Fiction Addiction Storytime

Fiction Addiction hosts a free children’s storytime at our shop at 1175 Woods Crossing Rd. #5 every Thursday morning at 10:30am.

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.

PAVING THE WAY: Women in Business 2024 will feature regional keynote speakers and growth activities dedicated to helping you and your business perform personally and professionally.

SPEAKERS

Keynote Speakers:

		Marjorie Boafo Appiah, fondly known as Marjy Marj, is an author, management consultant, visionary, and social change advocate. An author of 8 books, she has been featured in national media, and recognized locally and globally for her acumen, wit, community work, and advocacy. In addition to her business and literary contributions, Marjy Marj is the host of the globally ranked “Humanity Chats” podcast, where she engages in dialogues about the human experience. Her work as a consultant, community leader, writer, and podcast host, seeks to promote opportunity, understanding, empathy, and unity. She has served on the boards of the Spartanburg Regional Foundation, the Charles Lea Center Foundation, and as Chair for the Hub City Writers Project. She also served as the Education Chair for Women Giving Spartanburg, a Board of Trustee at Spartanburg Day School and was the inaugural chair of the school’s Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Steering Committee. An avid supporter of literacy and sports, she attended the Universities of Ghana, Baltimore, and Duke University.
		Cindy Kelly graduated from Gardner Webb University with a Bachelors of Science Degree in Business Management. She is an Honors Graduate of the Cannon Financial Institute Trust School and a Certified Trust and Financial Advisor (CTFA). As part of the community, Cindy is part of the Spartanburg County Foundation Grants Committee, Development Board member for the Chapman Cultural Center, a member of the USC Upstate Foundation Capital Development Board and board member of Women Giving for Spartanburg; currently serving as Chair of the Grants committee. She is past President and Board Member of the Spartanburg and Greenville Estate Planning Councils, past Chair and Board Member of the South Carolina Bankers Trust Committee, past President and current Board Member of the Rotary Club of Spartanburg, and former Board Chair for the Hope Center for Children. Cindy is a graduate of Leadership Spartanburg and the Spartanburg Regional Hospital System, Regional Fellows Program.

Panelists:

DeAndria Hardy Executive Director / Founder, Battle Betty Foundation	Cheryl Lang President, Tindall Corporation	Shelley Wildenstein Owner, Signs & Designs	Stinson Ferguson Assistant Municipal Judge, City of Greenville Vice President, J.W. Woodward Funeral Home

AGENDA

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

Located within the wildly-popular and botanically beautiful Southern Appalachian Mountains, The North Carolina Arboretum offers more than 10 miles of hiking trails that connect to many other area attractions such as Lake Powhatan, the Pisgah National Forest and the Blue Ridge Parkway. Visitors of all ages and abilities can enjoy their hiking experience at the Arboretum as trail options include easy, moderate, and difficult challenge levels. All trails are dog-friendly and visitors are asked to adhere to the proper waste disposing procedures for pets.

Part of a running group that would like to use the Arboretum as a starting point or parking location? Please review our Running Group Guidance and email [email protected] with any questions.

Sigal Music Museum’s current special exhibition, Worlds Apart: Musical Instruments from Secular to Sacred, highlights items from the JoAnn and Frank Edwinn Collection, which hails from all over the world. Showing November 2023 – May 2024, Worlds Apart uses a diverse range of historical instruments, objects, and visuals to bring together musical narratives from seemingly disparate parts of the globe.

 

Worlds Apart: Musical Instruments from Secular to Sacred aims to increase public access to historical instruments from around the world and improve visitors’ understanding of musical traditions at the global level. Expanding beyond the typical parameters of the Western musical canon, Worlds Apart seeks to expose audiences to musical instruments and customs that are often overlooked or exotified. The instruments and other exhibit materials will offer visitors new perspectives on global music and a chance to consider how music is used for prayer and leisure in cultures around the world. By celebrating these stories, the museum intends to further its mission to collect and preserve historical musical instruments, objects, and information, which engage and enrich people of all ages through exhibits, performances, and experiential programs.

 

Displaying various objects from the JoAnn and Frank Edwinn Collection, Worlds Apart: Musical Instruments from Secular to Sacred focuses on international musical instruments and cultures, celebrating rites and traditions with ancient histories and contemporary legacies. Frank Edwinn, a successful basso in the mid-20th century, studied and toured internationally, eventually settling in North Carolina, where he taught music at the University of North Carolina Asheville. Throughout his life, he purchased various objects from around the world, aiming to expose students, and himself, to the wide and wonderful world of musical instruments. This impressive collection occupies a unique position for educating audiences unfamiliar with the vast scope of global music.

And, UNCA’s Ramsey Library Special Collections is now processing the Edwinn’s papers and a few recordings that will be accessible next semester!

Cook along with various healthcare professionals from Diabetes Education, Food Services, and Cardiology from the comfort of your own home.

Cooking Up Confidence is a series of 4 virtual cooking classes and will cover a variety of different cooking techniques to make home-prepared meals easier and fun! Recipes can be adapted to meet your family’s needs.

5:45-7:15 PM every other Thursday: March 7, 21 and April 4, 18

Classes will be taught using a FoodShare Spartanburg produce box, but are not required to participate. The recipe and grocery list will be sent out by the Monday before class.

If using a box, you will need to pre-order, purchase, and pick up a box before each class. It’s easy! Box orders for the first class are due by Thursday, February 29th. More information on ordering and pickup found here.

We will ask you to answer some survey questions for us at three different points during and after the class to tweak these classes to be effective for future community members. Participants must sign a liability waiver before participating.

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.

Carolina Hurricanes vs. Montreal Canadiens

Every March for over 10 years, Alchemy’s stage becomes a full-on comedy battle as duos of improvisers compete for points and your laughs!