Art Exploration Workshop with Alison Press 🎨 | Free Event!

Art Exploration is a FREE series of mixed media workshops that are suitable for all levels of experience!

Each week Alison will lead through presentations and prompts with emphasis on designing and painting abstracted artworks on canvas. New concepts and techniques will be added weekly.

Please note: To attend each class, pre-registration is required. Classes will cap at 10 participants.

🎨 About the Class 🎨

This class is called “ pass the painting” and is a collaborative art activity. The goal is to add to the canvas creatively when it’s your turn, adapting to what the previous person painted. Each person starts with their own canvas and Alison will lead the start with gentle prompts and theme . Once the initial art has begun each painting gets passed to the right and the painting continues. The activity is timed so intuition on what do next is part of the fun. Just pick a color, or many colors, paint a shape, line or anything your imagination brings forth.

There will not be any time to get stuck! The passing and painting continues until each participant gets their original canvas back to be completed. Each painting will end up uniquely, and have community input into each masterpiece! Absolutely no art experience is needed just a willingness to have fun, let go of expectations, and be surprised as you connect with the art and each other. All materials will be supplied and each person will leave with a completed one-of-a-kind painting to take home.

👩‍🎨 About the Facilitator 👩‍🎨

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 in the River Arts District recently reopened after the flood damage of Hurricane Helene in 2024.

Her original abstract artwork invites collectors to experience color and form in unexpected ways. Alison’s work has been described as vibrant, joyful, and alive — art that transforms both walls and moods.

Along with her working art studio and gallery space, Alison also participates in monthly curated exhibitions, with new shows opening each First Friday at Resurrection Studios Collective in downtown Asheville. Her work was recently selected and featured in the River Arts Resilience Project curated by ArtPlay in Asheville. Beyond exhibiting, Alison shares her love of art through teaching — leading workshops at both Resurrection Studios Collective, ArtPlay, and the Community Hub at White Horse Black Mountain.

🗒️ For full event details, locations, and free pre-registration:

Visit https://whitehorsecommunityhub.org/

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Community Hub projects are funded in part by a grant from the American Red Cross, and a grant from the North Carolina Community Foundation’s Disaster Relief Fund.

Admission:

Pre-registration required.