Asheville artists find support at the St. James Court Art Show

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WAVE) – Several vendors at the St. James Court Art Show have had the hardest week of their lives, coming from the hardest-hit area of ​​Western North Carolina where they are facing the devastation caused by Hurricane Helene.

But in times of disaster, the resilience of communities is revealed, and it is the artistic community that followed them to Louisville, providing connections and customers when they needed it most.

“I have three employees who are currently not working. We are currently [out of operation]said Hannah Black, owner of Trollbinde, a jewelry manufacturer.

Hurricane Helene hit western North Carolina on September 26, causing catastrophic damage, including to the River Arts District in Asheville, home to nearly 300 artists like Black.

“I don’t know the impact on my business,” Black said. “We don’t have any water. We don’t have electricity. We don’t have roads. We have neither internet nor cell phones. I can’t run a business with that.”

That uncertainty followed these artists to Louisville less than a week later, where they took what they could and got help with what they couldn’t.

“Some people I know [Louisville] “We were able to loan me some of the exhibit elements, and that was really helpful because it was too dangerous to take out a trailer,” Black explained. “I didn’t feel comfortable driving on the road. So the people here in Louisville helped me.”

Some of the artists were still preparing for the art exhibition and were forced to take a detour from the normal way they create their work because the storm knocked out water and power supplies.

“I had to glaze for two days to get enough pots to get here, and I washed the brushes in rainwater to try to get the glaze out of them,” said Brenna McBroom, owner of Brenna Dee Ceramics.

McBroom will return to a flooded city with no access to water, and the one thing that makes her art truly unique no longer exists.

“My clay factory was destroyed during the hurricane. They are the only people in the United States who make my clay body,” McBroom said. “I think because Asheville is such a connected city, it becomes really obvious how interconnected we all are and how we all rely on each other for things and so on [I am] I’m just thinking about how I’ll cope when I get back.”

While their studio is fortunately still intact, this was not the case for a group of artists at Curve Studios and Garden.

“Our studio is pretty close to the river, so we’re pretty prepared to maybe get a few inches of it [of water] in there, but not 27 feet,” explained Alice Scott, owner of Symbology by Alice Scott.

Scott’s first floor studio was destroyed by the flood. She was able to move many of her products to the second floor and then to a trailer when the water rose. However, 27 feet of water was too much for the historic building that has been home to artists for years.

Pattiy Torno, an Asheville artist, owns the studio space and has rented it to a group of 11 artists for several years. Torno is now left with a building that is a total loss. A GoFundMe page has been set up to support Curve artists.

Although the future is uncertain, the artists in the art show found some stability, at least for a short time, in the streets of Old Louisville.

“It was really nice to have this nice weather and all these people here, and it was definitely relaxing,” Scott explained.

Every sale counts for small companies that don’t know when and where they can produce again. Many are already thinking about how to apply for small business loans, but believe it will take much more disaster relief to truly help them on the road to recovery.

In the meantime, they are relying on the business of their loyal customers and the artist community to support them in the days ahead.

“I think we’ve really seen the arts community come together in a way that is forward-thinking, resilient and joyful,” McBroom said. “This morning I was thinking that it was hard to imagine something like this happening anywhere else.”

The artists will be at the St. James Art Show in person on Sunday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Many of them pointed to an Asheville-based nonprofit, BeLoved Asheville, as a group they trust to donate more money to support local recovery efforts.

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