program at ashevilleart.org/events.
“Guggisberg and Baldwin have laid a new avenue. By joining Italian coldworking to the Swedish overlay, they have embarked upon an innovative sequence of experimentation and research not only on surfaces, but also on color and the interplay of color and texture through surface treatment. These explorations have increasingly drawn them to probe the expressive fields of textural elements. Initially soft and tactile, with the new strong angles, facets and deep cuts, the surface itself takes on a kind of fourth dimension, something sculptural that moves beyond the limits set by height, width, and volume.”
A quote from Louise Berndt, writing in “Battuto 2002: Philip Baldwin and Monica Guggisberg”
Plein Air Painting Tips
Don Osterberg has illustrated some of his advice on plein air painting with step-by-step stages of his pastel “Looking Glass Falls in Pisgah Forest.”
The watermedia and mixed media paintings, drawings, and monotype prints of Costanza Knight, also known as Connie Knight, are contemporary expressions that explore and celebrate the human form and the landscape. Poetry and narratives are often her creative touchstone, but she also takes inspiration from the landscapes she loves. Her diverse interests are evident in her varied styles.