Community Day: The Art of Food

The Asheville Art Museum invites you to visit for free on Saturday, September 2 between noon–5pm! Come celebrate our exhibition The Art of Food: From the Collections of Jordan D. Schnitzer and His Family Foundation with an afternoon of creativity and community engagement featuring programming that highlights how food and culture inform one another.

Community Day: The Art of Food features:

• Food trucks at the Plaza: Cecilia’s Kitchen and Laurita’s Kitchen Mexican Food Truck will be offering their delicious food at the Museum’s Plaza. Food trucks offer both vegan and gluten free options.
• Art making activity, Painting with Spices: Led by local artist Aspen Johnston this drop-in style open studio will teach our visitors how to paint with earth’s natural pigments. By transforming expired spices and seasoning into an artist pallet, museum lovers will learn how to paint with the senses using scents, textures, and colors. Painting with spices welcomes audience of all ages and experience levels.
• Live music: To enliven the viewing experience and complement music to the museum’s spaces, Industrial Coffee Pot will perform a 2-hour set of live music on the Museum’s rooftop terrace. Industrial Coffee Pot is comprised of three former and current University of North Carolina Asheville students who love playing a creative fusion of jazz, soul, funk, and pop music. The group routinely performs around Asheville, Waynesville, and Hickory.
• Free recipe exchange table at the Museum’s Plaza in collaboration with Growing Minds. Recipes will be offered in Spanish and English.
• Food Drive in the Atrium from September 2–October 22 in collaboration with Manna Food Bank.
• Panel discussion Appalachian Foodways: Sarah Hart, communication manager of ASAP (Appalachian Sustainable Agriculture Project), will moderate a lively panel discussion with farmer Malcolm Banks, food advocate Delia Jovel and executive chef Eric Morris about the meaning of Appalachian Foodways.

SCHEDULE

Noon–4pm:

Community Day Food Drive • Level 1

Free Color in Pages and Recipe Exchange Table • Level 1

Food Trucks: Cecilia’s Kitchen and Laurita’s Kitchen Mexican Food • Level 1

Makerspace: Painting with Spices • Level 3

1–3pm

Live Music: Industrial Coffee Pot • Level 4

1–1:30pm

Express Tour: The Art of Food • Level 3

1:45–2pm

Spotlight Tour: The Art of Food • Level 3

2–2:45pm

Public Tour: Intersections in American Art • Level 3

3–4pm

Panel Discussion: Appalachian Foodways • Level 1

3–3:30pm

Express Tour: The Art of Food • Level 3

3:45–4pm

Spotlight Tour: The Art of Food • Level 3

ABOUT THE PANELISTS

Sarah Hart is the Communications Manager for ASAP (Appalachian Sustainable Agriculture Project), a nonprofit organization in the Southern Appalachians with a mission to help local farms thrive, link farmers to markets and supporters, and build healthy communities through connections to local food. In this role, Sarah oversees all of ASAP’s external communications and publications, including the annual Local Food Guide. Sarah has more than two decades of experience as a writer and editor and has also worked as a professional chef.

Malcolm Banks is passionate about creating sustainable solutions to alleviate food shortages and building thriving communities through gardening. With a deep love for nature and a commitment to making a positive impact, he has dedicated his time and efforts to establishing community gardens in areas facing food scarcity.

Eric Morris is the executive chef at Cultura and the Funkatorium by Wicked Weed Brewing, which was the semifinalist for a James Beard Award in 2020. Eric has been cooking professionally for over two decades, including as chef de cuisine for the critically acclaimed Nightbell in Asheville and Pearl & Ash in New York City. He served as sous chef for Tom Colicchio’s Riverpark, where he helped to establish Riverpark Farm, a portable urban farm initially built-in milk crates at a 15,000-square-foot stalled construction site. Eric is known to have skipped a stone well over 200 feet and will boldly accept any challengers to a stone skipping contest.

Delia Jovel was born in El Salvador and has lived in the United States since 2014. Since 2016 she has been working in several initiatives related to education, advocacy and community organizing with Hispanic immigrants in Henderson County, NC. In 2020 Delia funded ABUNDANCIA, a culturally appropriate food distribution in her community and TIERRA FERTIL COOP, a Hispanic worker owned farm cooperative that produces food by using organic practices. Delia is working on developing some other local initiatives that promote mutual aid, food sovereignty, and wellbeing.

The Art of Food, a traveling exhibition, is organized by the University of Arizona Museum of Art and the Jordan Schnitzer Family Foundation.