Blue Spiral 1

Blue Spiral 1 Fine Art + Craft
(319)

NEW WORK! You’ve been asking, and we now have five new Duy Huynh paintings installed within the gallery, and available t...
09/03/2026

NEW WORK! You’ve been asking, and we now have five new Duy Huynh paintings installed within the gallery, and available to view on our website. Each is a small world unto itself, beautifully rendered and full of the poetic storytelling that makes his work so immediately recognizable.

His figures seem to exist somewhere between waking and dreaming, inhabiting worlds where gravity loosens its hold and the ordinary becomes wonderfully strange.

Duy’s paintings are rich with symbolism, but they never insist on a single interpretation. Instead, they invite us to linger and create our own story. There is tenderness here, along with humor, longing, curiosity, and that familiar feeling of being caught somewhere between where we’ve been and where we’re going.

FEATURED WORK:

Imago Stage
Painting
36 × 24 × 2 inches

As we install new shows, we also refresh and reimagine our entire gallery to create an evolving experience for every vis...
09/02/2026

As we install new shows, we also refresh and reimagine our entire gallery to create an evolving experience for every visitor.

From the moment you walk through our doors, you’ll encounter the breadth of the artists we represent: 2D and 3D works in conversation, a range of materials and approaches, and the many distinct voices that make up Blue Spiral 1.

Each installation is carefully considered, bringing together works that may be bold or quiet, intricate or spare, familiar or unexpected.

Come explore what is new, whether you’re attending Friday’s big opening reception or simply coming by for a visit through the week. Even if you have visited recently, there is always something different to discover.

NEW WORK: This stunning new painting by Julyan Davis is currently featured in our Main Gallery. What a truly wondrous depiction of our local landscape touched by the evocative light of the moon. Spend some time with this work the next time you visit.

Julyan Davis
Moonlit River
Painting
46 × 48 × 2 1/4 inches

We’re very excited about Zack Noble’s upcoming solo show, opening this Friday. Known for his sculptural and functional p...
09/01/2026

We’re very excited about Zack Noble’s upcoming solo show, opening this Friday. Known for his sculptural and functional pieces informed by the aesthetics of industrial and urban landscapes, honed into beautifully simplistic forms.

Originally from Brooklyn, New York, Noble was introduced to blacksmithing and ironwork at Battle Iron and Bronze; then, in the footsteps of his mother, Zack studied at Penland School of Craft. Penland introduced him to his true love and lifelong obsession: blacksmithing.

Zack Noble currently investigates the boundaries of the playfulness, grace, and aesthetics of metal at his forge in Asheville, North Carolina.

Zack will be at the opening reception this Friday, September 4th 5-7 p.m. and at an artist talk on Tuesday, September 22nd at 5:30 p.m. More on that soon.

THIS FRIDAY!Katie Walker presents her latest collection of expressionistic abstract paintings in this new solo exhibitio...
08/31/2026

THIS FRIDAY!

Katie Walker presents her latest collection of expressionistic abstract paintings in this new solo exhibition.

Katie’s work balances structure, intuition, and a playful sense of inquiry. Working primarily in acrylic on canvas, paper, and wood, Walker builds compositions through a responsive, step-by-step process where calculated decisions meet material experimentation. The resulting images are layered, energetic, and often subtly humorous, inviting viewers to bring their own experiences into the interpretation.

Katie will be at the opening reception this Friday, September 4th 5-7 p.m. and at an artist talk on Tuesday, September 15th at 10:30 a.m. (more on that soon).

OPENING FRIDAY 9/4!HOT POTS: Contemporary ClayFeaturing both functional and sculptural works, HOT POTS: Contemporary Cla...
08/28/2026

OPENING FRIDAY 9/4!

HOT POTS: Contemporary Clay

Featuring both functional and sculptural works, HOT POTS: Contemporary Clay brings together artists exploring the expansive possibilities of clay. From vessels grounded in traditional techniques to experimental forms that challenge expectations of the medium, the exhibition highlights clay as a dynamic and expressive material. Across a wide range of approaches, the featured artists reveal how contemporary ceramic practice continues to evolve through innovation, craft, and conceptual inquiry.
This exhibit showcases select represented artists alongside invited artists.

Artists: Josh Copus, David Eichelberger, Lynne Hobaica, Diana Hoover, Maggie Jaszczak, Ben Owen, Naomi Peterson, Heidi Tarver, Iren Tete, Mat Wheeler, and Kari Woolsey

We’re getting ready for you!Every two months, we transform our 15,000-square-foot space. Three exhibitions come down, th...
08/27/2026

We’re getting ready for you!

Every two months, we transform our 15,000-square-foot space. Three exhibitions come down, three new exhibitions go up, and work by more than 100 represented artists is thoughtfully redistributed throughout the gallery.

We make it a priority to keep things fresh, changing up the displays and creating new conversations between works throughout the building. Even if you visit us regularly, there is always something new to discover.

It’s an all-hands-on-deck effort. Our Director makes the curatorial choices, while our enthusiastic team of gallery associates and professional installers works together to make the building look and feel its best.

And we do it all while we’re open! Visitors get a rare behind-the-scenes look as artwork moves, walls are patched and painted, and each new exhibition begins to take shape.

Through it all, our goal remains the same: to make every person who walks through our doors feel welcomed and inspired.

We can’t wait to share the finished transformation with you at our next opening reception, celebrating three new exhibitions, on Friday, September 4 from 5–7 p.m.

Stay tuned! We’ll be sharing more about the upcoming shows very soon.

We are so honored to share that Blue Spiral 1 has been voted Best Art Gallery in the Mountain XPress Mountain Xpress Bes...
08/19/2026

We are so honored to share that Blue Spiral 1 has been voted Best Art Gallery in the Mountain XPress Mountain Xpress Best of WNC awards!

More than anything, we are grateful. Grateful for the artists who fill this gallery with extraordinary work and ideas. Grateful for the visitors who walk through our doors with such wide eyed wonder and appreciation for our efforts. Grateful for the collectors who bring this work into their homes and lives. And grateful for the many friends, advocates, and members of this community who continue to champion what we do.

For those outside Western North Carolina, or those who are new to the region, the Best of WNC awards are decided entirely by votes from within our community. That makes this recognition feel especially meaningful. After a period of so much change, your support in this way means more than we can adequately say.

Every day, we work to make Blue Spiral 1 a place where people feel warmly welcomed, where stepping through the door can offer a moment of respite, discovery, and inspiration. We strive to create meaningful opportunities for artists and to connect their work with the people who find beauty, curiosity, joy, and something of themselves within it.

As we move toward fall and the second anniversary of Hurricane Helene, we are especially aware of what it means to be part of this place and this community. Your continued support of artists, galleries, and creative businesses across our region matters enormously.

Thank you for voting for us, for visiting us, for collecting the work of our artists, for telling others about the gallery, and for continuing to show up.

We are so excited for everything ahead.

We’d love to hear something you love about the gallery in the comments.

We finish this round of our Ask the Artist series with painter Isaac Payne. Isaac combines painting, drawing, and collag...
08/18/2026

We finish this round of our Ask the Artist series with painter Isaac Payne. Isaac combines painting, drawing, and collage to explore changing urban landscapes, layering and reconstructing architectural imagery to evoke places caught between memory, loss, and transformation.

IF YOUR ART HAD A SOUNDTRACK, WHAT WOULD IT BE?

Drawing and drumming are not easily separable in my mind or art since childhood. The works are all music, rhythm and colors to me. The pieces in the show make a kind of mixed tape, more than a cohesive album, so here you go! Heaven, by Ebo Taylor; Cat Power’s cover of Rihanna’s Stay; Head Hunters’ Chameleon, Got me Wrong by Alice in Chains followed by the Brad Mehldau Trio cover of the same; Sčičudᶻ (a narrow place) by Black Belt Eagle Scout; Dreamer by Nabiha Iqbal; the live version of Tiago Pass by Yussef Dayes (featuring Rocco Palladino); finishing with the never ending Chameleon by the Herbie Hancock who gradually transforms his synth into a flock of seagulls.

WHAT’S THE MOST REWARDING PART OF BEING AN ARTIST?

To be disappointed in interesting ways.

WHAT’S ONE THING YOU WISH MORE PEOPLE KNEW ABOUT YOUR WORK?

How the mimetic parts of the layered oil painting process not only presents and renders imagery of landscapes, figures and architectural spaces, but often mimics the fluid textures and organic patchwork of colored ink on patterned papers like a small cuttlefish or giant octopus mimics it’s environments underwater.

IF YOU HAD TO CHOOSE ONE THING IN YOUR STUDIO TO NEVER BE WITHOUT, WHAT WOULD IT BE?

A big roll of unsized rag cotton paper. Where we go from there has many possibilities.

WHO OR WHAT ARE YOUR BIGGEST INSPIRATIONS AS AN ARTIST?

Walking in green spaces (urban or natural).

WHAT’S THE BEST PIECE OF ART ADVICE YOU’VE RECEIVED?

It was life advice from Rick Muto, a landscape and decorative painter who hired and employed a very young me and first introduced me to paint. “…one foot in front of the other.”

FEATURED WORK:
Temple II
Painting
43 x 48 inches

We love the reactions we get to Robert Burch’s work. There is an element of surprise, brought by juxtapositions of mater...
08/15/2026

We love the reactions we get to Robert Burch’s work. There is an element of surprise, brought by juxtapositions of materials and forms. Come see his work in person in our group exhibition, Reflections, and throughout the gallery space.

IF YOUR ART HAD A SOUNDTRACK, WHAT WOULD IT BE?

Yeasayer - All Hour Cymbals

IF YOU HAD TO CHOOSE ONE THING IN YOUR STUDIO TO NEVER BE WITHOUT WHAT WOULD IT BE?

Music. Big Thief, Angel Olsen, and Wet Leg.

WHAT’S THE BEST PIECE OF ART ADVICE YOU’VE RECEIVED?

A guy on the ferry sat down and told me that inner peace comes from within. It’s true though. Another show of accomplishment is never going to fill the meaning shaped hole within us.

FEATURED WORK:
Yellow Ochre Vase with Barbed Wire
Glass - Blown glass and found objects
16-1/2 x 10 x 8 inches

There are some artists whose work becomes interwoven to the identity of a gallery. For us, Scott Upton is one of those a...
08/14/2026

There are some artists whose work becomes interwoven to the identity of a gallery. For us, Scott Upton is one of those artists.

Scott has been part of Blue Spiral 1 for decades, and his paintings have become a familiar and powerful presence within our walls. At a large scale, especially, they create an immediate visual and emotional presence. Color expands. Texture comes forward. The longer you look, the more the surface seems to reveal.

Scott understands the emotional power of color and the way unexpected juxtapositions can shift the feeling of an entire composition. There is depth within his surfaces, but also movement and atmosphere. A vivid field gives way to a subtle mark. What initially feels purely abstract begins to suggest landscape, light, memory, or simply the experience of looking.

In a home, a large Scott Upton can become the piece that defines a room. In a public space, it can create an immediate sense of energy and place. And perhaps that is part of what makes these works so enduring: they make a statement, but they continue to give something back long after that first impact.

Scott’s work has been part of Blue Spiral 1 for many years, and we’re proud of the lasting presence his paintings continue to have within the gallery.

FEATURED WORK:

Tranquil Oasis
Painting
72 x 60 inches

Address

38 Biltmore Avenue
Asheville, NC
28801

Opening Hours

Monday 11am - 5pm
Tuesday 11am - 5pm
Wednesday 11am - 6pm
Thursday 11am - 6pm
Friday 11am - 6pm
Saturday 11am - 6pm
Sunday 11am - 5pm

Telephone

+18282510202

Website

Alerts

Be the first to know and let us send you an email when Blue Spiral 1 posts news and promotions. Your email address will not be used for any other purpose, and you can unsubscribe at any time.

Contact The Museum

Send a message to Blue Spiral 1:

Shortcuts

Share

Category