Art on a cart has grown up

I've written about The Easel Rider before, but this UNC-TV video has really affirmed my faith in this program. Funded with city dollars, the Easel Rider requires less resources to operate and can potentially provide greater outreach than traditional "recreation center" programs.

Another innovative aspect is that the Easel Rider can accommodate a variety of artists and media thanks to the help of new media artists Mark Koven and Gene Felice who outfitted the van with some state of the art digital electronic equipment.

I'm not sure how many other cities in the US have implemented programs similar to Easel Rider, but I hope people can look to this production as an example of inspired and resourceful city spending.

If you are an artist/writer/performer who would like an opportunity to utilize the Easel Rider, follow this link for more information

Asheville's Urban Arts Institute

Asheville's Urban Arts Institute "empowers and enriches the under-served youth of our community through the art of hip-hop," says Michael Hayes who founded the organization in 2006. Hayes is self-taught in theater and dance. "I've always had a creative vibe going on with me," says Hayes, "I figured I might as well use the talent to help the kids."

Learn more about the Urban Arts Institute: Hip Hop in the Heart by Joshua Cole for Mountain Xpress

Hayes and the students will be presenters at TEDxAsheville this weekend, and will be discussing the power art has to transform lives and communities.

Look for them in the Asheville Holiday Parade,

November 19th.

A special fundraiser for the UAI is planned
Friday December 16th 7pm to midnight
STEP IN THE NAME OF LOVE/ LOVE BALL
THE YMI CULTURAL CENTER on Eagle Street

$25/individual
$40/ couple
"This is a dress-up event" says Hayes. "There will be Chicago two-stepping and foxtrotting -- all the good stuff."

PUSH: the major motion picture

Here is a teaser for the locally-produced skate movie, PUSH now available on DVD ($10) at PUSH Gallery in downtown Asheville at 25 Patton Avenue. www.pushtoyproject.com

Read more about PUSH: Locally produced skate film puts Asheville on the map Mountain Xpress Vol. 17 / Iss. 22 on 12/21/2010

I really like this addendum written by Nathanael Roney that appears in the printed version of Mountain Xpress:

"Skateboarding has always been an insider's game, and though exclusive in practise, the very essence of its form has always remained culturally relevant and attractive to the external. Like jazz, skateboarding is an art in response to rule, rather than the commonly mistaken sport, whose laborious mastery of said rule is unable to communicate with and for itself. It's a rabbit-hole language with one point of entry, indifferent to the outsider's endorsement."

Asheville's best kept secret

I recently had the opportunity to write about two very special women for Verve Magazine who, it turns out, have a lot in common. Around the age of 60 each underwent a profound creative transformation, and both have launched new creative careers as a result. The catalyst: community art classes.

Silvia Sabaini as photographed by Anthony Bellemare courtesy of Verve Magazine

At the age of 64 Silvia Sabaini took her first ceramics class from a community center in Waynesville, NC. "It was six classes for $60," she says, "How could I go wrong?" Two years later Sabaini is renting studio space at Odyssey Clay Center and she currently is exhibiting her ceramic busts at The Jonas Gerard Gallery in the River Arts District.
Read the full story: Having her Way with Clay: Verve Magazine, November 2010

Valerie Hoh as photographed by Matt Rose courtesy of Verve Magazine

Similarly, Kenilworth designer, Valerie Hoh decided at the age of 58 that she wanted to start a fashion line. She began taking sewing classes, computer classes and business classes at A-B Tech Community College. Two years later, with her new set of skills she held her first trunk sale. Today she sells her one-of-a-kind purses, scarves and dresses in North Carolina, Hong Kong and Florida.
Read the full story: Hoh Down: Verve Magazine, November 2010

Valerie raved to me in our interview: "The continuing education program at A-B Tech is the best kept secret in Asheville!" She added that she wished it wasn't such a secret and that everyone knew about it and took advantage of it. "The teachers are so good, and it is so cheap," she told me. "I just kept taking all the classes I could possibly take for two years - all the sewing classes, and I learned Photoshop and Illustrator and I took a business class."

Okay, I'll go ahead and admit it -- I teach continuing education painting and design classes at A-B Tech, so this post is biased. It's not biased in the way that I'll get paid more if more people take classes (I won't.) Rather, I can attest firsthand that I have seen some amazing transformations from students.

Many incredibly talented people come through that might just need a boast of confidence and some constructive criticism. Some students just need extra space to create; many have kids and don't have enough room in their homes. Some students just want a fun social activity that will get them out of the house for a few hours. Some students are professional artists that are looking for new creative outlets. Sometimes couples enroll in classes together, and many like Silvia and Valerie are looking to recreate their lives.

All kinds of classes are offered through A-B Tech's continuing education program such as drawing, furniture restoration, cooking, yoga, computer skills, ceramics, crotcheting, stained class, drawing, and car repair. There are even classes on how to invest money in the stock market!

Check the full continuing education schedule at the A-B Tech website: www.abtech.edu At rates this affordable ($55 for 24 hours of painting, for example) you really can't go wrong. You just might create a brand new life for yourself.

Benefit for On Coal River

The Mountains of West VA brought to you by Massey Energy Co.
Photograph by Ken Abbott

On Tuesday March 31st a benefit will be held at The Asheville Brew and View at 77 Coxe Avenue to raise money for the final production stages of the documentary, On Coal River.
I've been lucky enough to see rough cuts and outtakes of the movie and I can assure you that in its entirety On Coal River is a production that will make Asheville proud. It is an engaging documentation of 4 characters as they patiently and tirelessly jump through a myriad of bureaucratic hoops in their struggle against Massey Energy Co.
Shot over a four year period, On Coal River follows the transformation of these four remarkable individuals as they face the challenge of a lifetime, fighting for the survival of their way of life, and the lives of future generations.
Watch the trailer for On Coal River here.

Pierce Edens and The Dirty Work will be performing at the benefit; sneak preview scenes from On Coal River will be shown and there will be a huge raffle of local delights (including a painting by me) There is no cover, but obviously donations are encouraged.
Tuesday March 31st
6:00pm - 9:00 pm
Asheville Brew and View
77 Coxe Avenue
Please come out and show your support for this beautiful and important project.
If you do not live in Asheville and wish to donate to this project, you may do so via the website www.oncoalriver.com

Sewing the Muse on the Internet

Visit the link here
Thank you everyone who helped me and supported me with this project.

"Sewing the Muse" on URTV

"Sewing the Muse," an Art Seen Asheville production, is finally complete and will be airing repeatedly on URTV. This week it is scheduled to air on charter cable channel 20 at the following times:
Monday Dec. 1st - 2:00 am and 9:30 pm
Wed Dec 3rd - 2:30am, 2:00pm, 10:30 pm
Thurs Dec 4th - 9:30pm
Sat Dec. 6th - 4:30pm
If you are one of the many who proudly do not own a tv or have cable you can now stream URTV on your computer! Go to www.urtv.org and check it out.
URTV is the public access community television station in Asheville, NC and broadcasts to all of Buncombe County. It is a tremendous resource for the community and a plethora of groovy shows have sprouted out of URTV.
The KC Waters Show, Mount Dungeon, Pleasure Saucer, The Wall Paper Project, The Mad Monk of Montford, The Matt Howard Show, Glo Lady TV, The Ellen B Show and The Global Report are among my personal faves.

Sewing the Muse: Josephine Foster

Brooke Priddy and Josephine Foster

I am currently working on an episode of Art Seen Asheville in the studios of URTV called "Sewing the Muse" which features the work and collaborative projects of local dressmaker, Brooke Priddy. In addition to Brooke I have interviewed a bevy of local talent who have collaborated with Brooke in some form. I will be posting blogs over the upcoming days about the people featured in the show and the wonderful talents associated with this project.

Cover Art for Hazel Eyes I Will Lead You

Josephine Foster has graciously allowed me the use of her music as soundtrack for "Sewing the Muse." A friend to Brooke Priddy, Foster has performed locally in Priddy's West Asheville shop, Ship to Shore. My introduction to Brooke and Josephine was a collaborative performance where Brooke cut and hemmed a gown upon the lovely Josephine while she majestically performed her indescribably haunting music. A self-proclaimed "opera school dropout" Foster uses traditional instruments like guitar, bells, harp, ukulele, dulcimer, kazoo and sitar to blur the definitions of folk and experimental music. Her sinewy voice weaves through her compositions as its own instrument akin to a musical saw. That Josephine Foster performed wedding and funeral songs at age 15 is no surprise giving that her music harkens celebration and melancholia simultaneously.
This Coming Gladness is her most recent cd release.

Why did I start a blog anyway??

TO PROCRASTINATE.
If you have a lot of stuff that you want to avoid doing, I totally suggest that you start a blog. In this moment there are about 5 other things I could (should) be doing. But I don't want to. So here I am blogging.


This is the most recent episode of Art Seen Asheville which was produced June 2008 for URTV - the Public Access TV Station of Asheville which you can find on Charter Cable Channel 20 if you live in Buncombe County. Community media is great, and URTV is a tremendous resource to Asheville. Basically for $50/year you can use studio facilities, camera gear and editing gear that would normally cost thousands of dollars, AND produce a television show that will be aired to thousands of Buncombe County folk. For more information go to www.urtv.org

Here's the TRAILER to the show I posted up there.