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The Upstairs Artspace contemporary art gallery in Tryon hosted its grand reopening Friday, August 26, celebrating its first show in a year. 

 

When the pipe burst at the Upstairs Artspace, located at 49 S.Trade St., in August of 2021, the unexpected disaster not only dampened the spirits of the local art community, as well as those of the numerous artists whose art was on display. A year later, the nonprofit gallery is back, with an art exhibit featuring the artists whose work was showing at the time of the flooding.

 

The Upstairs team put together a beautiful celebration with food, drinks, music and art. The gallery, founded in an upstairs bedroom, has served the community since 1978 as a home for established and up-and-coming artists, both locally and abroad. 

 

The Grand Reopening show features the returning artists spread across the beautifully refurbished 3000-square-foot building, both upstairs and down. A sizable wooden ellipse, by artist Kevin Hogan of Asheville, symbolizes how the Upstairs Artspace Gallery has gone full circle over the last year. Graphite and acrylic work surrounds his creation. 

 

A mixed media piece by Martha Skinner, another artist out of Asheville, displays a photograph of a water-damaged section of her art, titling it “I Found the Light.” 

 

Other art featured across the three gallery spaces are Jeff Kinzel’s foil cityscapes, Tryon architect John Walters’ pen and ink drawings, oil paintings by Ralston Fox Smith and Caroline Rust, and Catherine Baumhauer’s abstract illustrations. 

 

The show will continue for the next six weeks.