When Even Making Art for David Bowie Doesn’t Scratch the Itch …
Rand Kramer’s professional career got an unexpected early start. One day, during high school, a teacher asked him to draw a history-related mural on…
She Destroys Perfectly Good Paintings — to Create Imperfectly Better Ones
Oil painter Alicia Anne Armstrong often labors over a painting for hours or days. Then, as soon as the paint is dry, she does…
Do You Want to Tag the Muralist Who Painted Over the Graffiti Scene?
It’s a busy lunchtime on Foundy Street, and with bellies full of BBQ, tourists are distracted by the paintings that cover the outside walls…
Sometimes a Painter Has to be Quiet to Make a Scene
Landscape painter Kate Thayer doesn’t just recognize earth tones. “All colors are in nature if we really see,” she says. But that kind of…
Live-Model Sculpting is the Very Shape of Intimacy
Realist figurative painter/sculptor Angela Cunningham studied illustration at the Ringling School of Art and Design in Sarasota, Florida, before earning her BFA at Laguna…
You Get Better Visions Once You Move to Art Heaven
“You know how photographers put paper in a chemical bath, and gradually the image starts to come up?” asks painter Elizabeth Henderson. “I feel…
This is the Best Argument Yet for that End-of-the-Rainbow Myth
Many assume gold comes from within the earth. But the truth, supported by science, is way more cosmic. Jewelry artist David Vrooman says gold…
Fast-Thinking Woodturner Wasn’t Cut Out for the Stone Age
Sixteen years ago, Darrell Copeland witnessed a woodturning demonstration. Prior to that, he had studied drawing at New Orleans Academy of Fine Arts, apprenticed…
Tugging the Right Thread Could Unravel the Whole Garment Industry
Leanna Echeverri, owner of the handmade hemp clothing and upcycled-garment business Grateful Threads, studied interior design before going to work for an architect. But…
Sometimes it Takes a Village to Raise a Street Artist
“There is as much art on the outside of the [Foundation Studios] buildings as on the inside,” says Kean Werner, head of Foundation Woodworks,…
If it Can’t Be Hand Built, it’s Not on this Potter’s Horizon
Earlham College in Richmond, Indiana, wasn’t particularly known for its art department. But it happened to have a great ceramics professor when Matt Jones…
Fine Glasswork is a Fiery Contradiction
Kit Paulson worked as a furnace glassblower before transitioning into meticulously intricate glass sculpture created with a flame torch. She’s taught her techniques at…
They Drive the Ice-Cream Truck Grownups Chase Down the Street
After winning “Best Dessert” two years in a row at the Asheville Mardi Gras Cajun Cook-Off competition, entrepreneur Jane Kennelly and baker Sara Widenhouse,…
The Needle and the Drama
There’s so much fanfare around glass this season, thanks to the Dale Chihuly exhibit at Biltmore Estate and six months of companion events around…
Strip Poker is Just One Way to Radicalize the Womanly Arts
Angie Lamoree, a long-time member of Asheville Quilt Guild, holds first-place awards in local and national quilting competitions. “I learned to crochet at 7,…