The old and vacant warehouses along the French Broad River in Asheville are becoming a source of pride once again, with many being converted into studios and living quarters for aspiring artists. Today, more than 100 working artists have set up shop in the River Arts District. Many of these studios are open on a regular basis. Their "River Arts District" signs are easy to spot along the small triangle of streets and avenues with road names such as Clingman, Depot, Haywood, Lyman, Riverside and Roberts. The gallery for Jonas Gerard (in photo above) is open every day at 240 Clingman Avenue. (See our Gallery Guide.)
November 14 & 15, 2009, 10AM-6PM: Almost all of the studios are open for the Studio Stroll, held two weekends a year (June and November). See our Guide to Art Tours and Events. During the Studio Stroll, now in its 14th year, artists of the River Arts District welcome you into their studios to talk with them, see their latest artwork, watch demonstrations, and experience for yourself the magic hidden inside the old factories and warehouses along the French Broad River. More than 110 artists are participating!
The Studio Stroll is free and open to the public. Most studios are within walking distance of each other, and there is plenty of free parking. Go home with new ideas, gifts for friends and even something special for you.
See this amazing fence at "The Wedge" building on Roberts Street,
a creation by John Payne.
Directions to the River Arts District:
From West: 240E to Patton Ave. (Downtown), turn R onto Clingman Ave.
North: 19/23 S to patton Ave. (Downtown), turn R onto Clingman Ave.
From South: 26W to 240E to Patton Ave. (Downtonw), turn R onto Clingman Ave.
From East on I 40, North on 25 and The Biltmore Estates:
Off I 40 take the Biltmore Estate Exit 50B . Pass Biltmore Estate on your left. Stay on Biltmore Ave traveling north. Turn left at the intersection of Meadow Rd and Biltmore Ave. Wendys is on your right at this intersection. Pass two stop lights. Meadow Rd becomes Lyman Street, the French Broad River will be on your left. First stop is Riverview Station on your right aprox 2+ miles from Biltmore Ave. Turn onto Old Lyman, and make an immediate right turn through the fence for parking. Continue on Lyman to reach Riverside Drive, Roberts Street, Clingman Ave and Depot Street.
From East: 240W to "Montford 4C" exit, turn L at light, take first R onto Haywood St., go straight across Patton Ave. where road become Clingman Ave.
Downtown River Arts District in Asheville, N.C., is lined with antique shops, funky boutiques, gourmet restaurants and art galleries
By JANE WOOLDRIDGE - McClatchy Newspapers
The neighborhood has that wrong-side-of-the-tracks feel about it, and sure enough, the railroad runs right through the middle and sometimes backs up traffic. Great hulking warehouses look slightly shabby; from a distance, the barbecue joint across the narrow road looks like ptomaine central.
But appearances are deceiving. The ramshackle warehouses and factories comprise Asheville's up-and-coming River Arts District, and the 'cue shack is the famous 12 Bones Smokehouse that earned top honors in "Good Morning America's" "Best Bites" competition last fall.
It's not that the arts are a new thing in this edgy mountain city. Since early railroad days, Asheville has drawn people with wealth, talent and style.
In the 1890s, George W. Vanderbilt purchased 125,000 acres and built his palatial Biltmore Estate here. In the 1900s, the great Art Deco architects created an extraordinary collection of flashy Art Deco buildings. In the 1930s, F. Scott Fitzgerald used the clubby Grove Park Inn as his base. For decades, the area has been known for its crafts; the Southern Highland Craft Guild's Folk Art Center is just outside of town, on the Blue Ridge Parkway.
But the hard times that hit much of America after the 1929 stock market crash lingered here, and it's only in the past 10-15 years that the downtown has filled with antique shops, funky boutiques, gourmet restaurants and a dozen galleries showcasing contemporary painting, glass, pottery, quilts and jewelry. Though a surprising number of homeless hang out on the streets, in summer they're pushed aside by bustling cafes and outdoor performances like the weekly summer drumming circle.
Still, Asheville isn't "too" cute - at least not yet - and the burgeoning River Arts District helps keeps things that way.
Eileen Black, a potter who moved here from Greensboro, N.C., is president of the area's association. In her five years in town, the district has grown from 30 artists to about 85 - people like Genie Maples, who moved here from Atlanta with her teens two years ago, and Laurie McCarriar, a photographer who moved here two years ago from Northern Virginia.
Says Black, "You get the young hippies and the old hippies." Her husband Marty, a former electronics engineer sporting a "Need a little pot?" T-shirt, has joined her in the pottery business.
"It's hard to find us, that's one of our biggest challenges," she says. The group sponsors two annual Studio Strolls, in June and November. Most studios are open to the public on weekends, and even on a Monday, you'll find a few busily working at their craft or packing up orders for shipment. Many of the buildings are artist-owned, says Black - meaning they won't be chased out by high rents as the district becomes more popular.
Raising the profile is former Miami artist Jonas Gerard, whose bright paintings and tiles appear in collections including the Bass Museum in Miami Beach and the Museum of Art Fort Lauderdale, and the private holdings of Miami collector Marty Margulies and the late President Gerald Ford. Gerard moved here just over a year ago, taking over 5,000-square-feet of a furniture factory-turned-storage warehouse-turned-clay-making shop.
"It was time for me to move on, to make a fresh start," said Gerard, who wanted to be in the mid-Atlantic.
"We drove in and saw the art galleries, the cafes, the hippies, the drumming circle on Friday night. I didn't see any Victoria's Secret or McDonald's. It was a nice homey feeling. Everyone seemed to be grooving."
Download the River Studio Stroll brochure.
Go to the River Arts District Web site .
AmericanStyle Magazine names Asheville as the Number Two Small City for Arts in USA
