Re-dedication ceremony for the Urban Trail Station

A re-dedication ceremony will be held by The City of Asheville and the Public Art and Cultural Commission for the Urban Trail Station 15 Market Place. The ceremony will take place on June 19 at 1:30 p.m. on Walnut Street between N. Lexington and Broadway in downtown Asheville. The station was recently redesigned to remove and replace existing artwork. 5 Walnut Wine Bar will host “Urbania: Strolling the Urban Trail,” a public exhibit including contemporary photography and interpretive art from June 19 through July 15.

From The city of Asheville

Press Release

The City of Asheville and the Public Art and Cultural Commission will host a re-dedication ceremony for the Urban Trail Station 15 Market Place on Friday, June 19 at 1:30 p.m., located on Walnut Street between N. Lexington and Broadway in downtown Asheville. A reception will follow the ceremony across the street at the 5 Walnut Wine Bar.

The Asheville Urban Trail, a walking tour of downtown Asheville, highlights the unique architecture, people and historic events of the city. All 30 stations include interpretive art or a story board about the station.

The original Urban Trail Station 15 Market Place, installed in 1993, depicted a bronze apple basket and bonnet resting on a bench as they might have in the 1800s when the area housed produce markets and livery stables. The station was recently redesigned to remove the artwork from the bench and create an interpretive pedestal to exhibit the artwork.

The new station was designed and fabricated by Black Mountain sculptor Julia Burr using aluminum wagon wheels backed with a panel of cor-ten steel with a laser cut out of a horse head. The existing bronze apple basket and bonnet are incorporated into the wagon as both sit on the wagon seat. The concept is reminiscent of horse and wagon delivery by pioneers during Asheville’s frontier era.

To draw attention and pay homage to the twenty-year history of the Urban Trail, 5 Walnut Wine Bar will host “Urbania: Strolling the Urban Trail,” June 19 – July 15. This small, open-to-the-public exhibit will feature contemporary photography and interpretive art showing a number of Urban Trail stations, as well as the cat and mouse marquettes (models) originally sculpted by Vadim Bora for Urban Trail Station 9 Cat Walk on Wall Street.

The Urban Trail is part of Asheville’s Public Art Program which the city oversees with assistance from the Public Art and Cultural Commission. In addition to the Urban Trail, Asheville’s public art collection includes Pack Fountain, Energy Loop, the Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial, and most recently, Daydreamer, a dimensional mural over the exit of the city’s public garage on the north side of Asheville Aloft Hotel.

For more information about the Asheville Urban Trail and Public Art Program, visit www.ashevillenc.gov/parks, www.facebook.com/aprca, or contact Brenda Mills at (828) 259-8050, bmills@ashevillenc.gov.