De La Terre Skincare has teamed up with Short Street Cake shop an amazing local bakery here in Asheville, NC for a Valentine’s Day Special Offering! What better way to feed the soul and boost overall wellness than with cake infused with De La Terre Skincare Comforts Tea. To place you order for delivery of this awesome cake and receive your FREE GIFT of a 1 oz Comfort Tea and $20 gift card from De La Terre Skincare please call 828-505-4822

LINING: SHEATHING
Exhibition: January 16 – May 4
Reception: Thursday, April 19 from 5-7pm
Lining: Sheathing is a large-scale installation about the tactile and protective qualities of textiles by collaborators Denise Bookwalter and Lee Running. The artists have been working together for five years, creating installations and artist books that include printed fabric, handmade paper, woodblock prints, custom garments and embroidery. This installation has been developed in residencies at Penland School of Crafts, Penland NC, Constellation Studios, Lincoln NE, and Small Craft Advisory Press, Tallahassee FL. The focal point of the installation is a room-size tent suspended beneath a skylight. The tent is made from large printed and dyed textile panels which create a space that viewers can enter. Viewers are invited to try on one of the handmade garments and view the series of eight queen bed sized woodblock prints on handmade paper. For the exhibition at the WCU Fine Art Museum, Bookwalter and Running will also create a three-story site-specific window installation for the atrium of the Bardo Arts Center.

MUSEUM HOURS: Tues-Fri 10am-4pm/ Th 10am-7pm
Closed weekends & University holidays
828.227.ARTS

Image Caption: Detail: Denise Bookwalter, Lee Emma Running, “LINING:SHEATHING”, 2011

To mark the 10th Anniversary of the Windgate Fellowship, the Center for Craft awarded a total of ten, $10,000 Project Grants. This exhibition showcases how the next generation of craft artists used their funds to explore scale, installation, and community practice.

Artists: Andrea Donnelly (Richmond, VA), Josh Copus (Marshall, NC), Dustin Farnsworth (Montreal, QC), Brian Fleetwood (La Mesilla, NM), Ani Geragosian (Salem, MA), Adam Ledford (Philadelphia, PA), Rebecca Manson (Bedford Hills, NY), Rachel Mauser (Louisville, KY), Aaron McIntosh (Richmond, VA), and Mark Reigelman II (Brooklyn, NY).

Willie Cole: Soles and Boards 
Exhibition: January 16 – May 4, 2018

Since 1989, Willie Cole has employed the image of the clothes iron in his work. Cole morphs this utilitarian object to represent and reference a range of associations from African masks to scarification to slavery and the transatlantic slave trade. This exhibition presents prints from Cole’s time working at Highpoint Editions in Minneapolis, Minnesota from 2011-2012.

Image Caption: Image Courtesy of Highpoint Editions and Willie Cole

Asheville Gallery of Art’s February show features the work of two new members, Ana Blanton and Zoe Schumaker. Though they paint in two different styles and mediums, the artists’ work represents the inspiration each derives from nature. The show runs February 1-28 during gallery hours, 11 a.m.-6 p.m. Monday through Saturday and 1-4 p.m. Sunday. The gallery, located at 82 Patton Avenue in Asheville, across from Pritchard Park, will host a reception for the artists on Friday, February 2, from 5-8 p.m. Everyone is cordially invited to stop by.

“When I process ideas, I see them as layers of images rather than words, and as my thoughts become imagery, I feel more comfortable expressing myself through abstract form,” says Ana Blanton. Of her latest series of mixed-media paintings she says, “In this series I am more interested in representing the sense and feel of light in nature. It is about exploring the sense of energy and movement that is unique to light traveling through air, water, and objects in nature or a simple still life.”

Blanton, who has lived in Asheville since 1997, has a BA in Art Studio from Mars Hill University. She studied Art Conservation at University of Madrid, Spain, and mural painting and mural Conservation at the International School of Mural Painting Miguel Farre, Barcelona, Spain.

Zoe Schumaker says, “From an early age, I tried to capture the beauty I saw by drawing and photographing my surroundings.” Raised in the Santa Cruz Mountains of Northern California, the artist spent many afternoons immersed in imaginative drawings of the mountains, lakes and forests, and the animals that live there.

Schumaker rediscovered her passion for painting upon moving to the Blue Ridge Mountains in 2005. “As I explored the area, I started bringing my backpack kit of pastels. It was not long before I decided to pursue art full time.” The artist teaches painting at the John C. Campbell Folk School and is active in several regional environmental non-profits. She frequently donates her work to support these causes. “Nature is my muse. I hope my paintings capture the joy and reverence I feel for our beautiful home.”

The featured works by Blanton and Schumaker, as well as the paintings of the other 29 gallery members will be on display and for sale through the month of February. For further information about this show, you can contact Asheville Gallery of Art at (828) 251-5796, visit the gallery website at www.ashevillegallery-of-art.com, or go to the gallery Facebook page.

All materials are provided and beginners are welcome. Limit 10 participants. Sign up at the circulation desk at the South Buncombe Library or call 250-6488.

ESOL Tutor Training is offered to prospective volunteers who have attended a volunteer  orientation session and registered with the ESOL Program Director to attend training. 

Mixing It Up: Drawing & Mixed Media
Thursdays — February 1, 8, 15, 22, March 1 + 8 — 6:00 – 8:00 p.m.
$220 Museum Members, $240 non-members (includes some materials)

Ignite or expand your drawing skills by combining layers of mark-making with acrylic paint, collage, ink, transfer, and transparency, and by drawing on a painted three-dimensional object.

De La Terre Skincare has teamed up with Short Street Cake shop an amazing local bakery here in Asheville, NC for a Valentine’s Day Special Offering! What better way to feed the soul and boost overall wellness than with cake infused with De La Terre Skincare Comforts Tea. To place you order for delivery of this awesome cake and receive your FREE GIFT of a 1 oz Comfort Tea and $20 gift card from De La Terre Skincare please call 828-505-4822

LINING: SHEATHING
Exhibition: January 16 – May 4
Reception: Thursday, April 19 from 5-7pm
Lining: Sheathing is a large-scale installation about the tactile and protective qualities of textiles by collaborators Denise Bookwalter and Lee Running. The artists have been working together for five years, creating installations and artist books that include printed fabric, handmade paper, woodblock prints, custom garments and embroidery. This installation has been developed in residencies at Penland School of Crafts, Penland NC, Constellation Studios, Lincoln NE, and Small Craft Advisory Press, Tallahassee FL. The focal point of the installation is a room-size tent suspended beneath a skylight. The tent is made from large printed and dyed textile panels which create a space that viewers can enter. Viewers are invited to try on one of the handmade garments and view the series of eight queen bed sized woodblock prints on handmade paper. For the exhibition at the WCU Fine Art Museum, Bookwalter and Running will also create a three-story site-specific window installation for the atrium of the Bardo Arts Center.

MUSEUM HOURS: Tues-Fri 10am-4pm/ Th 10am-7pm
Closed weekends & University holidays
828.227.ARTS

Image Caption: Detail: Denise Bookwalter, Lee Emma Running, “LINING:SHEATHING”, 2011

To mark the 10th Anniversary of the Windgate Fellowship, the Center for Craft awarded a total of ten, $10,000 Project Grants. This exhibition showcases how the next generation of craft artists used their funds to explore scale, installation, and community practice.

Artists: Andrea Donnelly (Richmond, VA), Josh Copus (Marshall, NC), Dustin Farnsworth (Montreal, QC), Brian Fleetwood (La Mesilla, NM), Ani Geragosian (Salem, MA), Adam Ledford (Philadelphia, PA), Rebecca Manson (Bedford Hills, NY), Rachel Mauser (Louisville, KY), Aaron McIntosh (Richmond, VA), and Mark Reigelman II (Brooklyn, NY).

Willie Cole: Soles and Boards 
Exhibition: January 16 – May 4, 2018

Since 1989, Willie Cole has employed the image of the clothes iron in his work. Cole morphs this utilitarian object to represent and reference a range of associations from African masks to scarification to slavery and the transatlantic slave trade. This exhibition presents prints from Cole’s time working at Highpoint Editions in Minneapolis, Minnesota from 2011-2012.

Image Caption: Image Courtesy of Highpoint Editions and Willie Cole

Asheville Gallery of Art’s February show features the work of two new members, Ana Blanton and Zoe Schumaker. Though they paint in two different styles and mediums, the artists’ work represents the inspiration each derives from nature. The show runs February 1-28 during gallery hours, 11 a.m.-6 p.m. Monday through Saturday and 1-4 p.m. Sunday. The gallery, located at 82 Patton Avenue in Asheville, across from Pritchard Park, will host a reception for the artists on Friday, February 2, from 5-8 p.m. Everyone is cordially invited to stop by.

“When I process ideas, I see them as layers of images rather than words, and as my thoughts become imagery, I feel more comfortable expressing myself through abstract form,” says Ana Blanton. Of her latest series of mixed-media paintings she says, “In this series I am more interested in representing the sense and feel of light in nature. It is about exploring the sense of energy and movement that is unique to light traveling through air, water, and objects in nature or a simple still life.”

Blanton, who has lived in Asheville since 1997, has a BA in Art Studio from Mars Hill University. She studied Art Conservation at University of Madrid, Spain, and mural painting and mural Conservation at the International School of Mural Painting Miguel Farre, Barcelona, Spain.

Zoe Schumaker says, “From an early age, I tried to capture the beauty I saw by drawing and photographing my surroundings.” Raised in the Santa Cruz Mountains of Northern California, the artist spent many afternoons immersed in imaginative drawings of the mountains, lakes and forests, and the animals that live there.

Schumaker rediscovered her passion for painting upon moving to the Blue Ridge Mountains in 2005. “As I explored the area, I started bringing my backpack kit of pastels. It was not long before I decided to pursue art full time.” The artist teaches painting at the John C. Campbell Folk School and is active in several regional environmental non-profits. She frequently donates her work to support these causes. “Nature is my muse. I hope my paintings capture the joy and reverence I feel for our beautiful home.”

The featured works by Blanton and Schumaker, as well as the paintings of the other 29 gallery members will be on display and for sale through the month of February. For further information about this show, you can contact Asheville Gallery of Art at (828) 251-5796, visit the gallery website at www.ashevillegallery-of-art.com, or go to the gallery Facebook page.

Asheville, prepare for a little Chai Pani by the river. For the first time in eight years, the beloved downtown Indian street food restaurant that spawned a restaurant group is undergoing a month-long renovation. But fear not, dear chaat lovers, as there’s a pop-up in store to fill the Chai Pani-sized hole in your heart. ’Chotta Chai Pani’, a three week pop-up from Meherwan Irani and the Chai Pani team, will be coming to Riverside Drive throughout the month of February. Featuring mainstay favorites alongside additions from MG Road and Botiwalla, the pop-up menu includes a bevy of hits from around the restaurant group, previously unavailable at Chai Pani Asheville, including the Mumbai Club, Frankies, Pav Bhaji, sweet handpies from Buxton Hall’s lead pastry chef Ashley Capps and more, as well as the return of the beloved Kheema Pav (Sloppy Jai lovers, rejoice!). The pop-up will be open 12 p.m. to 8 p.m. daily.

De La Terre Skincare has teamed up with Short Street Cake shop an amazing local bakery here in Asheville, NC for a Valentine’s Day Special Offering! What better way to feed the soul and boost overall wellness than with cake infused with De La Terre Skincare Comforts Tea. To place you order for delivery of this awesome cake and receive your FREE GIFT of a 1 oz Comfort Tea and $20 gift card from De La Terre Skincare please call 828-505-4822

Junior League of Asheville Inaugural Volunteer Expo

The Junior League of Asheville, Inc. (JLA) is proud to announce its inaugural Volunteer Expo, which will be held at the Crowne Plaza Expo Center on Saturday, February 3rd, 2018 from 10am to 4pm and is free and open to the public.  This event will celebrate and connect organizations and individuals who make a difference in our community.

Modeled after a job fair, the Volunteer Expo is an opportunity for residents of Western North Carolina to learn about local nonprofits and their volunteer needs. To make this event a success, the JLA is pleased to partner with more than 60 local nonprofits, including organizations that specialize in addressing health, poverty, legal aid, environmental stewardship, women’s issues, arts, civic leadership, technology, education, and animal welfare.

In addition to learning about local nonprofit organizations and exploring volunteer opportunities with these organizations, Volunteer Expo attendees can attend four free educational panels centered around the theme, “How Do You Serve?”. The panels will provide insight into direct, government and board service, as well as financial management of nonprofits. Each session will last about one hour. The first session begins at 10:30 am followed by 12:00 pm, 1:30 pm, and 3:00 pm.

“The Junior League of Asheville has served our community for 90 years. As the needs of Asheville have evolved and changed, we have changed and grown with them.  We felt very strongly that an event like this would be highly beneficial to our community.  We hope that the Expo will both initiate and deepen relationships between community members attending the Expo and the amazing nonprofits of Western North Carolina represented at the event,” said Lauren Karlsson, VP of Communications for the Junior League of Asheville.

Local nonprofits are an incredible asset to our community and are responsible for much of Buncombe County’s progress. The JLA believes that the Volunteer Expo will be a great opportunity for Western North Carolina residents to connect with outstanding nonprofit organizations, learn about what they are doing, and how they can contribute.

Prior to the Volunteer Expo, community members are invited to celebrate the League’s 90th Anniversary and meet leaders of local nonprofit organizations. Our Cheers to Volunteers Reception and Silent Auction will be held from 6:00pm to 10:00pm at the Wedge at Foundation on Friday, February 2, 2018. At Cheers to Volunteers and the Expo, you can learn about our League’s 90 years of impact and our continued work to develop women as leaders and build a better community. Tickets may be reserved via Eventbrite.

LINING: SHEATHING
Exhibition: January 16 – May 4
Reception: Thursday, April 19 from 5-7pm
Lining: Sheathing is a large-scale installation about the tactile and protective qualities of textiles by collaborators Denise Bookwalter and Lee Running. The artists have been working together for five years, creating installations and artist books that include printed fabric, handmade paper, woodblock prints, custom garments and embroidery. This installation has been developed in residencies at Penland School of Crafts, Penland NC, Constellation Studios, Lincoln NE, and Small Craft Advisory Press, Tallahassee FL. The focal point of the installation is a room-size tent suspended beneath a skylight. The tent is made from large printed and dyed textile panels which create a space that viewers can enter. Viewers are invited to try on one of the handmade garments and view the series of eight queen bed sized woodblock prints on handmade paper. For the exhibition at the WCU Fine Art Museum, Bookwalter and Running will also create a three-story site-specific window installation for the atrium of the Bardo Arts Center.

MUSEUM HOURS: Tues-Fri 10am-4pm/ Th 10am-7pm
Closed weekends & University holidays
828.227.ARTS

Image Caption: Detail: Denise Bookwalter, Lee Emma Running, “LINING:SHEATHING”, 2011

To mark the 10th Anniversary of the Windgate Fellowship, the Center for Craft awarded a total of ten, $10,000 Project Grants. This exhibition showcases how the next generation of craft artists used their funds to explore scale, installation, and community practice.

Artists: Andrea Donnelly (Richmond, VA), Josh Copus (Marshall, NC), Dustin Farnsworth (Montreal, QC), Brian Fleetwood (La Mesilla, NM), Ani Geragosian (Salem, MA), Adam Ledford (Philadelphia, PA), Rebecca Manson (Bedford Hills, NY), Rachel Mauser (Louisville, KY), Aaron McIntosh (Richmond, VA), and Mark Reigelman II (Brooklyn, NY).

Willie Cole: Soles and Boards 
Exhibition: January 16 – May 4, 2018

Since 1989, Willie Cole has employed the image of the clothes iron in his work. Cole morphs this utilitarian object to represent and reference a range of associations from African masks to scarification to slavery and the transatlantic slave trade. This exhibition presents prints from Cole’s time working at Highpoint Editions in Minneapolis, Minnesota from 2011-2012.

Image Caption: Image Courtesy of Highpoint Editions and Willie Cole

Asheville Gallery of Art’s February show features the work of two new members, Ana Blanton and Zoe Schumaker. Though they paint in two different styles and mediums, the artists’ work represents the inspiration each derives from nature. The show runs February 1-28 during gallery hours, 11 a.m.-6 p.m. Monday through Saturday and 1-4 p.m. Sunday. The gallery, located at 82 Patton Avenue in Asheville, across from Pritchard Park, will host a reception for the artists on Friday, February 2, from 5-8 p.m. Everyone is cordially invited to stop by.

“When I process ideas, I see them as layers of images rather than words, and as my thoughts become imagery, I feel more comfortable expressing myself through abstract form,” says Ana Blanton. Of her latest series of mixed-media paintings she says, “In this series I am more interested in representing the sense and feel of light in nature. It is about exploring the sense of energy and movement that is unique to light traveling through air, water, and objects in nature or a simple still life.”

Blanton, who has lived in Asheville since 1997, has a BA in Art Studio from Mars Hill University. She studied Art Conservation at University of Madrid, Spain, and mural painting and mural Conservation at the International School of Mural Painting Miguel Farre, Barcelona, Spain.

Zoe Schumaker says, “From an early age, I tried to capture the beauty I saw by drawing and photographing my surroundings.” Raised in the Santa Cruz Mountains of Northern California, the artist spent many afternoons immersed in imaginative drawings of the mountains, lakes and forests, and the animals that live there.

Schumaker rediscovered her passion for painting upon moving to the Blue Ridge Mountains in 2005. “As I explored the area, I started bringing my backpack kit of pastels. It was not long before I decided to pursue art full time.” The artist teaches painting at the John C. Campbell Folk School and is active in several regional environmental non-profits. She frequently donates her work to support these causes. “Nature is my muse. I hope my paintings capture the joy and reverence I feel for our beautiful home.”

The featured works by Blanton and Schumaker, as well as the paintings of the other 29 gallery members will be on display and for sale through the month of February. For further information about this show, you can contact Asheville Gallery of Art at (828) 251-5796, visit the gallery website at www.ashevillegallery-of-art.com, or go to the gallery Facebook page.

Asheville, prepare for a little Chai Pani by the river. For the first time in eight years, the beloved downtown Indian street food restaurant that spawned a restaurant group is undergoing a month-long renovation. But fear not, dear chaat lovers, as there’s a pop-up in store to fill the Chai Pani-sized hole in your heart. ’Chotta Chai Pani’, a three week pop-up from Meherwan Irani and the Chai Pani team, will be coming to Riverside Drive throughout the month of February. Featuring mainstay favorites alongside additions from MG Road and Botiwalla, the pop-up menu includes a bevy of hits from around the restaurant group, previously unavailable at Chai Pani Asheville, including the Mumbai Club, Frankies, Pav Bhaji, sweet handpies from Buxton Hall’s lead pastry chef Ashley Capps and more, as well as the return of the beloved Kheema Pav (Sloppy Jai lovers, rejoice!). The pop-up will be open 12 p.m. to 8 p.m. daily.

Christina Baker Kline, New York Times bestselling author of THE ORPHAN TRAIN and A PIECE OF THE WORLD, is going to be in Asheville for an event at Malaprop’s Bookstore & Café.

This event is taking place on Saturday, February 3 at 6 PM, and Christina will be in conversation with local bestselling author Wiley Cash. It’s sure to be an engaging and entertaining night!