Our Landscape, Opening July 13

Transylvania County artist Ray Byram has painted Cold Mountain, a 6,030-foot summit nestled in the Great Balsams, many times before. But his most recent rendition of the mountain, titled “After the Storm,” is the first time he has painted the peak since his son, Sam, died of cystic fibrosis in 2014, at the age of 30. “[It’s] an emotional piece, indicative of the war my son and I fought against the disease that took his life,” says Byram. The artist will show the painting, which depicts Cold Mountain in “early spring with the yellow-green foliage of new life and the rain clouds breaking up,” during Our Landscape at Trackside Studios this summer. The group show will feature everything from an impressionistic-style depiction of Devil’s Courthouse by Virginia Pendergrass to a realistic rendering of the foggy French Broad River Valley by Tani Reeves, a local creative who describes landscapes as“those vast and ever-shifting canvases painted by nature herself.” The show at Trackside is part of “Who Am I, Who Are We?,” a year-long initiative in which members of the River Arts District Artists explore a monthly motif. In August, artists will present pieces related to the theme “Expanding Horizons.”