The Arts Forum: Woolworth Walk allows artists to display, sell wares Asheville Citizen-Times, Sunday, August 18, 2002 by Constance E. Richards Developer preserves downtown site with community in mind. Asheville - A five and dime it's not. But the old Woolworth Building on Haywood Street in downtown Asheville has recently returned to its former Art Deco splendor as Woolworth Walk, a new art space hosting artist's booths and studios.
		Glenis Redmond, left, and Laura Hope-Gill look at Hagar Pottery by Claudia at the art gallery in Woolworth Walk.

		Large picture windows fronting Haywood Street showcase the first floor, the former retail space of Woolworth's, and more recently Family Dollar. Rather than aisles filled with discount items, though, freshly painted dividing walls display a variety of paintings, photography, pottery and crafts. Down the wide staircase, the basement floor, known as the Bazaar, hosts more display cubicles as well as artists' workspace. The brainchild of Scott Sirkin, a contractor and developer who moved to Asheville from Miami five years ago, Woolworth Walk is a marriage of historic preservation, commerce and art. Once Sirkin bought the building and began restoration, including restoring the tilework and terracotta glaze on the facade, he began considering options for tenants. He turned down an internet company that wanted the 20,000 square feet to use an an office, closing off the street entrance with large floor-to-ceiling curtains, and taking over the basement for its mainframe computers. "My thought instead was how do we sue this space effectively, and how can we serve the community better?" said Sirkin. Woolworth, after all, is a famous name, forever associated with Main Street America. F. W. Woolworth opened his first store in 1879. Over the decades Woolworth's stores popped up all over the United States, growing into a symbol of working-class values, creative merchandising and pure Americana. The woolworth lunch counters not only served up sodas and sundaes, but also became etched in our memories of civil rights sit-ins. The Woolworth Company finally closed the doors on all its store in 1997. By restoring the flaking terra cotta frontage, creating a replica of the original Woolworth sign and leaving the building open to the public, Sirkin has successfully allowed a beacon of Asheville's downtown history to shine again. An art and retail space in a city known for its arts and crafts seemed to the the developer's answer, and he decided to open it himself. Sirkin notes that the Asheville area has plenty of artists, but not many venues for exposure. Egalitarian in its views, Woolworth Walk does not require jurying or heavy review of works of artists who wish to rent space. "If you hand-make it and you're local or regional, then you get full consideration," Sirkin explains. "You can't tell someone their art is good or bad, but you can give them an opportunity to have their own store." Bearing that in mind, you might find a booth of exquisite ceramic crafts next to humorous decorative bauble, or fine country quilts next to amateurish oil paintings. Quality is varied and, as pricing is left up to individual artists, large discrepancies between true qualitative masterful works of art and beginners' works are surprising. Nonetheless, the space provides ample opportunity to get an eyeful of what's being created in Western North Carolina. Photography, with no permanent exhibition space in Asheville, fares well here, with several nature, documentary and art photographers showing their wares. Paintings range from landscapes and cityscapes to decorative and conceptual works. Plein air painter Gloria Gaffney displays charming downtown Asheville scenes front and center. Amede Doualle, a French artist now based in Asheville, exhibits a heady array of vibrant landscapes and other works, some with humorous subjects. Metal artist Stephan Bonitz of Steebo Design provides a sampling of his garden sculptures and other contemporary works on the main floor. Ceramic and fiber arts have a nice showing, and jewelry is also represented here. At least 60 artists display their works in booth space or on sidewalls on the ground floor. Downstairs at least eight artist maintain studios. Visitors are welcome to watch. You might find Gabe Cyr making fabric dolls or Jon Colley fashioning dulcimers out of recycled cardboard boxes. Sirkin still plans to recreate some kind of lunch counter in the form of a deli or cafe in the old Woolworth Building, if the right proposal comes along. The next project will be rebuilding the top floor into condominiums. For now, Woolworth Walk provides a venue for showcasing Western North Carolina arts and crafts, from the quirky to the traditional, and very much in between. Constance E. Richards writes about the arts for the Citizen-Times. Contact her at Schtanzi@aol.com or by mail at the Asheville Citizen-Times, PO Box 2090, Asheville, NC 28802 Back to Index of Articles >>

	Exhibiting Artists  |  Clothing  |  Crafts  |  Decorative Arts  |  Fine Art  |  Furnishings  |  Jewelry  |  Photography Home  |  Email Us  |  Reviews  |  Information  |  Events  |  the Diner