Lots of departures in the local arts scene! Erica Bell is leaving her post as gallery director at the Asheville Arts Council to work for the LEAF Festival. Her cheerful attitude will be missed.
Ron Platt is leaving the Asheville Art Museum for Birmingham. The museum’s recent newsletter lists the artists he selected for the museum’s juried show next spring, confirming his eye and his willingness to take a risk. What a loss! We wish him all the best.
Two of Asheville’s brightest and hardest-working young artists, Jason Witherspoon and Lauren Gibbes, are leaving for the Big Apple. Lauren already has her first New York show scheduled.
John Cram has, once again, proven himself to be not only Asheville’s most imaginative business man, but its most generous. He is building a Habitat House in New Orleans to be named for Will Henry Stevens, who painted Louisiana in the winter and our mountains in the summer.
Rumors are rampant about paintings flying off the walls over the last month from alternative venues — artists selling out shows at coffee shops and hair salons. Can anyone confirm this?
I can’t confirm this, but i will inform my painterly friends, that’s for sure! Thanks!