Raccoons are mischievous mammals. Turn your back for a second, and they’ll raid your garbage, pilfer through the pet food, steal eggs from the hen house, and even nest in your attic. Asheville wire and metal sculptor Claudia Moore Field has thought a lot about this tomfoolery and has developed a theory: She thinks raccoons “wear” masks to disguise their true identity. “That way, they can remain anonymous while getting into trouble.” This wild hypothesis motivated Field to create a wire sculpture of a raccoon for The Unmasking, the February prompt for the Second Saturday Art Stroll in the River Arts District. Field’s piece, which she calls “The Washerman” because of how raccoons wet their food before noshing, will be on display at the Philip DeAngelo Studio (115 Roberts St., Asheville) during the stroll on Saturday, Feb. 10. Other participating creatives include fiber artist Jennifer Woodruff, who will be “unmasking” pieces she created during the COVID-19 pandemic at Local Cloth (408 Depot St, Asheville). “Jennifer experimented during lockdown, pulling color from the plants around her, creating all the subtle and vivid hues of the rainbow,” Local Cloth shared in a press statement. “This body of work has not yet been displayed.”
The Unmasking: Saturday, Feb. 10
River Arts District / To find participating artists and galleries, visit riverartsdistrict.com.