- Alison Press is a visual artist whose work captures the spirit of the Blue Ridge mountain region through bold abstraction and vibrant color. After painting for more than 20 years while working a corporate career, she retired in 2022 to pursue art full-time. Today, Alison is a painter, collagist, and printmaker creating and showing her original contemporary art from her studio at the Asheville Cotton Mill — a historic building recently reopened after the flood damage of Hurricane Helene in 2024.