A Bed of Roses

Ceramic Sculpture by Jenny Mastin

Asheville is a mecca for artists and creatives of all types and the River Arts District  (RAD) is the place to find them. RAD is a hotbed of creative activity with at least 150 artists living and working just 5 minutes from downtown Asheville. Warehouses and historic buildings along the French Broad River have been converted to studios and galleries intermingled with restaurants and cafés and even a microbrewery! This weekend is a rare opportunity to see the artists at work. All 150+ studios are open to the public at the same time! It only happens twice a year and lots of artists’ demonstrations and festivities are expected, including hands-on activities. You’ll get a chance to talk to the artists and see a huge variety of art with everything from sculpture, ceramics, textiles, glasswork, jewelry and furniture to paintings in every medium you can imagine.

Constance Williams doing encaustic painting at Curve Gallery

The event is free and so is parking. A free trolley is available as well that you can hop on at any of it’s 8 stops. An information booth will be set up at the five-points intersection across from the Clingman Café. This is the perfect time to find that holiday gift that is one of a kind and will come with the story of how you met the artist who created it! Take a break from shopping and have lunch at 12 Bones Smokehouse on Saturday- another rare opportunity since the studio stroll weekends are the only 2 times a year that 12 Bones opens on Saturday!

Directions:

From Downtown Asheville-

• Take Patton Avenue West
• Merge right into traffic circle to cross Patton and take a left onto Clingman Ave.
• Turn left to stay on Clingman Ave. until you reach the 5 points intersection.

From Biltmore Village-

• Take Biltmore Avenue North
• Left on Meadow Road
• Meadow will turn into Lyman which runs into the 5 points intersection

From North-

• Take 19/23 South to Patton Avenue.
• Turn right onto Clingman Ave.

From South-

• Take I-26 West to I-240
• Take Exit 1C, Amboy Rd.
• Turn left onto Lyman Street

From East-

• Take I-240 West to Exit 4-C, Montford Ave
• Turn right on Montford Ave.
• Turn left on Hill Street (before the visitors center)
• Take a left on Riverside Drive

From West-

• Take I240 East to Exit 4-B, Patton Ave
• Turn right onto Clingman Ave.

Tags: Asheville area events, Asheville Arts, Asheville holiday shopping, River Arts District, Studio Stroll

This entry was posted on Monday, November 7th, 2011 at 5:00 am and is filed under Asheville Area Events. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.