Thanks to the progressive vision of Jessica Powell & Noah Scanlin, CURVE studios & garden will host their wedding on Saturday, Ocotber 15, 2011. Joined by 45 good friends, the plan is for a tea ceremony under the willow tree in the garden, a toast to the newly wed couple and relaxing, visiting & touring the studios @ CURVE. CURVE is honored to have this wonderful opportunity to create a special day for such a wonderful couple.
Happy Birthday! CURVE studios & garden! Pattiy Torno bought 6, 9 & 12 Riverside Drive on October 13, 1989. As she is often heard to say, ” It was one of the stupidest things i have ever done that has turned out pretty darn well.” Purchased originally for a nightclub, Torno had always loved the loft apartments she inhabited in NYC, so in 1992 she made the first live/work studios in what is now the River Arts District. The 2004 flood effected the change from living quarters to retail spaces on the first floors of CURVE studios & garden. Stay tuned for what comes next…
The Grand Shift is complete @ CURVE studios & garden. #6 is still home to the studios of Pattiy Torno, Meagan Chaney & sutherland Handweaving which includes Barb Butler & Karen Donde. #9 (both floors) is now Constance Williams Studios & Gallery. Constance Williams has her encaustic painting studio & lots of new gallery space on the ground floor. Constance is sharing the upstairs ceramic heaven with Greg Vineyard, Fran Welch, Cassie Ryalls & Jenny Mastin where each will have working studio & gallery space. #12 (downstairs) is now home to Maria Andrade Troya (moving over from #9) & Kyle Carpenter (of Clayspace Cooperative fame). Akira Satake (from his house) & Linda McFarling (from Phil Mechanic Studios) come over during the next month. See the transformation! We will celebrate our new artists @ our 2010 Spring Open House, April 23-25, 2010.
Although it did not start out as CURVE studios & garden, it was 20 years ago that Pattiy Torno bought the property at 6, 9 & 12 Riverside Drive. Squashpile, a drug, smoke & alcohol free punk rock club was the first incarnation here in 1990 & 1991. The mid to late 90’s brought a hot glass studio & the heavy metal phase. 2004 brought the flood waters of Hurricanes Francis & Ivan. 2010 finds working artist studios specializing in encaustic painting, functional & decorative textiles, ceramics & glass & some heavy metal remnants that you can visit every day. Please Do!
Avery Street (now Riverside Drive) in 1916
The railroad came to Asheville starting in 1880 bringing with it lots of people, goods and services. The River Arts District, at that time, became the place for the warehousing and distribution of these goods… everything from coal, ice & lumber to corn & chickens.
Originally built in 1916, by Standard Oil Company of New Jersey, as a warehouse from which they supplied their chain of retail gasoline stations, Standard Oil also offered a full line of fuel & lubricants to the agricultural concerns in the area.
What is now the River Arts District has a rich history of innovation. Farmers Federation, a successful agricultural cooperative and AFRAM, Asheville’s first African-American owned industrial concern were housed in what is now The Wedge. After the modernization of the 1950’s & 60’s and the urban renewal of the 1960’s & 70’s, however, this neighborhood went into decline.
When CURVE studios & garden was purchase by Pattiy Torno on October, 13, 1989, the buildings had been used as a place to fix, paint and detail cars for the previous 20 or 30 years. There was no sewer to the property. It was rough.
After two years as “Squashpile”, a drug, smoke and alcohol free punk rock club, Pattiy renovated the property into live/work studio spaces for artists. Noteable residents have included Cynthia Wyn, Andy Merrick, Nick Kekick, Roddy Capers, Scott Simono, Christopher Mello, Rob Pulleyn, John Blackwell, Mark Burleson, Robin Van Vaulkenburg & Keith Phillips to name just some.
There is a history of flooding at CURVE studios & garden as we sit adjacent to the French Broad River, the third oldest river in the world. Almost simultaneous Gulf Coast and Atlantic Coast Hurricanes starting on July 9, 1916 culminated in the heavy rains that caused the French Broad River to rise to 23 ½ feet. The M. T. Mitchell Corn Whiskey Distillery buildings previously located at 6 Riverside Drive went down river in that flood that also cost the lives of at least 80 people.
Similarly, in 2004 Hurricanes Frances (14.45 feet) and Hurrican Ivan (12.3 feet) caused flood waters to rush over the property at 6 Riverside Drive. The result was devastating to two of the ground floor tenants who lived and worked in their studios. The buildings hardly seemed to notice. The ground floor spaces have now been converted to strictly retail spaces, with portable businesses… just in case.
October 13, 2009 was the 20 year anniversary of Pattiy Torno buying what has become CURVE studios & gardens. We will celebrate our 3rd Annual Spring Open House the last weekend of April 2010…. Friday, Saturday & Sunday April 23, 24 & 25th... so please put this on your calendar… the garden and studios will be refreshed and renewed as always happens this time of year.