 |
Someone’s Merry Easter Montage in Asheville
It’s freezing! |
The rain stopped but now it was snow flurries, blustery wind & cold. ( I know I will not get any sympathy from the home town crowd, as they were in the throws of a Spring snow storm.) So while activities that relied on primarily outdoors venues would not be pleasant we were left with the decision to go to the Art Museum or The River Arts District. We decided to save the museum in case we had another total washout day of rain. After bundling up, we headed out to explore the artsy scene.
 |
| Mural on the wall at The Cotton Mill Studios |
The River Arts District is a conglomeration of galleries, studios, businesses & performing arts venues housed in old industrial buildings along the French Broad River. All mediums are represented including clay, glass, textile, metal, wood, painting, sculpture and photography. It’s kind of spread out & in better weather would be totally walkable. There are numerous top-notch eating and drinking establishments to sustain you through your gallery hopping. You have to give it to the artists. In many decaying urban areas they are the only ones willing to renovate and move into these spaces, thus revitalizing these places. I’ve seen it in Williamsburg in Brooklyn & Bethlehem, PA & I love when people turn it around like that.
 |
| Repurposed industrial elements as architectural art |
We entered The Potter’s Mark Studios and were greeted by Eileen Black, proprietor and artist. Eileen’s daughter, Robin was visiting with her 3 children from Florida and everyone was working on projects back in the studio. Eileen and her husband Marty have been in The District for 10 years creating beautiful hand made pottery pieces. Robin is also an artist who creates and showcases her jewelry in her parent’s studio. Eileen was extremely generous with her time and information, steering us in the right direction for which studios and shops were open and where the good eats were. It turns out that Eileen was originally from The Bronx (Morris Ave. for my Bronxite buddies). Yes, it is a very small world.
One problem we discovered was that many artists don’t like Mondays. Apparently most of Asheville is really happening on the weekend but not so much during the week. Eileen circled the places she knew were open on Monday, after inquiring as to what it was I liked to view. Armed with information, we set off again. Interestingly enough, there is a small eatery (actually, dive would be the more appropriate term) in The District that became extremely popular after a certain President of the United States that The Russo’s did not vote for visited on several occasions. The name of this place is 12 Bones. It is a barbecue joint that only opens for 4 hrs a day. It is festooned with photos and other Obamabilia and you can’t get near the place. There is a line outside in the currently freezing Asheville cold.
 |
| The line outside of 12 Bones |
We continued onward and stopped by several other buildings with little to no occupants. Interestingly, the buildings aren’t locked and a lot of art & wears are on display for you to browse through even though no one is minding the store, so to speak.
 |
| Random ceramic teapot adorning a corner in The River Arts District |
One of the places that Eileen steered us to was a place called Desert Moon Designs.This gallery contained working studios and displays of jewelry, glass, textiles, ceramic and paintings. The artist-owner was a woman named Julie and while we were browsing we struck up a conversation. Julie’s studio contributes part of the proceeds to community based non profit associations. March’s beneficiaries were a program that brought a summer reading program to at risk children. In fact, Julie also had a rewards program with the schools where kids earned hands on time with the artists in residence. Julie has been a foster parent to 22 children. She likes kids. She also was collecting donations to support the local food bank. Since Don & I are contributors to our local Blue Ridge Food Bank we couldn’t resist the opportunity to give a little help to Asheville’s food bank. Julie was a really interesting lady. She had recently been at a function and an expectant mom went into a rather precipitous labor. Julie helped the mom birth that youngin’ right in the back of a Subaru while awaiting the rescue squad. She said to me, “Where were you last week? I could’ve used you.”
When we were finished playing with the artists, we headed to Downtown Asheville to see some Art Deco architecture. The Grove Arcade was built by a local millionaire in 1915 as an elegant shopping, dining and living space. The Federal government took over the building during WWII and evicted 127 offices and 74 shops with less than 1 months notice as part of the ‘war effort’. (Is that precedent I see rearing it’s ugly head?) During the 1980s it was placed on the National Register of Historic Places. The city reacquired the building in 1997 and began a foundation to restore and in 2002 it reopened as a shopping and dining center on it’s lower level and office and living spaces on it’s upper level.
 |
| The beautiful Grove Arcade |
I bought an amazingly realistic articulated turtle that floats for Damian here. We also attempted to walk around the downtown streets but the wind was brutal and the snow was squalling so we had to abandon that plan. Cocktail hour was fast approaching and we had plans to take in “Swing Night” at Tressa’s Downtown Blues & Jazz Club. We headed back to our hotel to drop off our car since we had decided we would take a cab tonight.
 |
| The club resides in a 100 yr old building |
I am a big fan of Blues, Jazz (especially Dixieland) & Swing and the combo playing tonight had a really relaxed and casual vibe. We had a bite and a few brews while enjoying the sets then headed back to home base to settle down.
Follow
2 Responses to Arts & Crafts Monday