Paper flower bouquets for sale
By Emma Castleberry
Open Hearts Art Center was co-founded in 2005 by Jessie Francis, Debbie Harris and Sonia Pitts. The three women ran the entire show in the beginning—cleaning bathrooms, fundraising, billing, and daily coordination and instruction—and found resourceful ways to facilitate art projects with very limited supplies. This summer, the nonprofit is celebrating its 20th anniversary and it’s thriving in ways its founders could only have imagined.
Kathy, a.k.a. Kit Kat, shows off her most recent artwork
The studio and gallery now supports more than 100 artists with varied abilities. Its current location is Open Hearts’ third home since its founding in 2005. After spending time downtown and in Woodfin, the center moved to South Slope in 2017. The demand for their program is substantial and they’ve recently reached capacity for their building.
Unlike other day programs for differently abled adults, Open Hearts is centered entirely on the arts, a term which they interpret broadly. A given day at the center could include a performance art workshop, movement and dance classes, and all manner and mediums of visual art. Many artists attend the day program under North Carolina’s Innovations Waiver, which provides Medicaid funding for a range of services for adults with intellectual or developmental disabilities (I/DD).
“For a lot of people with I/DD diagnoses, expression can be difficult,” Harris says. “Creativity is just a way to express and get out whatever emotions you might have.”
Carolyn works with staff member Chloe on a painting during a sea-themed art class
The center also supports artists in creating microenterprises where they can sell their art, with 50 percent of the proceeds going to the artist and the remainder going towards re-stocking art supplies for the center. Beth Watts has started a thriving ceramics business out of the center, and two other artists make and sell their comic books. Another artist runs a thriving DJ business outside of the center, which staff help him operate.
All artists have an opportunity to generate some income through the paper flower program, which started with a simple Valentine’s Day event years ago and has grown into a full-time operation. Artists hand-paint paper and trained community members cut and assemble flowers from those materials. Bouquets are sold, with artists receiving a share of the sales.
The daily schedule is artist-directed. “They can choose what classes they’re going to take,” says Pitts. “A lot of people in this society, they don’t have choices. People tell them what to do. But we ask them, and we give them options.”
The center also runs the Boundless Arts program, a field trip program that brings artists into the community to experience and be experienced. They’ve traveled to multiple galleries across the region, art museums, glass-blowing facilities and even a sheep farm to see the origins of the yarn they use for fabric arts. Through a current partnership with the nonprofit Local Cloth, fiber artists have provided guest instruction over several weeks. An exhibition displaying the finished products from these workshops opened in June.
Mullein works on a painting
Open Hearts is not technically an art therapy program, but the benefits are undeniable. “It’s very therapeutic for anybody,” says Pitts. “We’ve set the bar up here. We expect them to exceed their expectations.”
The program’s success is rooted in its culture of empowerment and inclusion.
“We don’t call them consumers or participants, we call them artists,” says Pitts. “The artists are like family. They support each other and love each other.”
Volunteering requires a background check, but no formal training. The center also welcomes interns from local colleges and donations of time, talent and funds.
As the center celebrates two decades, the sentiment is clear: “There’s a lot of power behind this,” says Harris, “and it’s here for a reason.”
Open Hearts Art Center is located at 217 Coxe Avenue #4006, Asheville. Learn more at OpenHeartsArtCenter.org.
