All farm volunteer hours will be held at our Sullivan Street Farm location (15 Bolt Street, Greenville, SC, 29605, look for a white and grey pavilion-like building and metal garden beds, the yellow X on the map below denotes the location where we’ll meet before getting started on tasks).

Help with greenhouse tasks such as seeding, potting up transplants, labeling/organizing plant trays. Help with urban farm tasks such as weeding, mulching, composting/fertilizing, seeding, transplanting, harvesting.

This work will take place outdoors so you should dress accordingly (layers are always a good idea) in something you don’t mind getting dirty. Closed toe shoes are required. Items like sunscreen and/or hats are helpful. Please bring a water bottle and feel free to bring snacks if you’d like.

**PLEASE NOTE: These volunteer shifts require physical labor that involves activities such as bending, lifting, and standing for long periods of time. We also may use tools such as drills, hammers, shovels, wheelbarrows, etc. Please be prepared to work hard and have some fun!**

**PLEASE NOTE: We do not accept volunteers aged 12 or younger. Additionally, anyone under the age of 18 must be accompanied by a legal guardian or supervising adult.**

The YWCA Racial Justice Workshop is open to our entire YWCA Asheville community – including our staff, volunteers, board, donors, program participants, Fitness Center and community members. This 90-minute workshop will take place on the second Tuesday of each month at 11:30 am and will be facilitated by Gerry Leonard, Racial Justice & Outreach Specialist and Lexus Walker, Tzedek Social Justice Fellow.

Artisphere has approached us to participate in their Arts Partner Program, offering a chance to secure funding for GCCA through volunteer efforts. By collectively completing 250 volunteer hours, we can unlock vital resources that will be reinvested back into our community in various meaningful ways.
While our dedicated staff is committed to contributing their time, we recognize that our team alone will not reach the goal. That’s why we’re calling on our wonderful community to join us in this endeavor. With your help, we can achieve our target of 250 volunteer hours.
We’re asking for volunteers to sign up for 2 to 4 shifts each, with most shifts spanning 3 to 4 hours (some may be slightly longer). Your participation will not only support GCCA but also contribute to the vibrant cultural landscape of our city.
To sign up for shifts, please follow the instructions provided in the link below. When registering, be sure to indicate that you’re volunteering on behalf of GCCA to ensure your hours count towards our total. After signing up, we ask that you kindly inform our Operations Manager, Alicia Mizuno, of the number of shifts and total hours you’ve committed to. This will help us keep track of our progress towards our goal.

Baker Exhibit Center

In an age of complex environmental challenges, why not look to the ingenuity of nature for solutions? The forms, patterns, and processes found in the natural world—refined by 3.8 billion years of evolution—can inspire our design of everything from clothing to skyscrapers. This approach to innovation, called biomimicry, is becoming increasingly popular.

Nature’s Blueprints is supported in part by The North Carolina Arboretum Society, The Laurel of Asheville, RomanticAsheville.com Travel Guide, and Smoky Mountain Living Magazine.

TUESDAY – FRIDAY 9 AM – 5 PM
SATURDAY 11 AM – 3 PM

n Long Overdue, Traci Wright Martin and Michelle Radford underscore the importance of recognizing and acknowledging women’s contributions. Traci Wright Martin’s charcoal and mixed media series, “Art Herstory and the Moth,” focuses on underrepresented women in art history, paying tribute to them through visual quotations and symbolism. Michelle Radford highlights the historical oversight of women’s textile work and aims to bring recognition to their innovative designs as valuable artistic expressions.

Both artists challenge traditional perceptions of gender norms, albeit in different contexts. Wright Martin challenges the overshadowing of female artists in art history by drawing a parallel to imagery of moths. Often an overlooked organism, the moth in Martin’s work symbolizes the need for representation of the feminine art experience. Meanwhile, Radford challenges distinctions between art and craft, conceptual and decorative, urging viewers to reconsider their attitudes toward women’s stitchwork and handicrafts.

ABOUT THE ARTISTS

MICHELLE BERG RADFORD

Michelle Berg Radford is a multi-disciplinary artist working at the intersection of women’s craft and what is considered “fine art painting.” Michelle earned an MFA from the Savannah College of Art and Design where she studied landscape painting and fiber arts. Michelle is also an educator with 16 years of teaching experience in higher education.

For millennia, women have expressed their creativity and skill in clothing their families and
caring for their private spaces through textiles. Their innovative designs have often been
overlooked as art, but are now slowly being recognized for the innovative and insightful
works that they are.

In this work, I join women’s handicrafts with landscape painting, a well-trodden genre in art, to introduce a new way of looking at both. These pieces begin as flat canvas studio paintings which I then fold and stitch to create dimensional smocked paintings. I borrow a time-honored heirloom sewing technique traditionally employed by women to construct garments and translate it through scale into contemporary sculptural paintings. By
presenting these works in a gallery setting in which fine art is viewed, the viewer is called to
acknowledge women’s stitch-work as valuable expressions of the maker and to question their own attitudes about the common distinctions between art versus craft, skilled versus
unskilled, conceptual versus decorative, and fine versus ordinary.

In the process a substantial portion of the painting is hidden, an apt metaphor for the
hiddenness of much of women’s valuable work of caring.

TRACI WRIGHT MARTIN

Traci Wright Martin is an award-winning charcoal and mixed media artist. The overall narrative in her portrait and figurative work addresses the idea of representation, weaving contemporary realism with abstract design elements. Her pioneering approach to mixed media utilizes charcoal as the foundation and brings in various combinations of paint, patterned paper collage and other experimental techniques to the finished design. The primary thematic focus in Martin’s work is the legacy and evolution of the female experience and its influence on artmaking and cultural traditions. She ties an autobiographical visual philosophy to the broader, shared human experience through symbolic elements of nature in a unique, yet relatable style.

After graduating with a BA in Art from Southeastern Oklahoma State University, she spent her early career showing extensively in the Oklahoma and Texas art scenes, with artist teaching residencies in Oklahoma, Arizona and Alaska. Solo and group shows have included the Oklahoma State Capitol gallery, Oklahoma Contemporary, The Charles B. Goddard Center, IAO Gallery, 33 Contemporary Gallery in Chicago, the Wausau Museum of Contemporary Art, Brookgreen Gardens Museum, The Grand Bohemian Gallery, and both the Equity Gallery and the Salmagundi Club in New York City. She has received numerous awards and top accolades in international, national and regional juried shows, claiming multiple “Best in Show” titles. Her work has been featured in a number of publications including Fine Art Connoisseur, Artist’s Network: Best of Drawing, American Art Collector, International Artist, Pastel Journal, New Visionary Artist Magazine, and a selection of titles for PoetsArtists. Martin’s first book, a retrospective of her work entitled “North/South”, is being published in 2024 by Snap Collective in Copenhagen, Denmark.

GENEROUS SUPPORT PROVIDED BY MEDIA SPONSOR

Weekly art camps at GCCA are designed to let kids ages 5-12 explore their creativity through a range of materials and concepts. Each week features a different engaging theme for children to explore through multiple mediums and includes professional guest artists who demonstrate technique and discuss what makes their work unique.

Monday-Friday
9am-12pm

Multi-Color Magic, June 3-7
Animation and Creation, June 10-14
Dive into (Water)color, June 17-21
Homegrown Art, June 24-28
ARTcycling, July 8-12
Out of this World Art!, July 15-19
Jurassic ART, July 22-26
Back to School is COOL!, July 29-August 2

Youth Art Month is an annual observance each March to emphasize the value of art education for all children and to encourage support for quality school art programs.

2024 Youth Art Month Schedule: 
Installation dates: March 6-12, 2024
Exhibit dates: March 13- April 28, 2024
Reception date: Thursday, March 14 from 4 PM-6 PM, Hosted by District 3

We are excited to announce that there will be four awards in the 2024 Youth Art Month Exhibit.  Winners will be selected by an expert panel.

YOUTH ART MONTH AWARDS 2024

The President’s Award – $150

Artistic Excellence Awards:
Grades K-5 – $100
Grades 6-8 – $100
Grades 9-12 – $100

Awards will be presented at the public reception.

Artisphere has approached us to participate in their Arts Partner Program, offering a chance to secure funding for GCCA through volunteer efforts. By collectively completing 250 volunteer hours, we can unlock vital resources that will be reinvested back into our community in various meaningful ways.
While our dedicated staff is committed to contributing their time, we recognize that our team alone will not reach the goal. That’s why we’re calling on our wonderful community to join us in this endeavor. With your help, we can achieve our target of 250 volunteer hours.
We’re asking for volunteers to sign up for 2 to 4 shifts each, with most shifts spanning 3 to 4 hours (some may be slightly longer). Your participation will not only support GCCA but also contribute to the vibrant cultural landscape of our city.
To sign up for shifts, please follow the instructions provided in the link below. When registering, be sure to indicate that you’re volunteering on behalf of GCCA to ensure your hours count towards our total. After signing up, we ask that you kindly inform our Operations Manager, Alicia Mizuno, of the number of shifts and total hours you’ve committed to. This will help us keep track of our progress towards our goal.

Baker Exhibit Center

In an age of complex environmental challenges, why not look to the ingenuity of nature for solutions? The forms, patterns, and processes found in the natural world—refined by 3.8 billion years of evolution—can inspire our design of everything from clothing to skyscrapers. This approach to innovation, called biomimicry, is becoming increasingly popular.

Nature’s Blueprints is supported in part by The North Carolina Arboretum Society, The Laurel of Asheville, RomanticAsheville.com Travel Guide, and Smoky Mountain Living Magazine.

TUESDAY – FRIDAY 9 AM – 5 PM
SATURDAY 11 AM – 3 PM

n Long Overdue, Traci Wright Martin and Michelle Radford underscore the importance of recognizing and acknowledging women’s contributions. Traci Wright Martin’s charcoal and mixed media series, “Art Herstory and the Moth,” focuses on underrepresented women in art history, paying tribute to them through visual quotations and symbolism. Michelle Radford highlights the historical oversight of women’s textile work and aims to bring recognition to their innovative designs as valuable artistic expressions.

Both artists challenge traditional perceptions of gender norms, albeit in different contexts. Wright Martin challenges the overshadowing of female artists in art history by drawing a parallel to imagery of moths. Often an overlooked organism, the moth in Martin’s work symbolizes the need for representation of the feminine art experience. Meanwhile, Radford challenges distinctions between art and craft, conceptual and decorative, urging viewers to reconsider their attitudes toward women’s stitchwork and handicrafts.

ABOUT THE ARTISTS

MICHELLE BERG RADFORD

Michelle Berg Radford is a multi-disciplinary artist working at the intersection of women’s craft and what is considered “fine art painting.” Michelle earned an MFA from the Savannah College of Art and Design where she studied landscape painting and fiber arts. Michelle is also an educator with 16 years of teaching experience in higher education.

For millennia, women have expressed their creativity and skill in clothing their families and
caring for their private spaces through textiles. Their innovative designs have often been
overlooked as art, but are now slowly being recognized for the innovative and insightful
works that they are.

In this work, I join women’s handicrafts with landscape painting, a well-trodden genre in art, to introduce a new way of looking at both. These pieces begin as flat canvas studio paintings which I then fold and stitch to create dimensional smocked paintings. I borrow a time-honored heirloom sewing technique traditionally employed by women to construct garments and translate it through scale into contemporary sculptural paintings. By
presenting these works in a gallery setting in which fine art is viewed, the viewer is called to
acknowledge women’s stitch-work as valuable expressions of the maker and to question their own attitudes about the common distinctions between art versus craft, skilled versus
unskilled, conceptual versus decorative, and fine versus ordinary.

In the process a substantial portion of the painting is hidden, an apt metaphor for the
hiddenness of much of women’s valuable work of caring.

TRACI WRIGHT MARTIN

Traci Wright Martin is an award-winning charcoal and mixed media artist. The overall narrative in her portrait and figurative work addresses the idea of representation, weaving contemporary realism with abstract design elements. Her pioneering approach to mixed media utilizes charcoal as the foundation and brings in various combinations of paint, patterned paper collage and other experimental techniques to the finished design. The primary thematic focus in Martin’s work is the legacy and evolution of the female experience and its influence on artmaking and cultural traditions. She ties an autobiographical visual philosophy to the broader, shared human experience through symbolic elements of nature in a unique, yet relatable style.

After graduating with a BA in Art from Southeastern Oklahoma State University, she spent her early career showing extensively in the Oklahoma and Texas art scenes, with artist teaching residencies in Oklahoma, Arizona and Alaska. Solo and group shows have included the Oklahoma State Capitol gallery, Oklahoma Contemporary, The Charles B. Goddard Center, IAO Gallery, 33 Contemporary Gallery in Chicago, the Wausau Museum of Contemporary Art, Brookgreen Gardens Museum, The Grand Bohemian Gallery, and both the Equity Gallery and the Salmagundi Club in New York City. She has received numerous awards and top accolades in international, national and regional juried shows, claiming multiple “Best in Show” titles. Her work has been featured in a number of publications including Fine Art Connoisseur, Artist’s Network: Best of Drawing, American Art Collector, International Artist, Pastel Journal, New Visionary Artist Magazine, and a selection of titles for PoetsArtists. Martin’s first book, a retrospective of her work entitled “North/South”, is being published in 2024 by Snap Collective in Copenhagen, Denmark.

GENEROUS SUPPORT PROVIDED BY MEDIA SPONSOR

Weekly art camps at GCCA are designed to let kids ages 5-12 explore their creativity through a range of materials and concepts. Each week features a different engaging theme for children to explore through multiple mediums and includes professional guest artists who demonstrate technique and discuss what makes their work unique.

Monday-Friday
9am-12pm

Multi-Color Magic, June 3-7
Animation and Creation, June 10-14
Dive into (Water)color, June 17-21
Homegrown Art, June 24-28
ARTcycling, July 8-12
Out of this World Art!, July 15-19
Jurassic ART, July 22-26
Back to School is COOL!, July 29-August 2

Youth Art Month is an annual observance each March to emphasize the value of art education for all children and to encourage support for quality school art programs.

2024 Youth Art Month Schedule: 
Installation dates: March 6-12, 2024
Exhibit dates: March 13- April 28, 2024
Reception date: Thursday, March 14 from 4 PM-6 PM, Hosted by District 3

We are excited to announce that there will be four awards in the 2024 Youth Art Month Exhibit.  Winners will be selected by an expert panel.

YOUTH ART MONTH AWARDS 2024

The President’s Award – $150

Artistic Excellence Awards:
Grades K-5 – $100
Grades 6-8 – $100
Grades 9-12 – $100

Awards will be presented at the public reception.

Part of the event series: Afternoon Adventures

LOCAL ART TEACHERS PREPARE FOR YOUTH ART MONTH

Youth Art Month is an annual observance each March to emphasize the value of art education for all children and to encourage support for quality school art programs.

2024 Youth Art Month Schedule:

Installation dates: March 6-12, 2024

Exhibit dates: March 13- April 28, 2024

Reception date: Thursday, March 14 from 4 PM-6 PM, Hosted by District 3

We are excited to announce that there will be four awards in the 2024 Youth Art Month Exhibit.

Winners will be selected by an expert panel.

YOUTH ART MONTH AWARDS 2024:

The President’s Award – $150

Artistic Excellence Awards:

Grades K-5 – $100

Grades 6-8 – $100

Grades 9-12 – $100

GO HERE for more information on YOUTH ART MONTH>

Uncensored expression: anyone is invited to step up to share song, music, poetry, comedy, rants & raves!

The most eclectic open mic around, in a welcoming gallery setting! 6 pm signup, perform 6:30-8:30 pm.

Baker Exhibit Center

In an age of complex environmental challenges, why not look to the ingenuity of nature for solutions? The forms, patterns, and processes found in the natural world—refined by 3.8 billion years of evolution—can inspire our design of everything from clothing to skyscrapers. This approach to innovation, called biomimicry, is becoming increasingly popular.

Nature’s Blueprints is supported in part by The North Carolina Arboretum Society, The Laurel of Asheville, RomanticAsheville.com Travel Guide, and Smoky Mountain Living Magazine.