Art and artists abound in Black Mountain, a town of fewer than 10,000 inhabitants. For the second year, the Recreation and Parks Department, the Town Beautification Committee, and the Black Mountain Center for the Arts are collaborating on an outdoor Sculpture Stroll of three-dimensional work by local artists. The pieces are installed at four separate locations in town, enticing visitors and locals alike to seek them out to enjoy.

Starting at the Town Hall on Midland Avenue just behind the Black Mountain Swannanoa Chamber of Commerce, artist Julia Stout has installed two pieces, Three Friends and Blue Bird. From there the tour extends to Cherry Street where Dan Howachyn of Black Mountain Ironworks made the piece Mitsubishi Man.

Next, travel by car or foot to the garden at the back of the Black Mountain Center for the Arts located in the original City Hall at 225 W. State Street where you can view In the Absence of Reality by sculptor and designer Julia Burr (who recently installed the sculptural wall on the observation point of Pack Square Park). A three-block trip up Daugherty Street to Connally Street will take you to Lake Tomahawk Park where three sculptures are in place—Tree of Life by Tekla (also of Black Mountain Ironworks), Fish by Dave Taylor, which is in- stalled in the lake, and Tres Globos by Carro, which is near the children’s playground.

The Black Mountain Sculpture Stroll will be on display through the fall and winter. For more information, contact the Black Mountain Center for the Arts at 828.669.0930.
(In Picture: "bluebird" by Julia Stout - Photo by Krish Rhoads)