Growth

12/17/09

We’re in the midst of sending our January/February issue to the printer, and in it is a photo essay featuring the evolution of Asheville’s Pack Square during the last 200 years.

It’s quite impressive that the town center has gone through so many transformations, including eight courthouses. If you’ve visited Asheville in the past two years, you’ve likely noticed the square’s most recent incarnation. The city is building a much-anticipated central park, which is to be completed this spring. And just recently I learned of yet another metamorphosis in the works.

Asheville Art Museum Plans Expansion
Over the next three years, the Asheville Art Museum (www.ashevilleart.org) will transform into a state-of-the-art, contemporary art-filled civic center. It will be taking over the space now occupied by The Health Adventure (which is moving out of Pack Place) and expanding its gallery, public, and education spaces. Local design professionals including Jim Samsel, John Rogers, Peter Alberice, and others will be working with Polshek Partnership Architects of New York to redesign the museum and restore the historic (and original) Pack Memorial Library building. The project is expected to be finished in 2013.

The Center for Craft, Creativity & Design Raffle
I sometimes dream of having free time to take art classes: glassblowing at Penland, jewelry design at the J.C. Campbell Folk School. They offer weekend and weeklong classes, as well as extended residencies. I’d make time if I won the Center for Craft Creativity and Design’s raffle for a one-week class at the folk school (www.folkschool.org), Penland (www.penland.org), or Arrowmont (www.arrowmont.org) in Gatlinburg, Tennessee. The classes are valued at $950, and the cost of a raffle ticket is $25. The drawing takes place January 15. Call (828) 890-2050 or visit www.craftcreativitydesign.org for information or to purchase a ticket. Proceeds benefit The Center for Craft, Creativity & Design in Hendersonville.

WNC Magazine On the Verge
For you visual artists living in Western North Carolina who have already taken your classes (or not) and mastered your craft, but haven’t yet had a major solo show, the call is out for entrants for our annual On the Verge emerging artist competition. The deadline is January 15. Visit www.wncOnTheVerge.com for details.

“Fiat Lux” Paintings by Gabriel Shaffer
One of last year’s On the Verge finalists, Gabriel Shaffer, is having a solo exhibition in the Showcase Gallery at Blue Spiral 1 (www.BlueSpiral1.com) in Asheville, January 7-March 21. His paintings layer a collage of primitive graffiti and mixed media, inspired by his subconscious. Visit www.wncmagazine.com/otv/2009 to read about Gabriel and the rest of the 2009 On the Verge winners.

Vacation Time!
Check my blog while I travel to Côte d’Ivoire in West Africa for the New Year. I’ll be studying music and dance with members of local afrobeat ensemble Afromotive and other Ashevillians. I’ll be posting photos and video from across the Atlantic.