24 Hours in Asheville Part II
We used to go to Asheville more often, but since Josh comes to Floyd 4 or 5 times a year (for holidays and 16 Hands), it had been awhile.
I knew we were overdue to see the up-cycled landscaping improvements he’s been making to his 3 acre property in rural Marshall County.
My interest was particularly piqued when I saw the Contemplative Labyrinth Garden that Josh sculpted with salvaged roofing material and recently posted on Facebook. So we made the 3 1/3 hour drive, had some night life in the city and then got a tour of the property the next day.
Josh is a potter but he’s also an artist of other mediums. He’s known for his fantastic body of work with collage journals, but less known for his masonry artistry. It’s not a big leap to see how his love of clay bricks and their historic relevance could translate to a love of rocks, which he collects from the property and builds rock walls and rock gardens with.
Just past the Labyrinth Garden, the Party Plaza is coming together. Josh pointed out the spot where the pizza oven he’s going to build under a shed roof will go. There’s seating and a fire pit. Herbs to garnish the pizza are already growing nearby in raised beds.
Josh and Christy have been planting lots of trees on the property, where three kilns, a studio/showroom and the airstream trailer that Josh stays in when he’s not in town are already housed.
Perennial flowers also figure in, including the ice plants taking hold between the cracks of the granite slab floor, remnants from a nearby counter top place.
Joe has helped with past building projects on the property. He was there for the Tearing Down the House Party, a workday to take down and salvage the old house that was on the property when Josh bought it. He was also there for the kiln buildings, the kiln shed roof raising (using salvaged materials from the old house), and the building of the studio/showroom, which Joe is looking at here.
Josh calls the rock garden by the creek, The Zone. It’s an invitation to reflect or to play.
It was a good thing that Christy brought Judah, the little boy she takes care of, because kids are the perfect compliment to the creek, where Josh has plans to make a beach.
We had snacks in the grass and watched Judah play peek-a-boo in his dinosaur towel.
Then lunch at Zuma Coffee House in downtown Marshall, which Josh describes as “one less street and one more stoplight than Floyd,” before heading home, knowing that our next trip won’t take so long to happen.
Read 24 Hours in Asheville Part I HERE.Watch a video peek of the Party Plaza HERE. One of the Rock Garden by the Creek is HERE.
June 23rd, 2013 9:45 am
so very peaceful and definitely conducive to creativity
June 23rd, 2013 10:30 am
There is no place that Josh touches that isn’t a ‘work of art…..! This was a great tour, Colleen……I LOVE the Rock Garden and seeing all the little touches….!
June 23rd, 2013 1:12 pm
That looks like quite the creative compound that Josh is building. A funny thing, I was just reading an article about Asheville this morning in the Boston Globe and I was thinking that this sounds like the Floyd of North Carolina…LOL!!
June 24th, 2013 10:33 pm
i, too, love the rock garden area! the area by the creek is so seductive. can’t wait for you to show us the coming stages of these creative projects as they progress. the kitchen/pizza oven with the herbs growing right in the space is such a marvelous plan! does josh live in the building where the studio/showroom is located on the property? he has really worked hard on his property and has accomplished so much.
June 25th, 2013 8:48 am
Right now he stays in an airstream trailer by the creek when he’s not in staying in town. House plans are in the making.
June 25th, 2013 8:51 pm
Josh is living the dream!! I love his place and what he has done with it!
July 10th, 2013 11:54 pm
[…] Note: The above photo was taken at an art gallery in the Wedge Building, while Joe and I were visiting Josh in Asheville, NC. __________Thirteen […]
November 30th, 2013 5:28 pm
[…] the kitchen. Joey is also from Asheville and he and Josh wood fire pots together in the kilns on Josh’s property in Marshall […]