Two more talented artists from Asheville's River Arts District

Hello All! Greetings from cool, green Asheville, NC! Hope you are having a good summer. We can't complain about the weather here, it's been great so far in the "Land of the Sky".
Today's post is about two more fabulous artists that I met in Asheville's River Arts District. I've really enjoyed taking time to meet the River Arts District artists and I'd like to share their work with you. And if you've already been to the River Arts District, please comment on your experience.

But first, I have a couple of updates from my other post Asheville's Talented River Arts District Artists. Artist Joyce Thornburg is an featured artist at the Atelier Gallery of Fine Art on 24 Lexington Ave., Asheville. She has an "Retrospective of Faces" exhibit that started June 11th. Click on  Joyce Thornburg's  name to read about the article I wrote about her. She has a large 1800's farmhouse door painted her her folk art faces on it and it is a striking anchor to her exhibit in their street front window. Her show will end on June 30th. But if you miss her show and are local, then go Curra's Mexican restaurant in Woodfin, you'll see one of her "Faces" doors there.

Secondly, a bit of some odd news for one of our talented artists, Stephen Lange (to read my post about Stephen Lange click on his name.) Stephen, while working on one of his uniquely natural and beautiful circle paintings, he decided to place it outside the studio building to dry and came back to notice it had been stolen! Now you have understand, this painting was 6 feet wide! To view the video about the reported incident see this video from WLOS-TV. To view an article on the matter, here's a link. On Stephen Lange's website you can see his beautiful circle paintings.

Now I'll get to our next artist and painter, Benjamin Kaleblevi as shown here with his paintings. Ben considers his work to be abstract surrealistic.

You can find Benjamin's studio at the Riverside Studios, 174 West Haywood St. Asheville.  Even though, most of his work is abstract, of late, he has been busy with commissions of pet portraits. I found his abstract paintings very mysterious. The viewer must take some time with each painting in order to see all of the hidden information that Benjamin has included within.  These hidden clues tells the story of Benjamin's life journey, as he so kindly shared with me. And I like that quality about Ben's paintings. You'll see what I'm talking about in the photo below. Ben takes time with his paintings, they are not rushed. 

Inside Ben's studio, he was working on a cat portrait. And right now, he seemed to be very content working on his new subjects. He has an update and notified me that he is presently painting on location at a local hangout called "The Bywater" on Riverside Dr. His website is under construction, but you can find his bio and art on the River Arts District website.

A larger view, below, of Ben's studio space.

While walking along the River Arts District, here is a few photos of outdoor sculptures you'll want to see.

Garden sculpture below just outside the Curve studios.

Now, I have to say, I had goosebumps just seeing artist Heather Knight's work at her Element Clay Studio  . Unfortunately, I didn't get a chance to meet her in person, but get to meet her assistant as she was setting up Heather's new studio space. Her textile wall tile collection in this photo is stunning, yet she has a varied body of work of bowls, exhibit pieces, and commissioned pieces. You can see work on her website and many items are available for purchase online.

Her stunning porcelain and clay work has been featured in magazines like, Coastal Living, House Beautiful, Charleston Home and many more. We are fortunate to have her here in the Wedge studios in the RAD.  She works mostly with porcelain, but also works in clay. Her works are a balance I would say, of modernism and nature, which she does so well. There's no denying her style, once you've seen it, you'll be able to easily recognize it again. The textures and the movement of her work will keep your interest and her choice of size for her elements is unique in itself.

Closeup

I hope you've enjoyed reading this post about Asheville's Talented River Arts District Artists. Please feel free to leave comments.  

Oh, I can't forget! White Duck Taco Shop has recently opened up in the RAD. Here's an article about the owners and their new restaurant.  Have a creative summer! Allison