Two wrongs don’t make a right. But two setbacks can create an opportunity. That’s according to Julie and Phil Wilmot.
On February 1, the couple temporarily closed their Henderson County gallery space, Art on 7th, while the city overhauled pedestrian, water, sewer, and stormwater infrastructure in the 7th Avenue Historic District.
“It was impossible to safely access the gallery’s entry and exit, and there was little to no parking available,” Julie explains. Artwork also had to be removed from walls and pedestals to protect it from the reverberation caused by heavy machinery.
The original timeline for reopening the gallery was May 2024. “That didn’t happen,” says Julie.
The reopening date was then pushed to October 1. But, of course, life here in the mountains was turned upside down by Hurricane Helene in late September. Artists were among some of the hardest hit, with flood water damaging more than 80 percent of the buildings in the River Arts District in Asheville.
As images of the devastation began surfacing, Julie and Phil made a bold choice to pause reopening until next January. They also decided to shift from their contemporary focus to exclusively representing Western North Carolina artists displaced by the storm.
According to Julie, all artist applications will be vetted by a review board consisting of trusted area creatives. Local makers whose “livelihoods have been catastrophically impacted” will be the gallery’s top priority for representation.
Julie describes this rebranding as “fortuitous.”
“Had we been able to reopen within one of the original dates, we wouldn’t have been in the position to pivot,” she notes. “But the delays in completion of 7th Avenue provided us the opportunity to respond to a much greater need.”
Art on 7th, 330 7th Ave. East, Hendersonville. For more information regarding artist applications, visit arton7th.com. Updates will also be shared on Facebook (Art on 7th) and Instagram (@Arton7th).