Apple Bandit. Cornbread, artist
In this difficult time, with many of our favorite places temporarily inaccessible, Betsey-Rose Weiss, owner of American Folk Art & Framing, wanted to create an exhibition of artwork inspired by simplicity. Opening online at 11 a.m. on Tuesday, June 2, The Beautiful Apple will feature the work of gallery artists invited to create around a common fruit that nevertheless packs a lot of symbolism. If possible, the gallery will open its doors on Thursday, June 4, for the show. If not, The Beautiful Apple will still show online through Tuesday, June 22.
“The apple has been the subject of legend, mythology and folk tales for time immemorial,” Weiss says. “While dubbed ‘the forbidden fruit,’ it is anything but in terms of subject matter. In this time of immobility for the entire world, it felt like the right time to reflect on and be inspired by something else we can all share in together, something humble, something beautiful.”
Kent Ambler, one of the show’s participating artists, has depicted apples in his woodblock prints in the past. “About ten years ago, I lived in a house that had about 30 apple trees,” he says. “One of my dogs, Bucko, used to pull the apples right off the low branches and eat them. She ate about ten a day in peak season.” His pieces for the show include one of Bucko lying between two apple trees and another of a crow perched in the top branches of an apple tree.
“The heart and soul of folk art is to experience the world around us and to be invited in, to share,” says Weiss. “We have been forbidden to enter a lot of our favorite places, asked to remove ourselves from others, but we can move about in our imagination, and art helps us to do that.”
American Folk Art & Framing is located at 64 Biltmore Avenue in Asheville. When the gallery reopens to the public, hours are Monday through Saturday, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., and Sunday, noon to 5 p.m. For information about artists and to see the exhibit online, along with sizes, materials used and prices, visit AmeriFolk.com or call 828.281.2134. Staff is available by phone or email (folkart@amerifolk.com) every day from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. to answer any questions about particular pieces.
