Outside the (Toy) Box at *Assembly Required
byTrendy toys are cheap in spirit, if not always in price tag, and well after the commercial blitz of the holidays is over, *Assembly…
Wood
Maggie Valley Woodcarver Saws Through the Competition
by“Mountain Mike” Ayers is a Maggie Valley-based sculptor who carves wood in extraordinary detail using a chainsaw and does it faster than almost anyone…
Here’s What Happens When You Fly Away
byWhen he was only seven, Mark Woodham got a knife from his grandfather, along with some important advice. “‘Always carve away from yourself,’” Woodham…
A Trip Down the Serpentine Path
byAlthough Susan Query has been creating art her whole life, she studied psychology as an undergrad, holds a PhD in health education, and focused…
The Only Gallery is the Back Story
byThe long reach of the COVID-19 pandemic has left few areas of life untouched — even if those areas happen to be off the…
Professional Crafts Program puts Local Talent to Work
byFour years ago, Annah Bible-Sullivan found her fate in a spoon. She was a junior at Asheville High School, looking for an elective to…
Talk to the Man Who Talks to the Trees
byMore than 1,000 years old, bonsai — the art of meticulously pruning plants, most often trees, to keep them much smaller than they would…
The Skateboard as Artistic Springboard
byAs a mainstream pastime it’s waxed and waned for many decades, but skateboarding as an obsession always re-emerges, and along with it, the singular…
On Utility and Elevation
by“Sometimes unexpected things happen, and I have to work around it. You might come into some cracks or a hole and it’s, ‘Oh, didn’t…
The Piano, It Looks Like a Carnival
byPiano man Perry Olds isn’t a professional entertainer, but his zeal for making assemblage is rollicking enough. Olds jokes about a keyboard-player friend “who…