Trackside Studio artists, from left, Beth Stewart, Kim Coon, Li Newton, Julie Bell, Peggy King, Pat Abrams and Sally Pedley
By Julie Ann Bell
In the decade since we launched Trackside Studios, we have learned a lot of lessons about community and friendship. In the aftermath of Hurricane Helene, lessons about the importance of heart and community were compounded. Lessons from Helene, an exhibition in our Stairway Gallery featuring works by Micah Usher, Pat Abrams, Deborah Anderson, Kim Smith and Li Newton, highlights these lessons and emotions. Artist talks will be held Saturday, April 12, at 2:30 p.m., and the exhibition runs through Wednesday, April 30.
Accompanying Newton’s large paper collage, Exhale, is her description of her piece and her process in creating it. She recalls moving through the post-flood chaos on automatic pilot to keep the emotional floodgates at bay. Newton lost all but three original pieces in the destruction at both Trackside and Foundation Studios. In the blur of the following months, she volunteered at Riverview Station, at an artist supply drive and at Mercy Kitchens where she helped cook meals to be delivered throughout the region. She spent many of her days at Trackside Studios, “mucking out mud, clearing the building, filling dumpsters with broken bits of art and gallery and helping with the rebuild.”
Exhale. Li Newton, artist
Newton’s love of art, openness to adventure and empathy for others began with childhood travels in an Air Force family. The solitude working in backcountry wilderness gave her a new sense of peace. Moving to the Bahamas in her late 40s brought her a newfound freedom underwater and the colors of the Caribbean now inspire her art. Each day she swam with rays and turtles, returning home grinning from ear to ear. “That joy snuck into everything else I do,” she says. “I want people to look at my work and feel that same joy and wonder.”
With her desire to share joy, one can understand why it took her three months “to even contemplate creating art again.” She shares that both she and her art “are the result of the messiness of life, the traumas, the struggles, the mistakes and the joys, triumphs and victories.” All of these are present in Exhale. In this piece, the storm rages over Asheville, “followed by destruction, confusion, loss, hopelessness and despair,” she says. “Then, the heart of the community [brings] help and nurturing healing.”
It is our artists, our building owners and their team, and the volunteers who worked alongside us who healed Trackside Studios. We cried together, worked together, shared food with one another and found our inner strength when another of us needed a reassuring hug. Now, we are moving forward together, closer than ever. “Without the companionship,” says Newton, “I don’t think my/our recovery would have happened.”
Trackside Studios is located at 375 Depot Street, in Asheville’s River Arts District. The gallery is open daily from 10:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. Learn more at TracksideStudios.com.
