A Conversation with Art Remains Grantee alexandria monque ravenel

As we look back on the year, we’re feeling incredibly grateful to call Asheville home. To be surrounded by so many creative, generous, and resilient people. In the wake of Helene, we’ve been rebuilding the Asheville we hope to be a part of, together.

This summer, we gathered with our Art Remains grantees at Drop of Sun Studios for a community conversation, hearing directly from them about how the storm affected their work, how your support aided their recovery, and where they are now. We also sat down for a one-on-one conversation with alexandria monque ravenel of Noir Collective, and were deeply inspired by alexandria’s vision, leadership, and life-long commitment to community and collective care.

This conversation is a powerful reflection on resilience, collaboration, imagination, and the power of art to create change. We hope you enjoy watching this conversation, and we deeply encourage you to support alexandria’s work at Noir Collective!

 

Special thanks to This Land Films for filming and holding this conversation

Swannatopia | December 18, 2025 – January 15, 2026

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We are excited to welcome back our friends at Swannatopia to the residency. They have spent several December’s with us, and this year they return with: “Ribbon Time”!

 

Save the Date for:
Swannatopia Presents: Ribbon Time
Saturday, January 3rd | noon-Sunset Surprise (5:30)
with dance party + djs to follow

 

“Swannatopia Presents: Ribbon Time” will bring the people together again, to shimmer and shimmy among sights and sounds from their many large scale installations staged over the past year:

 

Puppet Fashion Pie (3/14 @ BMCM+AC), Ant Float Dream Boat (5/3 on Lake Eden @ RE{Happening}), Seed Circus (Summer Tour stops included Asheville Museum of Science summer camp, NC Mountain State Fair, and Utopian Seed Project’s Trial to Table at Hickory Nut Gap), JellGlo (10/11 @ Center For Craft), and Blue Goose Caboose (10/25 sunset parade through Swannanoa’s historic Beacon Village).

 

Featuring fresh ribbon choreography by A Clutch, Puppet Portals by Madeleine Sis, live A/V splendor by XOR+friends, neon wiggles by Vyvyan, and many more surprises, the day will culminate in a Sunset Surprise procession at 5:30 to/from Garden Party as we behold the gently rippling reflection of the terrestrial wonders all around us, and bask in the warm glow of friendship.

 

“Because sometimes you don’t win a blue ribbon at the fair, but what about all the other colors?”

Artist Statement:
We, of Swannatopia, are a group of experimental artists headquartered in Swannanoa, North Carolina. Over the past decade, we have set out to blur the lines between “artist” and “participant”, to defamiliarize the familiar, to nurture an immersive, whimsical, thoughtful, experience of empowerment and offer a glimpse of what is possible. To this end, our “Experimental Art Club” launched in 2021. An experiment in and of itself, Experimental Art Club aims to facilitate the free exchange of knowledge, experience, tools and materials, while bringing the people together to “make stuff for fun!”. To date, our multigenerational list of collaborators numbers in the hundreds.