The Overlook with Matt Peiken Matt Peiken

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Asheville artists Heather Hietala and Nava Lubelski have already tasted success commercial success. Now, their new work in separate exhibitions marks new ground in their personal and artistic evolutions.

In the first half, I talk with Hietala, whose response to her mother's death takes shape in the two- and three-dimensional canoes and boats that are metaphors for personal journeys. After the break, we meet Lubelski, who was an emerging success in New York City’s gallery scene before she to Asheville. Her newest works are abstracted, chaotic collages of stitching, painting, scraps of fabric and other found material.

A reception for Hietala's new exhibition at Momentum Gallery is May 9. Lubelski's solo show is on view through June 8 at Tracey Morgan Gallery.
SPONSOR: Make the most of your time this spring and turn over your housekeeping to Greenland Pro Cleaning. Use the code PODCAST at checkout for free bonus services.SPONSOR: The Sublime Theater premieres "A God in the Waters," by Asheville playwright David Brendan Hopes, May 9-18 at the Bebe Theater. 
SPONSOR: Asheville City Soccer Club home games begin May 18 at Greenwood Field on the UNC-Asheville campus.
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The Overlook theme song, "Maker's Song," comes courtesy of the Asheville band The Resonant Rogues.

Podcast Asheville © 2023

LISTENERS: Have thoughts about this episode? Send them my way!
Gavin Stewart and Vanessa Owen have spent many years building lives for themselves in contemporary dance. Not long ago, they believed they largely had to perform and teach around the country to make it sustainable. Now, fueled by artistic residencies in Western North Carolina and the embrace of the Wortham Center for the Performing Arts, the couple hopes Stewart-Owen Dance can become a fixture for Asheville dancers and audiences.

This conversation happened just after a rehearsal inside the Wortham's Tina McGuire Theatre, where the company performs a string of performances there, May 9-19. We dissect their artistic process, how they translate concepts into movement and what sustainability looks like in today’s ecosystem of contemporary dance.


SPONSOR: Make the most of your time this spring and turn over your housekeeping to Greenland Pro Cleaning. Use the code PODCAST at checkout for free bonus services.SPONSOR: The Sublime Theater premieres "A God in the Waters," by Asheville playwright David Brendan Hopes, May 9-18 at the Bebe Theater. 
SPONSOR: Asheville City Soccer Club home games begin May 18 at Greenwood Field on the UNC-Asheville campus.
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Support The Overlook by joining our Patreon campaign!

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Instagram: AVLoverlook | Facebook: AVLoverlook | Twitter: AVLoverlook

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The Overlook theme song, "Maker's Song," comes courtesy of the Asheville band The Resonant Rogues.

Podcast Asheville © 2023

LISTENERS: Have thoughts about this episode? Send them my way!
David Brendan Hopes has written more novels, poems and plays than he can count. The river of writing hasn’t slowed at all since his retirement from UNC-Asheville, where Hopes taught English and creative writing for more than three decades.

Hopes’ newest play is titled “A God in the Waters.” The Sublime Theater in Asheville is premiering it May 9-18 at the Bebe Theater. We’ll talk about the play in the second half as part of a larger conversation on answering the call of creativity. But first, we take an unplanned dive into the financial troubles at UNC-Asheville and what Hopes views as the root causes.


SPONSOR: Make the most of your time this spring and turn over your housekeeping to Greenland Pro Cleaning. Use the code PODCAST at checkout for free bonus services.SPONSOR: The Sublime Theater premieres "A God in the Waters," by Asheville playwright David Brendan Hopes, May 9-18 at the Bebe Theater. 
SPONSOR: Asheville City Soccer Club home games begin May 18 at Greenwood Field on the UNC-Asheville campus.
Support the Show.
Support The Overlook by joining our Patreon campaign!

Advertise your event on The Overlook.

Instagram: AVLoverlook | Facebook: AVLoverlook | Twitter: AVLoverlook

Listen and Subscribe: All episodes of The Overlook

The Overlook theme song, "Maker's Song," comes courtesy of the Asheville band The Resonant Rogues.

Podcast Asheville © 2023

LISTENERS: Have thoughts about this episode? Send them my way!
Talks of establishing a business improvement district in downtown Asheville stretch back to the 1980s. But over the past year, those talks have gained a lot of momentum, and some civic leaders are lobbying city council to approve it before the start of the next fiscal year.

A chorus of critics are also reaching a crescendo with their opposition, pushing back against what they see as vague details, a lack of accountability and oversight and a process they say has been anything but thorough and inclusive.

Today is the second half of a two-part conversation. My guests are Rebecca Hecht, owner of Shining Rock Goods; Susan Griffin, a 20-year downtown resident who co-chaired a previous effort to pass a BID; Karen Ramshaw of Public Interest Projects and Patrick Conant, founder of Sunshine Labs, a relatively new Asheville organization pushing for greater accountability and transparency in local government.

Over the course of this conversation, we dissect some of the details, or lack thereof, of the proposed BID, including the subjective discretion of people hired to patrol the streets on behalf of the BID. We also talk about the potential economic impacts for residential renters and small business, the proposed power structure of the BID’s governing board and criticisms of a process led by the Chamber of Commerce and Asheville Downtown Association.



SPONSOR: Make the most of your time this spring and turn over your housekeeping to Greenland Pro Cleaning. Use the code PODCAST at checkout for free bonus services.SPONSOR: The Sublime Theater premieres "A God in the Waters," by Asheville playwright David Brendan Hopes, May 9-18 at the Bebe Theater. 
SPONSOR: Asheville City Soccer Club home games begin May 18 at Greenwood Field on the UNC-Asheville campus.
Support the Show.
Support The Overlook by joining our Patreon campaign!

Advertise your event on The Overlook.

Instagram: AVLoverlook | Facebook: AVLoverlook | Twitter: AVLoverlook

Listen and Subscribe: All episodes of The Overlook

The Overlook theme song, "Maker's Song," comes courtesy of the Asheville band The Resonant Rogues.

Podcast Asheville © 2023

LISTENERS: Have thoughts about this episode? Send them my way!
There’s seemingly a full-court press from certain civic leaders to push Asheville City Council to approve a business improvement district for downtown. This BID would tax property owners, and by extension downtown commercial and residential tenants, to pay for a supplemental workforce to help the city’s efforts to clean up downtown and make it safer for the people who live, work and visit downtown.

Amid this push, a pushback is developing steam from people with deep histories and stakes in the city. They smell vague details, a lack of accountability and oversight and a process they say has been anything but thorough and inclusive.

A couple weeks ago, I produced an episode featuring the voices of advocates for the downtown BID. Today, in the first half of a two-part conversation, I talk with people with many concerns about the proposal on the table: Rebecca Hecht, owner of Shining Rock Goods; Susan Griffin, a 20-year downtown resident who co-chaired a previous effort to pass a BID; Karen Ramshaw of Public Interest Projects and Patrick Conant, founder of Sunshine Labs, a relatively new Asheville organization pushing for greater accountability and transparency in local government.

Our talk dissects some of the details, or lack thereof, of the proposed BID, including the subjective discretion of people hired to patrol the streets on behalf of the BID. We also talk about the potential economic impacts for residential renters and small business, the proposed power structure of the BID’s governing board and criticisms of a process led by the Chamber of Commerce and Asheville Downtown Association.
SPONSOR: Make the most of your time this spring and turn over your housekeeping to Greenland Pro Cleaning. Use the code PODCAST at checkout for free bonus services.SPONSOR: The Sublime Theater premieres "A God in the Waters," by Asheville playwright David Brendan Hopes, May 9-18 at the Bebe Theater. 
SPONSOR: Asheville City Soccer Club home games begin May 18 at Greenwood Field on the UNC-Asheville campus.
Support the Show.
Support The Overlook by joining our Patreon campaign!

Advertise your event on The Overlook.

Instagram: AVLoverlook | Facebook: AVLoverlook | Twitter: AVLoverlook

Listen and Subscribe: All episodes of The Overlook

The Overlook theme song, "Maker's Song," comes courtesy of the Asheville band The Resonant Rogues.

Podcast Asheville © 2023

LISTENERS: Have thoughts about this episode? Send them my way!
Choral groups were among the hardest-hit and slowest to rebound from the pandemic. Two of the region’s enduring choirs are still finding their footing both artistically and in the wider public.
Today, we hear from the choirs’ two artistic directors—Kyle Ritter of Asheville Symphony Chorus and Emily Floyd of Asheville Youth Choirs. They’re performing together April 27 at First Baptist Church. 

We talk with the choral directors about the challenges of surviving and rebounding from the pandemic. Kyle goes into detail about his choir’s relationship to the Asheville Symphony Orchestra and building an identity of its own. Emily talks about balancing the sacred and the secular. Both weigh in on marketing choral music to today’s distracted public, adapting pop music into choral music and the future of the world’s oldest art form. 


SPONSOR: Make the most of your time this spring and turn over your housekeeping to Greenland Pro Cleaning. Use the code PODCAST at checkout for free bonus services.SPONSOR: The Sublime Theater premieres "A God in the Waters," by Asheville playwright David Brendan Hopes, May 9-18 at the Bebe Theater. 
SPONSOR: Asheville City Soccer Club home games begin May 18 at Greenwood Field on the UNC-Asheville campus.
Support the Show.
Support The Overlook by joining our Patreon campaign!

Advertise your event on The Overlook.

Instagram: AVLoverlook | Facebook: AVLoverlook | Twitter: AVLoverlook

Listen and Subscribe: All episodes of The Overlook

The Overlook theme song, "Maker's Song," comes courtesy of the Asheville band The Resonant Rogues.

Podcast Asheville © 2023