Old Depot Gallery re-opens with new artists

The Old Depot Gallery has reopened after its annual winter hiatus to showcase the work of artists and craftspeople from the Swannanoa Valley, Asheville and Western North Carolina. Many favorite crafters have returned this year. The gallery has attracted new artists as well.

The Old Depot Gallery exhibits and sells unique items created through imaginative uses of fabric, clay, metal, beads, paper, yarn and fibers, leather, wood and a mix of intriguing found objects.

Located in the historic railway depot at Sutton Avenue and Cherry Street in the heart of Black Mountain, the not-for-profit gallery has been serving the community for nearly 40 years.

In addition to displaying and selling handcrafted ware by more than 70 artists, the Old Depot Association's twofold mission provides arts education programs and craft demonstrations for the public, as well as funding for arts programs in Swannanoa Valley's pre-K and K-12 public schools.

Popular crafters returning this year to the Old Depot include Sharon Horne of Swannanoa, whose work includes tie-dyed scarves, bamboo socks, dishtowels, and handbags; Marlene Moritz, a Swannanoa fabric and paper crafter whose work includes yoga bags, journal covers, and modern origami; Linda Stroupe, a prolific Montreat potter whose work is much sought after; and Eunice Stackhouse, a Black Mountain resident and Montreat College music professor and papermaker whose delicate notecards are dotted with flowers, ribbons, and musical scores.

New to Old Depot this season is wood-turner David Kaylor of Black Mountain, who's been a woodcrafter for more than 25 years, and Lorie Groetzinger, an Asheville fiber artist whose work illuminates regional scenes in fiber tapestries of quilting and collage.

Old Depot Gallery, 207 Sutton Ave., is open 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Tuesday-Sunday. It welcomes volunteers.

For more, contact Gallery Manager Yvonne Hale at 669-6583 or www.olddepot.org.