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, August 4, 2023
Applications open: 2024 Asheville Fringe Arts Festival
Aug 4 all-day
online w/ Asheville Fringe Arts

APPLICATIONS OPEN NOW!

Do you have a boundary-pushing, innovative performance piece, short film or installation that you’re ready to share?

We will open applications for the film portion of the festival in fall 2023. Films must be submitted via FilmFreeway. Our application fee for films is $5.


NOW CONSIDERING WORKS OF ALL KINDS

We accept live performances from 5 to 60 minutes in length, plus installations and films. We’re open to other types of performance as well – let’s talk! Depending on its length, your piece may be grouped with another show, or scheduled as a Random Act of Fringe. RAFs are free and open to the public, and artists receive a stipend for their performance, rather than relying on door sales.

Typically each artist with a ticketed show gets 2 performances. But in 2024, we’re exploring the option of giving a few shows 3 performances, at select venues only. Our venues range from 20-80 person capacity.

1. FRINGE SHOT

A piece that is
5-15 minutes long

May be paired with another performance, or be selected as a free Random Act of Fringe.

2. SHORT FORM

A piece that is
20-40 minutes long

May be paired with another show.

3. FULL-LENGTH

A piece that is
45-60 minutes long

Ticketed theater-style show.

4. INSTALLATION

A piece that is
Site-specific (any length)

May be in an unusual location, or repeated many times. May be seen by as few as one person at a time.

5. FILM

A piece that is
Designed specifically for film.

May be of any genre & length. Could be combined with other films for a showcase or film night.
Submit on Film Freeway Fall 2023

3. THE ASHEVILLE FRINGE ARTS FESTIVAL IS A JURIED FESTIVAL.

We carefully review each and every submission. You’ll know by late October if your piece is selected. Should your piece get selected, there is a $35 participation fee.

Inqwiry: Outdoor Wire Sculptures by Josh Coté
Aug 4 all-day
Grovewood Village

Grovewood Gallery will present Inqwiry, an outdoor exhibition of wire animal sculptures by Bakersville, NC, artist Josh Coté. This event is open to the public and free to attend. Inqwiry will remain on view through August 13, 2023.

Saturday, August 5, 2023
Applications open: 2024 Asheville Fringe Arts Festival
Aug 5 all-day
online w/ Asheville Fringe Arts

APPLICATIONS OPEN NOW!

Do you have a boundary-pushing, innovative performance piece, short film or installation that you’re ready to share?

We will open applications for the film portion of the festival in fall 2023. Films must be submitted via FilmFreeway. Our application fee for films is $5.


NOW CONSIDERING WORKS OF ALL KINDS

We accept live performances from 5 to 60 minutes in length, plus installations and films. We’re open to other types of performance as well – let’s talk! Depending on its length, your piece may be grouped with another show, or scheduled as a Random Act of Fringe. RAFs are free and open to the public, and artists receive a stipend for their performance, rather than relying on door sales.

Typically each artist with a ticketed show gets 2 performances. But in 2024, we’re exploring the option of giving a few shows 3 performances, at select venues only. Our venues range from 20-80 person capacity.

1. FRINGE SHOT

A piece that is
5-15 minutes long

May be paired with another performance, or be selected as a free Random Act of Fringe.

2. SHORT FORM

A piece that is
20-40 minutes long

May be paired with another show.

3. FULL-LENGTH

A piece that is
45-60 minutes long

Ticketed theater-style show.

4. INSTALLATION

A piece that is
Site-specific (any length)

May be in an unusual location, or repeated many times. May be seen by as few as one person at a time.

5. FILM

A piece that is
Designed specifically for film.

May be of any genre & length. Could be combined with other films for a showcase or film night.
Submit on Film Freeway Fall 2023

3. THE ASHEVILLE FRINGE ARTS FESTIVAL IS A JURIED FESTIVAL.

We carefully review each and every submission. You’ll know by late October if your piece is selected. Should your piece get selected, there is a $35 participation fee.

Inqwiry: Outdoor Wire Sculptures by Josh Coté
Aug 5 all-day
Grovewood Village

Grovewood Gallery will present Inqwiry, an outdoor exhibition of wire animal sculptures by Bakersville, NC, artist Josh Coté. This event is open to the public and free to attend. Inqwiry will remain on view through August 13, 2023.

Biltmore Estate: Ciao! From Italy Sculptural Postcard Display
Aug 5 @ 8:30 am
Biltmore Estate

Included with admission

Embark on a scenic journey across George Vanderbilt’s Italy with a large-scale outdoor display that combines brilliant botanical designs with authentic messages written by Vanderbilt himself.

Beautifully handcrafted of natural elements, each sculptural postcard depicts a location or landmark Vanderbilt visited more than a century ago. This captivating complement to Biltmore’s Italian Renaissance Alive exhibition reveals Vanderbilt’s passions for travel, culture, architecture, and art as well as his personal experience of such renowned Italian cities as Milan, Florence, Venice, Pisa, and Vatican City.

Adding to the charm and visual appeal of Ciao! From Italy—sure to be a hit among kids of all ages—is the G-scale model train that travels in and out of each postcard in this enlightening display!

Mount Mitchell Arts and Crafts Fair
Aug 5 @ 9:00 am – 6:00 pm
Burnsville’s Town Square

, Burnsville’s Town Square. About 250 artists, music, clogging on Friday, Parkway Playhouse children’s performance at noon Friday. Visit www.yanceychamber.com/crafts-fair

Mt. Mitchell Arts + Crafts Fair
Aug 5 @ 9:00 am
Burnsville Downtown

Considered the granddaddy of art shows in Western North Carolina, this juried event focuses on quality, handmade wares from local artists in the Toe River Valley and regional artisans across the southern Appalachians.

The fair, which began in 1956, retains its traditional Friday-Saturday format, with one small change. Friday will feature an extra hour, beginning and 9 a.m. and running through 6 p.m. Saturday’s hours remain 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.

A variety of bluegrass, country and gospel bands will perform on the main stage each day. Those acts include Asheville Junction Band, featuring an Americana/bluegrass sound; Tall Boys, a country/blues band from Asheville; Americana folk duo Admiral Radio of Columbia, S.C.; and the well-known gospel sounds of The Edwards Family of Burnsville.

 

Appalachian Performing Arts of Burnsville will provide a clogging demonstration Friday.

 

Returning for a second year is a children’s performance by the Parkway Playhouse at noon Friday on the main stage: “The Tale of the Pig.” It’s part of the Playhouse’s Reading is Alive program and all children present receive a free craft item from the Penland School of Craft.

Adult Field Course: Appalachian Woodcraft
Aug 5 @ 10:00 am – 4:00 pm
Grandfather Mountain
 

The hardy settlers who made these mountains home were resourceful and made what they needed from what was at hand, and what was at hand was wood. We will examine the types of things Appalachian people have made for themselves from the forests around them, and well as the tools they used to make them. Chairs, bowls, spoons, tool handles, etc. After taking a walk through the forest which was the pioneer’s lumber yard, where we will identify trees and some of their uses, we will focus on a hands on project. After some basic safety training and practice, each participant will make an example of that ubiquitous piece of pioneer woodcraft, the hook. Made from a small forked tree branch, often of rhododendron, these hooks were found in homes, barns and outbuildings to hang cloths, tools, horse harness and more on the wall in an organized fashion.

Jason Lonon is a craftsman and teacher living and working in the same valley his ancestors have called home since the 1840s. Concurrent to serving an apprenticeship in traditional woodworking, Jason began blacksmithing as a teenager in the late 1990’s. Today, Jason and a team of highly skilled craftsmen produce a line of specialty carving tools for traditional woodworkers. Over the years, Jason has taught welding, blacksmithing, woodcarving and other skills in a wide variety of settings from the community college system to wilderness camps.

Program Itinerary
10:00 am: Meet at the Wilson Center for Nature Discovery for introductions, look at examples of woodwork, tools and techniques
11:30 am: Tree identification hike and lunch
1:00 pm: Hands on project
4:00 pm: Conclusion

What’s included?
Your program cost includes admission into the park, field instruction, and transportation during your program (you may drive your own vehicle to visit sites on the mountain if you would prefer). It does not include meals or lodging. Bringing a bagged lunch is recommended for most field courses, although Mildred’s Grill will be open to attendees.

Registration
This Adult Field Course costs $60 for general admission and $51 for members of Grandfather Mountain’s Bridge Club, plus tax. Attendance is limited to 8 participants. Registration opens on this page on June 5 at 9 a.m.

Your program cost includes admission into the park, field instruction, and transportation during your program (you may drive your own vehicle to visit sites on the mountain if you would prefer). It does not include meals or lodging. Bringing a bagged lunch is recommended for most field courses, although Mildred’s Grill will be open to attendees. Tips are not accepted for field courses. However, donations to the Grandfather Mountain Stewardship Foundation are accepted if you would like to recognize a program.

General Clothing List
Much of your time will be spent outdoors and all programs are held rain, snow or shine. You should be prepared for a variety of mountain weather conditions and temperatures. Appropriate clothing, equipment, and footwear are very important.

Equipment

  • Daypack with enough room to carry extra clothing, water, lunch, camera, etc.
  • Water Bottle
  • Sunglasses
  • Sunscreen
  • Hiking boots
  • Binoculars

Equipment Specific to this Course

  • Sketch Pad – work as large or small as you like, but keep in mind that we will be moving around a bit. I’ll be working on an 11”x14” Strathmore Drawing Pad. I would recommend that you work in a small enough size that you can support in your lap without the aid of an easel, and no loose sheets. Sketch Pads or Sketch Books work best, as they’re sturdy and provide support as you work.
  • Graphite or Colored Pencils – please no messy media and no paint
  • Erasers
  • Spray Fixative – optional. This will help your finished work from smearing in transit home

Refunds/Cancellations
Adult Field Courses generally sell out and have a waiting list associated with the event. If you cannot attend the field course that you are registered for, a full refund will be granted within a 5-day notice of the day of the field course. This allows time for individuals on the waiting list to make accommodations to attend the event. We ask that individuals who are sick with any illness to stay home to ensure the health and safety of other participants, our staff, and the field course instructors – refunds will be granted to these individuals.

More about Field Courses
We at Grandfather Mountain Stewardship Foundation are excited to share the unique wonders of the mountain with you. Since 2008, GMSF has aimed at creating educational programming that deepens understanding through in-depth study and field research. Our goal is to provide you with a rich experience in a particular field of study, and to also provide a safe and memorable trip to Grandfather Mountain. Read more about Field Courses.

Art on the Greene
Aug 5 @ 10:00 am – 5:00 pm
Historic Banner Elk School, downtown Banner Elk

. Local and regional artists, food trucks

Exhibition: NEO MINERALIA
Aug 5 @ 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
Aug 5 @ 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
Aug 5 @ 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.

JudeFrances Jewelry Trunk Show at Acorns
Aug 5 @ 10:00 am – 5:00 pm
Acorns

Acorns’ Annual season of trunk shows highlights the talented creators of fine art, designer jewelry, and home goods.
Combining classic elegance with on trend shapes and styles, JudeFrances Jewelry offers something for women of all ages. The endless combinations of the JudeFrances categories including the signature earring hoop and charm concept, stackable gold bangles, layering chains and pendants, stylish cocktail rings and simple gold stackers, allow the JudeFrances collector to create a style distinct to her.

The Photographs of Anne Noggle
Aug 5 @ 10:00 am – 1:00 pm
Tryon Fine Arts Center
On Exhibit
TFAC’s JP Gallery
June 22 – August 18
Anne Noggle’s work consistently challenged the stereotypes and standard mythologies of women. She herself began her artistic career at age forty-three, to complement her already-established
profession as a pilot.
The exhibit is a joint presentation between TFAC, and the Tryon Arts & Crafts School and both locations are curated by Martha Strawn, president of the
Anne Noggle Foundation and art historian Lili Corbus.
Gatherings of Artists + Writers Coffee
Aug 5 @ 10:30 am – 12:00 pm
Tryon Fine Arts Center

TFAC invites all artists: painters, sculptors, writers, performers & more — to a casual weekly drop-in gathering on Saturday mornings at 9 AM to share your works in progress, alert others, and chat about art and what’s happening in your community.

The first weekly Coffee is Saturday, August 20 at 9 am.

No RSVP needed, just drop by!

Free parking available on Melrose Avenue, behind and alongside TFAC.

Black Mountain College and Mexico (BMC/MX): Exhibition
Aug 5 @ 11:00 am – 5:00 pm
Black Mountain College Museum + Arts Center

Black Mountain College and Mexico (BMC/MX): Exhibition, Publication, and Public Programming

Black Mountain College (1933–1957), a small but remarkably influential liberal arts school in rural North Carolina, had important links to Mexico that until now have been little investigated. A crucible of twentieth-century creativity, BMC galvanized and inspired artists and intellectuals from around the world, while Mexico’s innovations and age-old traditions—in fine and applied arts, architecture, poetry, music, performance, and more—dovetailed with, and indeed drove, global impulses toward modernism and beyond. Among the many key BMC figures whose lives were importantly touched by experiences in Mexico were Anni and Josef Albers, Ruth Asawa, John Cage, Jean Charlot, Elaine de Kooning, Buckminster Fuller, Carlos Mérida, Robert Motherwell, Charles Olson, Clara Porset, M.C. Richards, and Aaron Siskind. In turn, engagements with BMC and its legacy have played a significant role in shaping contemporary approaches to art in Mexico, evident in the works of Jorge Méndez Blake, Iñaki Bonillas, Abraham Cruzvillegas, Jose Dávila, Gerda Gruber, Lake Verea, Gabriel Orozco, and Damián Ortega, among others.

The exhibition BMC/MX features works by these and other prominent contemporary Mexican artists alongside a selection of historic works by BMC artists, highlighting the ways in which ideas and modalities are translated across materials, space, and time.

Related programming, planned in collaboration with Mexican artists, features a series of public events, including a performance by artist (and BMC/MX co-curator) David Miranda to take place at Different Wrld; an exhibition visit (in Spanish and English) with BMC/MX Project Director Eric Baden; and a series of experiential art events in the BMCM+AC library.

The exhibition is accompanied by the book Black Mountain College and Mexico (forthcoming late summer 2023), which investigates the people, ideas, and practices linking BMC and Mexico during the life of the school, as well as resonances between BMC and the work of contemporary Mexican artists. With contributions by BMC/MX’s curators, as well as by artist Abraham Cruzvillegas, design scholar Ana Elena Mallet, and author and activist Margaret Randall, this fully illustrated volume brings new light to this complex and underexplored subject.

BMC/MX is an investigation into modes of communication—the arenas in which new ideas and alliances may come to be—between Black Mountain College and Mexico, between past and present, between form and idea.

About the Curators

BMC/MX’s Project Director Eric Baden is a photographer and from 1994 to 2022 was professor of photography at Warren Wilson College in Swannanoa, North Carolina. He is the founding director of photo+, a multidisciplinary arts event held in Asheville, North Carolina.

Artist and educator David Miranda is curator at the Museo Experimental El Eco (Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, UNAM), and teaches at the Escuela Nacional de Pintura, Escultura y Grabado “La Esmeralda” in Mexico City.

Diana Stoll is an editor, writer and curator who works with institutions such as The Museum of Modern Art and the J. Paul Getty Museum. She has served as an editor at Aperture and Artforum magazines, and contributes writings to prominent arts publications.

BMC Dance Performances + conversations w/ choreographers Eleanor Hullihan, Rashaun Mitchell, Silas Riener + Mina Nishimura
Aug 5 @ 11:00 am
Black Mountain College Museum + Arts Center

11am roundtable conversation | 7pm performances

This event brings together accomplished dance artists Eleanor Hullihan, Rashaun Mitchell, Silas Riener and Mina Nishimura for a series of performances and conversations that examine Black Mountain College’s continuing influence on the world of dance. Join us for a roundtable conversation at 11am and dance performances beginning at 7pm.

BMC Dance is curated by Eleanor Hullihan.

Performances:

Rashaun Mitchell + Silas Riener
Performed by Mitchell and Riener, this performance draws from their embodied “Desire Lines” practice that combines movement, vocalization, and object manipulation into site-responsive, community-oriented performance installations. A desire line in landscape architecture refers to an unofficial route or social trail that breaks protocol with prescribed pathways, sometimes the shortest distance between two points, sometimes simply a good way to follow one’s curiosity. Desire lines represent an accumulated record of transformation in public space, a model for a permissive dance-making process that invites us to reimagine the self and its environment.

Rashaun Mitchell + Silas Riener are New York-based dance artists who create collaborative performance installations using improvisational techniques, digital technologies, audio scores, and material construction. They use movement to build speculative worlds which expose and reconcile the unfamiliar. Their physical practice synthesizes improvisation, formal dance training, athletic sports, building and construction. Their collaborative process involves the blurring of a professional and romantic relationship. Two very different sensibilities and experiences of race and culture synthesize and clash in ways that suggest comparative models for how to co-exist, assimilate, or reimagine society.

Since 2010 they have created over 25 multidisciplinary dance works including site-responsive installations, concert dances, gallery performances and dances for film. They have been artists-in-residence at Lower Manhattan Cultural Council, Mt Tremper Arts, pieter, Jacob’s Pillow, New York City Center, The Watermill Center, MANCC, Headlands Center for the Arts, BOFFO, Center for Ballet and the Arts, Petronio Residency Center, and Baryshnikov Arts Center. Their work has been commissioned by BAM/Next Wave, The Barbican, REDCAT, EMPAC, The Walker Art Center, MCA Chicago, The Wexner, On The Boards, Danspace Project, Madison Square Park Conservancy, The Joyce Theater, The LAB, Marfa Sounding, Gagosian Premieres, SFMOMA, and MoMA PS1. Mitchell and Riener are currently Caroline Hearst Artists in Residence, and inaugural members of NCC Akron’s multi-year Creative Administration Residency.

Photos of Rashaun Mitchell + Silas Riener by Paula Lobo and Alex John Beck.

Mina Nishimura
Untitled (confined madness / glorious zombie/ colored lines) is a practice of becoming a glorious zombie. No will power. No tangling thoughts. Supported by astral projection practice, peripherals of a performance site and images of marginalized beings, a body will keep being moved around without establishing anything. The work may incorporate colored line drawing in order to dig a well while flying high.

Mina Nishimura is a dance artist originally from Tokyo. Buddhism-influenced philosophical concepts are reflected across her somatic, performance and choreographic practices. She has been performing and collaborating with a number of groundbreaking artists, most recently including John Jasperse, Kota Yamazaki, Dean Moss, Yasuko Yokoshi and Rashaun Mitchell + Silas Riener. Nishimura is a recipient of Foundation for Contemporary Arts Grants to Artists Award 2019, and was the 2021-22 Renewal Residency Artist at Danspace Project in NY, where she premiered Mapping a Forest while Searching for an Opposite Term of Exorcist in 2022. She currently teaches at Bennington College where she completed her MFA fellowship in 2021.

Photos of Mina Nishimura by Shane Prudente.

Eleanor Hullihan + Zach Cooper
miniatures 2023
A series of miniature studies performed by Eleanor Hullihan and Zach Cooper.

Eleanor Hullihan is a movement artist living in Asheville after many years dancing, teaching and creating performances in NYC. Her work is a journey of uncovering and physicalizing the delicate and magical internal world. She has performed with John Jasperse, Beth Gill, Andrew Ondrejcak, Sufjan Stevens, Jessica Dessner, Sarah Michelson, Miguel Gutierrez,  Jennifer Monson, Tere O’Connor, The Merce Cunningham Trust and Rashaun Mitchell + Silas Riener among others. Eleanor makes performances with Katy Pyle, Asli Bulbul, Emma Judkins, Adam Schatz, Zach Cooper and Jimmy Jolliff. She has been a contributing writer and curator for Movement Research. She is a movement coach for musicians and actors and maintains a pilates-based teaching practice for professional dancers and non dancers alike who seek deep and subtle support. Eleanor owned and operated two pilates studios in NYC and was on faculty at the American Ballet Theatre’s Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis School and Sarah Lawrence College. Eleanor attended UNCSA as a high school student and has a BFA from NYU Tisch Dance.

Zach Cooper is a Grammy award winning composer, producer and songwriter based in Black Mountain, North Carolina. He has contributed to works by Leon Bridges, Jazmine Sullivan, Jon Batiste, Moses Sumney, Billy Porter, and Ellie Goulding, among others. Zach is also a founding member of experimental soul group King Garbage. His work has been featured in Pitchfork, The Fader, Rolling Stone, and Guitar World magazine, and he’s released records with RVNG Int’l, Styles Upon Styles and Mike Patton’s Ipecac Recordings.

The Art of Food: From the Collections of Jordan D. Schnitzer and His Family Foundation
Aug 5 @ 11:00 am – 6:00 pm
Asheville Art Museum

The Art of Food features works from important postwar artists, like Robert Rauschenberg, Roy Lichtenstein, John Baldessari, Wayne Thiebaud, Ed Ruscha, Andy Warhol, David Hockney, and Jasper Johns, alongside the work of contemporary artists, like Alison Saar, Lorna Simpson, Enrique Chagoya, Rachel Whiteread, and Jenny Holzer, among others.

The Art of Food features more than 100 works in mediums that include drawings, paintings, photographs, prints, sculptures, and ceramics by 37 artists.

Each artist has a unique means of depicting food in their work that, when seen alongside others, creates a nuanced representation of the complex place food holds in everyday life. Cross-historical resonances between artists in the exhibition spark novel meditations on food and its discontents, while speaking to a broad range of audiences.

Western North Carolina Glass: Selections from the Collection
Aug 5 @ 11:00 am – 6:00 pm
Asheville Art Museum

Western North Carolina is important in the history of American glass art. Several artists of the Studio Glass Movement came to the region, including its founder Harvey K. Littleton. Begun in 1962 in Wisconsin, it was a student of Littleton’s that first came to the area in 1965 and set up a glass studio at the Penland School of Craft in Penland, North Carolina. By 1967, Mark Peiser was the first glass artist resident at the school and taught many notable artists, like Jak Brewer in 1968 and Richard Ritter who came to study in 1971. By 1977, Littleton retired from teaching and moved to nearby Spruce Pine, North Carolina and set up a glass studio at his home.

Since that time, glass artists like Ken Carder, Rick and Valerie Beck, Shane Fero, and Yaffa Sikorsky and Jeff Todd—to name only a few—have flocked to the area to reside, collaborate, and teach, making it a significant place for experimentation and education in glass. The next generation of artists like Hayden Wilson and Alex Bernstein continue to create here. The Museum is dedicated to collecting American studio glass and within that umbrella, explores the work of Artists connected to Western North Carolina. Exhibitions, including Intersections of American Art, explore glass art in the context of American Art of the 20th and 21st centuries. A variety of techniques and a willingness to push boundaries of the medium can be seen in this selection of works from the Museum’s Collection.

Immerse in a Two Day Adult Studio of Book Binding with Alyssa Sacora
Aug 5 @ 1:00 pm – 4:00 pm
Asheville Art Museum

 

 

Are you curious about how paper is made? Wondering what you would do with a stack of handmade paper after you create the sheets? Register for this two-day workshop and learn how to make paper and make your own book. The workshop includes a tour of the exhibition Pulp Potential to discuss creative concepts and be inspired by the works on view. Participants will take home handmade paper and books, a reference hand-out, and the skills to continue on with the craft.

 

About the Instructor

Alyssa Sacora (she/her) is a crafts person exploring paper making, book arts, basketry, and natural dyes with locally available plants. She encourages reciprocal relationships between people and plants through teaching hands-on workshops at her studio, The Patchwork Underground, in Fairview, North Carolina. Guided by tradition and curiosity, Alyssa is finding ways to create a sustainable art practice that takes care of the soil, minimizes resource use, and inspires others to do the same in their own way.

A Chorus Line
Aug 5 @ 2:00 pm
Flat Rock Playhouse

The “One Singular Sensation,” A Chorus Line, is coming to Flat Rock Playhouse for the first time and we are thrilled to share this award-winning musical with everyone! A Chorus Line is a celebration of those unsung heroes of the American Musical Theatre: the chorus dancers. The show follows 17 would-be dancers in their quest to make the cut for a new Broadway Musical. One by one, the dancers come forward to share the stories of their lives, giving it their all and putting themselves on the line to make the cut. Only eight will remain. Capturing the spirit, tension, and hope of an audition, A Chorus Line is the musical for everyone who’s ever had a dream and put it all out there to make it come true!

A Chorus Line once held the record as the longest running show on Broadway with over 6000 performances, and heralds nine Tony® Awards including Best Musical, Best Director and Best Choreographer, as well as the Pulitzer Prize for Drama. Conceived and Originally Directed and Choreographed by Michael Bennett. Book by James Kirkwood & Nicholas Dante, Music by Marvin Hamlisch, Lyrics by Edward Kleban. Co-Choreographed by Bob Avian. Original Broadway production produced by the New York Shakespeare Festival, Joseph Papp, Producer, in association with Plum Productions, Inc.

Oak and Grist Distilling Co. Summer Music Series
Aug 5 @ 4:00 pm – 8:00 pm
Oak and Grist Distilling Company

NEW SUMMER MUSIC DATES

We are having so much fun with our Friday nights that we’re bringing live music & food trucks to Saturday too! Every Friday & Saturday at Oak & Grist, we’re hosting live music from talented local musicians & artists. Plus, we’re hosting a rotating selection of food trucks to keep the party going just a bit longer! View our upcoming schedule below:

AUGUST 2023

FRIDAY, AUGUST 4TH: Clara New // Mother’s Pizza Pop-Up (5-8pm)

SATURDAY, AUGUST 5TH: TBA // Cactus Rainbow Gourmet Grilled Cheese (4-8pm)

FRIDAY, AUGUST 11TH: Spencer Cranfill // Grush’s Cajun Dino Grill (4-8pm)

SATURDAY, AUGUST 12TH: Billy Presnell // Trucking Delicious Food Truck (4-8pm)

FRIDAY, AUGUST 18TH: Billy Presnell // Mothers Pizza Pop-Up (5-8pm)

SATURDAY, AUGUST 19TH: TBA // TBA

FRIDAY, AUGUST 25TH: Color Machine Music // Sweet Cheesus Food Truck (4-8pm)

SATURDAY, AUGUST 26TH: Dave Desmelik // Trucking Delicious Food Truck (4-8pm)

Pan Harmonia Garden Party
Aug 5 @ 4:00 pm – 7:00 pm
tba

PAN HARMONIA is Asheville, NC’s award-winning chamber music repertory company. Created and directed by flutist Kate Steinbeck, it has been nationally recognized for its artistic excellence and creative vision for over two decades.

Luminous ensembles of winds, strings, voice, guitar, harp, harpsichord, piano and percussion perform a wide range of repertoire from iconic masterpieces to beautiful new works, spanning the world from the Renaissance to the Now.

PAN HARMONIA shares its world-class music widely. Its musicians love playing for diverse audiences of all ages throughout the community – in art galleries, historic churches, prisons, homeless shelters and front porches. We believe social justice and arts access go hand-in-hand.

My Soul: Mexican Surrealism with a Japanese Heart, Opening Reception
Aug 5 @ 5:00 pm – 8:00 pm
Bender Gallery

Bender Gallery is honored to present My Soul: Mexican Surrealism with a Japanese Heart, the first solo exhibition in the US of Japanese Mexican artist, Yui Sakamoto. Sakamoto paints large colorful and highly detailed dream-like works, carrying forward the rich history of Surrealism in Mexico. With his unique dual heritage, Sakamoto seamlessly blends themes and iconography from Japanese culture, Mexican folk art, pre-Columbian artifacts, and current cultural references. Sakamoto’s work is nothing short of amazing and Bender Gallery is proud to showcase it in the US. The exhibition runs from Saturday August 5 through August 26. There will be an opening reception on August 5 from 5-8 PM. We hope you will be able to attend!

Summer Sounds in the Gorge
Aug 5 @ 5:00 pm – 8:00 pm
Nantahala Outdoor Center

From the local favorites to new regional acts, all live from the river banks of the Nantahala. Raft, dine, then jam with us with Live Music every Friday and Saturday from 5pm-8pm between Memorial Day and Labor Day!

May 27th 5pm-8pm – Mama and the Ruckus

May 28th 5pm-8pm – The Lefties

June 2nd 5pm-8pm – Christina Chandler Trio

June 3rd 5pm-8pm – Laura Thurston

June 9th 5pm-8pm – Eddie Clayton

June 10th 1pm-4pm – Jacobs Well

June 10th 5pm-8pm – Natti Love Joys

June 16th 5pm-8pm – Rae and the Ragdolls

June 17th 5pm-8pm – Beer and Loathing

June 23rd 5pm-8pm – TBA

June 24th 5pm-8pm – Terry Haughton Trio

June 30th 5pm-8pm – Blue

July 1st 5pm-8pm – Brown Mountain Lightning Bugs

July 7th 5pm-8pm – Bayou Diesel

July 8th 5pm-8pm – Pioneer Chicken Stand

July 14th 5pm-8pm – Wyatt Espalin

July 15th 5pm-8pm – Christina Chandler Duo

July 21st 5pm-8pm – Terry Haughton

July 22nd 5pm-8pm – TG and the Stoned Rangers

July 28th 5pm-8pm – Blue

July 29th 5pm-8pm – Somebody’s Child

August 4th 5pm-8pm – Trial by Fire

August 5th 5pm-8pm – Andy Johnson

August 11th 5pm-8pm – Eddie Clayton Solo

August 12th 5pm-8pm – Eddie Clayton Band

August 18th 5pm-8pm – Big Deal Band

August 19th 1pm-4pm – Mckinney

August 19th 5pm-8pm – Funk N’ Around

August 25th 5pm-8pm – Wyatt Espalin

August 26th 5pm-8pm – Somebody’s Child

September 1st 5pm-8pm – TBA

September 2nd 5pm-8pm – Regatta 69

LAZOOM Tours: BAND AND BEER TOUR
Aug 5 @ 5:30 pm – 8:30 pm
LaZoom Room

Wanna hear the best local music ​and​ drink the best local beers? Hop aboard LaZoom’s Purple Bus and rock out with a local band while we take you on a journey to Asheville’s premiere local breweries.

  • Curated Live Music & Brewery Bus experience
  • 3 Hours long, includes three 30 Minute Local Brewery Stops
  • You Can Drink on the Funky Purple Bus! **Must be purchased at LaZoom or at brewery stop**
The Embers at Point Lookout Vineyards
Aug 5 @ 6:00 pm – 6:00 pm
Point Lookout Vineyards

The Embers helped define beach music for generations. Join us on the mountain for a taste of the beach this August! Be sure to wear your dancing shoes!
For more information, visit: https://theembersband.net/
NO COOLERS
NO OUTSIDE ALCOHOL
SEATING IS AVAILABLE, BUT YOU MAY BRING YOUR OWN CHAIR. SPACE FOR PERSONAL CHAIRS IS FIRST COME FIRST SERVE.
GATES OPEN AT 5:00PM

Cherokee language concert
Aug 5 @ 7:00 pm
Cherokee Central School

Saturday, August 5: Cherokee language concert featuring Cherokee Nation musicians who contributed to the groundbreaking 2022 compilation album Anvdvnelisgi (ᎠᏅᏛᏁᎵᏍᎩ). Doors open at 6pm, concert begins at 7pm.

Performers:

  • Aaron Hale (Psychedelic Singer/Songwriter)
  • Agalisiga Mackey (Country)
  • Austin Markham (Pop)
  • Colby Luper (Metal)
  • Desi & Cody (Rock)
  • IIA (Pop)
  • Kalyn Fay (Folk/Americana)
  • Medicine Horse (Metal)
  • Monica Taylor (Folk/Americana)
  • Ken Pomeroy (Alternative Folk)
  • Travis Fite (Reggae)
  • Zebadiah Nofire (Hip-Hop)
J.J Hipps and The Hideaway
Aug 5 @ 7:00 pm – 10:00 pm
Appalachian Mountain Brewery Taproom and Kitchen

Join us at Appalachian Mountain Brewery Taproom and Kitchen for live music with J.J Hipps and The Hideaway.
J.J Hipps and The Hideaway is a three-piece electric blues band out of Lenoir, North Carolina. With a rock steady rhythm section, J.J. Hipps’s lead guitar soars into the stratosphere with sonic influences from Stevie Ray Vaughan and Freddie King, and vocals ranging from the howls of a hurt man, to the love struck crooning of Elvis.

Bat Boy: The Musical
Aug 5 @ 7:30 pm
Asheville Community Theatre

Bat Boy: The Musical

Book by: Keythe Farley and Brian Flemming; Music and Lyrics by: Laurence O’Keefe

 

A rock musical, Bat Boy: The Musical expands on a June 23, 1992 Weekly World News tabloid story about a bat boy – half-boy, half-bat – found in a cave and forced into society. The musical – at turns both haunting and hilarious – deals with themes of racism and revenge, hypocrisy and forgiveness. This darkly quirky, compelling musical is not to be missed!

Content Warning: Bat Boy: the Musical contains violence, drug use, and sexual references. Viewer discretion is advised.

 

Accessibility:

All performances: Accessible wheelchair/scooter seating available.

Saturday, Aug 5, 2023: ASL-Interpreted Performance