Please click on the link below to view the catalog. 

Call 828-526-8811 if you need assistance or have questions. 

CLE is proud to present Highland's First Annual Porchfest on September 19th from 1:00-6:00pm!

FREE TO ATTEND!

Musicians from every genre will perform live at various downtown businesses, including The Bascom and The PAC.

THE ANCIENT ART OF ENCAUSTIC PAINTING

Friday, August 13  1:00-4:00

Cost: $35 members/$45 non members

Limit: 15

You won't want to miss this rare experience to visit "the Hive" Penny Pollock's private studio. Penny will demonstrate the ancient process of encaustic painting, which involves melted beeswax, paint pigments and tree resin. And in true "Penny hospitality" you will enjoy a little vino and appetizers along with great fellowship.

Penny Pollock, an encaustic artist, chose this medium to  bring together her history of working in fashion with textiles and shapes through the combining of materials and colors to produce clothing and accessories for name brand lines.

Her fascination with indigenous cultures lead her to travel the world collecting bits and pieces of tribal art created by the Maasai of East Africa, to the Berber tribes of the Sahara,  to the woven and embroidered fabrics of India and Bhutan. Her collection of exotic jewelry, artifacts, relics, and spiritual talismans are ever present themes in her work.

Pollock is the eternal seeker of the spiritual expression that connects mankind and his environment.  Her art has allowed her to look deeper into the complexity of herself and the profound experiences she has had with indigenous people globally. 

Her personal statement which she lives by is “Cherish all I see, feel, touch, taste, smell and experience ...for it is all a gift ...the mess and the goodness."

Call 828-526-8811 if you need assistance or have questions. 

AN EVENING WITH RON RASH

Tuesday, September 7th  5:30-6:30

(Reception and Book Signing to Follow)

Cost: $25 members/$35 non-members

This event features a reading by our most famous local writer: Ron Rash.

He will read from his latest book, In The Valley, a collection of short stories that includes his first novella.  Janet Maslin of The New York Times described In The Valley as "mesmerizing" and added Rash is "one of the best living American writers."  Ron Rash, the John Parris Distinguished Professor of Appalachian Cultural Studies at Western Carolina University, has won numerous awards, including the Guggenheim, O. Henry Award, and the Frank O'Connor International Short Story Award in 2010, for Burning Bright.

The author will be introduced by Brian Railsback, a Professor of English and former founding Dean of The Honors College at WCU.  Dr. Railsback will collect questions for Rash from those who pre-register as the basis for an interview after Rash's reading (please email your questions to brailsba@wcu.edu)

The formal program, from 5:30-6:30pm, will be immediately followed by a book signing event and a wine and cheese reception.  Among other books available at the signing will be the new paperback edition of In the Valley.

Call 828-526-8811 if you need assistance or have questions.