Don’t-miss exhibitions, workshops, gallery hops, tours, and more.
5
Downtown Asheville Arts District (DAAD) First Friday Art Walk. First Friday Art Walks are a great way to experience the art scene in downtown Asheville. Stop by one of Downtown Asheville Arts District’s participating organizations and enjoy gallery openings, music, demos, performances and more. Art Walks are free, kid-friendly, and open to the public.
5-8pm at participating DAAD galleries.
Glassworks Concert Series. Lexington Glassworks serves as the backdrop for the combined local music, art and beer experience. Every 1st Friday, April through December, you can look forward to an evening of glassblowing, craft beer, and bluegrass. This month they are featuring live music by Father is Lost and local brews on tap from Archetype Brewing.
5-8pm, Lexington Glassworks. Held in conjunction with DAAD First Friday Art Walk.
6
Artist Talk: Betty Scarpino. This event is held in conjunction with Blue Spiral 1’s W.O.W. – Wood Only Work exhibition in the main gallery on view July 5- August 31. Betty’s lifelong artistic career continues to be a voicing of her pleasure of working with wood, in all its forms. Her work is represented in more than 20 major museums’ permanent collections such as the Renwick Gallery of American Art, Smithsonian Institution, Arkansas Arts Center, and Detroit Institute of Arts.
11:30am-12pm, Blue Spiral 1.
6 & 20
Craft City Food & Art Tour. The Center for Craft hosts these behind-the-scenes walking tours of all things small-batch, high-quality, and handmade in Asheville. Visit galleries, taste local beers, watch live demonstrations, sip craft cocktails, and meet the creatives who continue to make Asheville a Craft City.
3-6pm, Blue Spiral 1. $75 (must be 21 or over). More details here.
10
Performance: Cage Shuffle. Cage Shuffle is a 50-minute dance/theater solo performance by Paul Lazar, featuring a series of one-minute stories by Black Mountain College artist John Cage from his 1963 score Indeterminacy, while simultaneously performing a complex choreographic score by Annie-B Parson. Cage’s humor, intellect and iconoclasm find ideal expression in this work, which adds dance to his original performance instructions: Read stories aloud, paced so that each story takes one minute, using chance procedures or not.
7pm, Black Mountain College Museum + Arts Center. $10 for BMCM+AC members + students w/ID / $15 non-members.
14
The Big Crafty. Voted WNC’s favorite art event for the past decade, The Big Crafty returns for a day of hand-to-heart artful craft. Come out for a stroll across Asheville’s flourishing creative landscape, with 150 creative venturers and total art stars, craft-infused good times, hugs, and high fives.
12-6pm, Pack Square Park.
18-20
Craft Fair of the Southern Highlands. In its 72nd year, the Craft Fair of the Southern Highlands returns to downtown Asheville’s U.S. Cellular Center. Filling both the concourse and arena levels of the venue, makers exhibit a variety of craft ranging from contemporary to traditional in works of clay, wood, metal, glass, fiber, natural materials, paper, leather, mixed media, and jewelry.
10am-6pm, U.S. Cellular Center. $8.
18-28
Folkmoot. The 10-day festival invites performance groups from between seven and nine diverse international countries along with local Cherokee and Appalachian performers each year. Audiences can expect approximately 200+ dancers and musicians to share culture through music and dance at events throughout western North Carolina (venues between the Cherokee Qualla Boundary and Hickory).
Weekend events are scheduled in Haywood County, usually (but not always) including the towns of Waynesville, Canton, Maggie Valley, Clyde, and Lake Junaluska. Here’s a detailed calendar.
19
Ginger Huebner’s Beyond Words Opening Reception. Beyond Words is an exhibition of self-portraits co-authored by artist Ginger Huebner and 20 individuals of different economic, social, political and religious backgrounds. Inspired by a desire to deeply and authentically connect with the people in her community, these works tell the stories of her collaborator’s life journeys; experiences of tragedy and triumph, love and loss, friendship and struggle. Ginger is the founding director of Roots + Wings School of Art and Design in Asheville.
Opening reception 6-9pm, Pink Dog Gallery. Exhibition runs July 19-August 18.
Trolley Tip:
During the River Arts District Second Saturdays and both days during Studio Stroll, park your car in one of the free studio lots or on the street and ride the FREE Gray Line Trolley around the River Arts District. Hop on and hop off at the various studios. Trolley stops are located all around the district. Dogs are welcome! 11am-4:30pm.