Art and culture are essential elements that keep communities healthy, vibrant, and connected. Artsville founder Louise Glickman even thinks of art as the glue that holds communities together. With this in mind, artists in Biltmore Lake, Candler, NC, have partnered with Artsville to produce a studio tour with a twist! Introducing BLISS, the first-ever Biltmore Lake’s Imaginative Studio Stroll, where 25 artists plus several guest artists will show and sell their art from their Biltmore Lake homes on Saturday, May 6th, 2023.

In today’s episode of the Artsville Podcast, co-hosts Louise and Scott “Sourdough” Power are joined by fellow art enthusiast and BLISS volunteer team member, Elaine Scherer, to talk about the important role this world-class event plays in positioning Candler as a creative outpost and how it will broaden, strengthen, and acknowledge creative networks within the surrounding communities. To learn more about how you can join Biltmore Lake’s artists for their first annual studio tour, what you can expect to see on the day, and what you can do to contribute, be sure to tune in today!

Key Points From This Episode:

  • Louise offers some context for this “fun, different, and imaginative” event
  • How the action-oriented Elaine became involved in BLISS
  • Why art is fundamental for any well-connected community, functioning like a glue
  • A look at what art means to Elaine as a registered nurse
  • Visitor attractions and the artists that are participating in BLISS
  • What makes BLISS a studio tour with a twist (and how they came up with the name)
  • The spirit of service that drives Elaine’s unique style of leadership
  • Louise explains what attracts people to Biltmore Lake, including professional talent
  • How you can contribute to BLISS and become one of our volunteers
  • Some of the small and local businesses that are getting involved in the event
  • Why BLISS is a family-friendly event and an excellent learning opportunity for kids

Tweetables:

“[BLISS] is a lot of work, but I think that it’s going to [do a lot of good] for our community and for the artists in our community; bringing attention to them, bringing folks in from the surrounding communities, and letting them enjoy our lake area.” — Elaine Scherer [0:10:56]

“If there are things we don’t communicate well on, art helps [spark] that communication. It gives you something to talk about other than your differences. It helps you talk about what could bring you together.” — Louise Glickman [0:14:23]

“Servant leadership is incredibly important. It doesn’t matter whether it’s in nursing, education, or art. You have to find out what people [need and want], open it up for them, and lead them to it.” — Elaine Scherer [0:25:22]

“I think we have to pay attention to the kids, I think we have to talk to them. [BLISS is] a good teaching moment. Let’s talk about this kind of art and how this artist may have put this together.” — Elaine Scherer [0:36:54]

Longer Quotes:

“I think of art as glue. We live in an area [on the] outside edge of Asheville. This is a very old community and, historically, West and North Carolina was about textiles and fabric. Our beautiful lake was actually a manmade lake to serve that industry, which is on the other side of Sand Hill Road, across the street from us. In the other direction is this very old neighborhood called Enka (this was originally called Enka Lake). We have a lot of different ranges of backgrounds here, both family backgrounds and political backgrounds. So, this is a testing ground to see just how good art is at gluing us together.” — Louise Glickman [0:12:39]

“I was attracted to [BLISS] because I [understand] the mind-body connection as a registered nurse. When you see something beautiful, your body reacts. When you go out in nature, your body reacts and you relax. We are human beings and we need this kind of existence. We need to see beauty in our lives, especially today with everything going on in the world. [To see] beautiful things, it makes us as human beings more understanding, it opens our hearts, and it opens our minds. To me, this is a great venue to pull people together.” — Elaine Scherer [0:16:05]

Links Mentioned in Today’s Episode:

BLISS: Biltmore Lake's Imaginative Studio Stroll — https://www.biltmorelakeartists.com/

BLISS on Instagram — https://www.instagram.com/BLArtStroll/

Elaine Scherer on Twitter — https://twitter.com/AVLRN

Elaine Scherer Email — emscherer828@gmail.com

Katrina Chenevert Gallery — https://www.katrinachenevertgallery.com/

Fractured Atlas — https://www.fracturedatlas.org/

Artsville Podcast — https://www.artsvilleusa.com/tag/podcast/

Scott “Sourdough” Power — https://www.notarealartist.com/

Louise Glickman — https://www.louiseglickman.com/

Daryl Slaton — http://www.tailsofwhimsy.com/

Crewest Studio — https://creweststudio.com/

Sand Hill Artists Collective (SHAC) — https://sandhillartists.com/