This year, we’ve put together Our Favorite Things – a short list of places near the Inn on Mill Creek B&B where you can find the stuff that brings joy. Thinking of a small town often evokes the image of a family-run country or general store. Well, it’s not just an image in our neck of the woods – we have three small towns nearby, each with their own store:
The Inn on Mill Creek Bed & Breakfast has a new outdoor sculpture to greet guests when they arrive… beautiful stained glass! A Black Mountain artist, Barbara Brinson, created the one-of-a-kind piece for us, called Sunrise in Pisgah, and we installed it in the garden area along the driveway. We’re so excited to share it with everyone!
It has been a while since our immediate area had a substantial open studio tour of artists’ studios, and 2016 is the year we say hooray, open studio tours are back! WNC Open Studios allows the opportunity to tour 30(!) studios in three different western North Carolina counties during the first two weeks in October.
This is super exciting news, friends: We are commissioning a set of outdoor sculptures for the Inn on Mill Creek! Guests will be able to get up close to the large sculptures, which will be inspired by nature (fitting for our location inside Pisgah National Forest).
Sure, October is the month where Mother Nature transforms the mountains of Western North Carolina into a brilliant work of art with her color palette of golds, reds and oranges, but it’s also when the colorful work of our local artisans is celebrated, during American Craft Week.
In February, we were at one of Black Mountain’s restaurants — a longtime local favorite called My Father’s Pizza & Pasta. While devouring our lasagna, spinach ravioli and tasty artichoke salad, we started talking about how when we arrived in 2007, we noticed how much art by local artists was displayed at restaurants and how awesome it was to be in an area that’s so supportive of its artists.
We are proud to support the arts community in the Asheville area. At Inn on Mill Creek, you will see all kinds of artwork displayed (and for sale!) by local artists. From time to time, we also like to feature our artists on our blog. Norman Gill is one such artist.
It goes without saying that the North Carolina mountains provide some beautiful scenery, but the art scene in the Asheville/Black Mountain area is visually stunning and inspiring as well. If you love art, this is the place to be!
While the Asheville area is known for natural beauty — hiking trails, waterfalls, the Blue Ridge Parkway — it is equally known for its superb arts culture. Asheville is recognized annually for its art and craft on various “top ten” lists.
The Arrowhead Artists and Artisans League (A3L) in Old Fort, NC, recently held its 2014 Battle of the Brushes, a plein air art competition, where nearly 20 artists painted scenes of the Old Fort area. Judges chose Judy Meyler’s depiction of the Thomas Wolfe Angel statue in the Old Fort Cemetery as the first place winner. Love the colors!
