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“Even though I make books, I really hadn’t considered this kind of thing before because it’s so far from what I know,” said Asheville artist Margaret Couch Cogswell about her recent publication, Book Play. Still, she says of the venture, “If it’s all easy, you’re not learning anything.” Book Play, Cogswell’s first publication, is primarily […]

Big names, little town

Andy Warhol, Barbara Kruger, Robert Mapplethorpe, Willem de Kooning, Cy Twombly, Keith Haring, Martin Puryear, Jenny Holzer, Carl Andre and William Eggleston — it sounds like a litany from an art school student trying to impress someone at a party. It’s really a selection of works from the Emily Fisher Landau collection that has made […]

Arts and activism: A potter, a sculptor, a printer

The arts have long been a vehicle for progressive thinkers to communicate ideas, challenge beliefs or expose injustices. Here’s a quick look at three artists exploring this overlap between arts and activism. Letterpress printer Frank Brannon directs a printing project that uses the Cherokee language. “Like many languages around the world, the Cherokee spoken language […]

Heavens to Etsy

Crafts are going online in a big way, and local artists are taking advantage of the trend. Sales on the hugely popular online site Etsy (a craft, handmade and vintage marketplace) topped at $895.1 million last year, a 70 percent increase from 2011, according to press info on the sight.       Since its […]

Pieces of you

Making a living as an artist of any kind requires as much perspiration as it does inspiration — not to mention a sound budget and clear fiscal goals. “One thing that I think artists can massively neglect is the business side,” says Asheville jeweler Joanna Gollberg. Before she and her business partner, Marthe Le Van, […]

Trend spotting: Combining clay and printmakin­g

Printing on clay is not a new process. However, this technique’s recent spike in popularity could lead one to that conclusion. And printing on clay is popular for good reason. By combining these two fields, artists are pushing boundaries to create work that is innovative, engaging and eye-catching Released in 2013 by Asheville’s own Lark […]