Celebrate the Blues 

Isoprene may not sound beautiful. However, when this colorless gas emitted by trees reacts with sunlight, it gives the Blue Ridge Mountains their eponymous blue haze. Greenville, South Carolina, native Dana Irwin has marveled at these mountains and their many stunning shades since childhood. Since then, she has moved around the country while working for national book and magazine publishers, with stints in New York City and San Francisco. But no matter how far she traveled, Irwin’s mind always wandered back to the cerulean, teals, indigos, and steely slates of her native Blue Ridge. “… right now, the rivers, mountains, and life here have caught my attention longer than any other place I’ve lived or visited,” says Irwin, who paints and illustrates from her home studio in Asheville and also works as an assistant at Re.Imagine Gallery & Studios in Fairview. According to gallery owner Nan Cole, Irwin’s landscape painting, “Blue Ridges,” inspired Celebrating the Blues, a wintertime exhibition featuring new work by regional creatives. “We extended the theme to include artists’ takes on music and emotion as well as the color blue in general,” says Irwin.