Our new loocation for workshops in our Fine Art Program is:

310 ART at Re.Imagine Studio
15 Spivey Lake Drive
Fairview, NC 28730

email gallery@310art.com for questions about classes.

Since our gallery was lost in the flood of 2024, we will be seeking a new location for exhibition. If you have any tips let us know!

Our workshops and classes are posted on the workshop page and you may register there. Watch for new class listings all the time.

We are pleased to be active in placing original artwork in private collections, independent businesses, medical facilities and corporate collections. You can come to us, and we can come to you too to help you select the perfect art work. Make an investment in timeless original art.

Listen to my Podcast
Fleta Monaghan is the founder and director of 310 ART. The studios feature a fine art gallery and the oldest independent fine art school for adults in the region. Fleta's own working studio is in the center of the gallery

“I have heard it said that an artist only has to look at the art work they created as a child to see the directions and themes that will resonate in their adult work. That is certainly true with me. I experimented with all kinds of materials as a kid – marbling paper with oil paint, making handmade paper, drawing and painting and creating costumes. I would read about some new technique or see some interesting art, and the next thing you knew I was trying it out. Naturally, most of my experimentation took place outside! Now, I love to paint people I know, experiment with mixed media in my paintings and push the image toward abstraction. I am always seeking an essence of thought and feeling when I combine imagery and materials.

BRIDGET BENTON is an Asheville, NC based collage artist layering nature print, photography, found materials, and expressive mark-making with a mixture of filtered beeswax, tree resin, and pigments (encaustic paint). Benton describes her work as “an attempt to capture not a moment in time, but the impact of that moment. I am mapping an internal landscape.”

During her 20+ years as a working and teaching artist, Benton has established herself as a passionate educator and lifelong learner, guided by curiosity. Her master’s degree focused on the study of the creative process, which informs not only her own work but also her teaching. She is the author of the award-winning workshop in a book, The Creative Conversation: ArtMaking as Playful Prayer, and works with adults to help them find their own unique creative voice. As part of supporting creative community and education, Benton has been involved in leadership positions in several non-profit arts organizations, including the Nature Printing Society and the International Encaustic Artists.

Benton's love of travel has inspired her to make her creative journey a global one. She has shown work in galleries from Portland, Oregon, USA to Listowel, Co. Kerry, Ireland and taken photos for her work in the Himalayan Mountains of Nepal and the jungles of Angkor Wat in Cambodia. Benton has led over 100 workshops and classes on artmaking and creativity including sessions for the Creative Problem Solving Institute in Buffalo, NY; Art Unraveled in Phoenix, AZ; International Encaustic Artists' EncaustiCon in Santa Fe, NM; The Nature Printing Society in Oregon, Colorado, and North Carolina; and the Painting With Fire online Encaustic Masterclass based in Mulranny, Ireland. Keep your eyes peeled for upcoming workshops in Montelparo, Italy; San Miguel de Allende, Mexico; and Melbourne, Australia!

When my children were young, I enrolled in the Art Department at UNCA. I quickly discovered that following this artistic path was my “calling”, and I slowly but surely make my way through the BFA program, while being the on duty parent at home. The rigorous curriculum provided me with a strong foundation in all aspects of art; most important, I think, was teaching me to “see” the world, and myself, in a more intentional way.

Early in my career, I focused primarily on portraiture. I was honored to be commissioned by the University to paint the portrait of the late, former Chancellor Samuel Shuman. But, because I have always found myself enthralled by color and the magic of light, I found myself wandering from figurative work and being drawn to the natural world as a source of inspiration. It’s the transient, enchanting effects of light on the subject matter that I am continually exploring. This profound emotional experience is what I strive to convey in all genres of my work – whether it be the rich tapestry of the landscape, or the intricacies of a flower. I have gained a greater appreciation for the physical world, the transcendent beauty that can be found in the simplest and most ordinary scenes, and an awareness of it’s fragility in this fast paced and tumultuous world.

My work evolves from this place of memory and emotion, as I as I work, inspired primarily from my own reference photos, I become more intuitive with my use of the color and the light, to create a place that may or may not have existed in my past – perhaps only in a dream.

Sharing my knowledge has become important to me, and being in The River Arts District at 310 Art has provided me with the wonderful opportunity to teach. I draw a lot from my experiences at UNCA, but honestly, it’s what I have learned in my own artistic journey that I love to share. I find joy in emboldening students of any age with an “I can do this” spirit, and helping them to find confidence in their own voice and style of expression.

“I am an artist working primarily with photography and encaustic beeswax. When I take photographs, I view it as gathering brushstrokes for a painting, and each of my paintings is composed of multiple photographic images.

I am especially interested in the elasticity of light dancing around reflection, shadow, and motion. Capturing light is sometimes ethereal and sometimes edgy. It is intriguing how the camera lens “sees” differently than the eye. My photographs are inherently abstract and my imagery is inspired by nature.

My intention when designing my paintings is to convey the essence of calm, rejuvenation, and joy. I am drawn to allover pattern, repetitive elements, and symmetrical balance, all of which quiet my mind and refresh my soul.

Within each painting, every photograph is saturated with encaustic medium. This creates soft imagery with a luminous glow, subtle texture, and aromatic scent of beeswax. The photographs are tiled together in groupings or within a frame, and the visual appearance is a blend of photography and painting.

In addition to working with photography and encaustic, I am a bookbinder. For years encaustic and bookbinding were separate entities in my life, the art and the craft, the experimental and the meditative, and then they converged. My encaustic journals are designed to honor books as an art form.

I am drawn to the idea of making journals that are both functional and a distinctive art form, and I enjoy the challenge of exploring new bindings and structures. I am continually refining my skills and building my repertoire. It is fulfilling to see my individual (and seemingly separate) facets commingle, converse, converge, and travel in unique, unexpected directions.

I am currently captivated by sculptural books with complex structures and wax on paper possibilities such as encaustic monotype. I also bind journals for display and for personal use. The Butterfly preserves fallen wings found on hikes and is bound with a specially designed Butterfly Stitch. Blue Ridge Books feature a panoramic landscape with trail maps lining the inside.”

Erin studied art at Miami University, Ohio, and graduated with an M.A. in Art Education. She moved to the Blue Ridge Mountains and taught at Brevard Middle School earning National Board Certification in Visual Arts. In 2011, Erin moved into a new career stage, becoming a professional artist and instructor. She works daily at her home studio near Pisgah National Forest, and her adventures in the mountains, lakes, and rivers become embedded personally into her imagery.

Bet Kindley is a photographer, painter, writer, teacher, and beekeeper. A native of Asheville, her favorite subjects depict her love of the mountains, lakes, and culture of Western North Carolina. Her work is in corporations, universities and private collections across the country.

With National Board Certification, Bet taught high school computer and business classes that incorporated art design—digital imaging, website development and desktop publishing. Her writing has been published in O Magazine, Camera in the Wild. The Laurel of Asheville and Arts & Culture have featured her photography and encaustic.

Her recent work uses a flatbed scanner instead of a camera lens to photograph flowers. “The scanner creates these colorful images with striking detail, strong shadows and depth that the camera cannot easily capture.”

She learned encaustic from the “masters” and has also taught encaustic classes at 310 Art. Bet is best known for her encaustic waterscapes of ponds, oceans and waterfalls. “I love the scent of the melted beeswax, the hiss of the torch, the surprises similar to water colors, and the many ways I can use images in this ancient medium which is now so popular.” Bet works from her home studio in Asheville.

Lorelle Bacon and Kenn Haring are partners in life as well as jewelry artists.

Lorelle uses what she learned as a painter of portraits and animals and applys it to her jewelry designs. Balance, focal point, color choices are used in both!

Kenn creates sterling silver bracelets using both ancient and modern Chain Maille designs. Lorelle designs and creates one of a kind fine silver and copper pendants and earrings as well as sterling silver and copper wire wrapped pendants, bracelets and earrings.

Lorelle and Kenn are both avid explorers of new techniques to expand what they have to offer their collectors. Each year will find them at master classes learning new methods.

Lorelle is currently teaching Wire Wrapping at 310 ART, their work may be seen at 310 ART gallery in the River Arts District in Asheville NC.

Considering her vibrant use of color and often whimsical interpretation of her subject matter, few people would realize that Miriam began her career as a medical and scientific illustrator, working primarily in pen and black ink. Over the past ten years Miriam has been painting in primarily in watercolor. Traditional watercolor paintings, however, didn’t stop Miriam from taking the leap and trying new things with the medium. Currently doing a combination of watercolor and collage has become one of her favorite explorations.

“I can tell that the tediousness of very detailed medical drawing still speak to my heart and so while I could achieve a result with one or two pieces of collage paper, I love to tear the paper in minute pieces and incorporate them into the watercolors like a mosaic. I mix several textures and colors to create a whole new color, much like I mix watercolors, and carefully, with tiny tweezers place each item into the composition.”

Pushing colors to shout without being annoying is another favorite technique Miriam explores. “One afternoon, I was alone in my studio after teaching and had several large pieces of watercolor paper staring at me in the face. They were about 12” x 32” each and I grabbed one of my large brushes and started to imagine what I could do with three very different colors, no drawing and lots of energy.” Miriam’s famous chicken paintings arose from that experiment and has become a core lesson on color mixing with using only three colors. Although a parent once brought their child to observe class one day and he whispered to his mom, “I don’t think Ms. Hughes knows what chickens look like”.

In spite of baffling young artists, Miriam says, “I love that the medium that seems to scare so many people can actually be playful, flexible and vibrant, once I learned to change the rules a little bit.”

Miriam was born in Chicago, IL, went to school both in Chicago at Colombia College and graduated from Kansas State University. In addition to being an illustrator, she has also started several businesses that had nothing to do with art but helped her make a living while doing art on the side. Her most favorite career path was as MissPoop – Dog Waste Guru, and she even won awards for her work in the field. Miriam currently lives in Flat Rock, NC with her mate of twenty some years and three dogs (sometimes four and sometimes less). They reside in a small historic 125 year old cottage with an art studio, a writing studio for her partner and amazing gardens that Doug, her partner, creates as his other art form. Miriam is not the gardener, but loves to sketch in the results.

Sally was artistically creative as a child and throughout high school enjoyed many art classes. Her love of photography began as she helped her father in his photo studio in Florida. In college, she took many photography, art history, and humanities courses, as she pursued her degrees.

However, she was creatively restless and used photography as a springboard to expand her expressive possibilities. She started with Polaroid transfer, emulsion transfer, and photocopy transfer methods which led her to encaustic and mixed media as ways to explore unique presentations of her photographic images.

Combined with a love of travel, Sally’s photography and art often depict backroad locations she calls “drive-by museums”, as well as landscapes, birds and animals around the U.S. and Europe. She is especially drawn to photographing old or abandoned buildings, structures, cars, trucks, roads, and signs because of the mystery, intrigue, and forgotten stories they hold. They are reminders of inevitable change due to shifting economy, environment or climate. She loves to extend or create new meaning using these images. They are glimpses and vignettes of earlier times, with a spin, and may nudge you to wonder, question, or imagine other realities.

Sally’s dream of living near mountains was realized with her recent move to the Blue Ridge Mountain area after many years of coastal living.

Sally’s art is on display at 310 Art Gallery in Asheville, and in collections around the country. She continues to take courses and workshops to improve her skills and vision, and experiments with different mediums and ways to express her curiosities, concerns, and views.

Jake Maree is a mixed media artist and jewelry maker, as well as a New Zealand-born North Carolina transplant.

They have made art in various mediums ever since they were able to hold a pencil, particularly influenced by the kitschy ‘kiwiana’ art that they grew up with, and then later the British Pop Art movement. They also draw inspiration from music of various genres, as well as the retro-futurism and the bold graphic art styles of 60s and 70s Suburban America.

Currently expressing that influence through handmade jewelry, each piece is made with the intention of being a one-of-a-kind work of wearable art. Bringing in inspiration from artists of generations past, as well as working with bold and abstract shapes, these pieces are made to stand out.

Jake lives just outside of Asheville, North Carolina with their wife, two cats, and an enthusiastically sprawling container garden.

Heather Clements has used art as a catalyst for mental and emotional growth ever since she was a child. While growing up in the D.C. metro area of Northern Virginia, Heather Clements was passionate about art from the very beginning. Never wavering in her pursuit to be an artist, she graduated cum laude in 2007 with a Bachelor of Fine Arts from the Maryland Institute College of Art in Baltimore.

After graduation Heather moved to Panama City, Florida, where mere months later she became the owner of an art gallery and cultural venue space called Gallery Above. Hosting monthly art exhibits, weekly swing dances and film nights, and countless music performances of local and touring bands, Gallery Above served as the only hub at the time for the sub-culture of Bay County. 2 years later Heather worked at the local arts museum for a short while before deciding to leave and concentrate on her main love: creating art.

For over a decade Heather has been working as a professional artist and art instructor. Her art has exhibited in galleries and museums across the country, from California to Massachusetts. She has had several solo exhibitions and won many awards for her work including several Best-in-Shows. Recently Heather has created many murals across Northwest Florida, and as far as New York City. She also created the two largest murals in the county at 2,000 square feet each.

Heather is now showing beautiful watercolors, prints, and mixed media pieces at 310 Art in Asheville, North Carolina

Heather Hanson, Fine Artist, focuses on reclamation of the Divine Feminine. Her work exposes her transformation journey from corporate executive to liberated artist and spiritual seeker.

Her mission? To fill the world with hope, belonging and connection. To do so, she embraces key creation principles. First, to facilitate a high-vibrational energy transfer between viewer and painting. She works in expressive, abstract portraiture with an emphasis on eyes, the soul-heart-windows that foster deep connection.

Next, to pay homage to lived experience. Employing an organic build-up of multiple textural layers, she constructs a multi-dimensional portrayal of consciousness, depicting a moment in time and communicating reverence for all life.

Finally, to empower the viewer to see and express themselves, free of external definitions and coding. She applies energetically intentional palettes to support the opening of the viewer’s chakra centers and enhance the connection to the True Self that dwells within. She makes use of disruptive outlines to break traditional walls and illustrate permeability of boundaries, fortifying a reality consisting of energy in motion.

The viewer experiences an intentional blending of color and form in celebration of Unity, and is invited to release attachment to an identity continually, beautifully in flux where one ponders: who am I?

You can view several of Heather’s pieces for sale at 310 Art in Asheville, North Carolina

"I have painted all my life. I studied sculpture and painting in high school and at the Corcoran Schoolof Art in Washington DC where eventually I received my BFA. However when I was living in Thailand at my Foreign Service husband's first post, at age 26, it was not logistically possible to sculpt in terracotta, so I turned to painting. I began using watercolor and acrylics.

MacKenna Hanson is a Chicago-based artist currently on track to receive her Bachelor of Fine Arts in 2025 from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. Born in 2003 in Jacksonville, FL, she’s lived in Georgia, North Carolina, and Stockholm, Sweden.

As a neurodivergent woman, Hanson uses her art to delve deep into contradictions of identity and the invisible holes in the social fabric she navigates every day. She’s a triplet sister, a pop culture enthusiast, and an enjoyer of fun. 

Hanson was assigned to SAIC’s 2023 Dean’s List for Outstanding Sophomores and recently admitted into the School’s 2024-2025 Advanced Painting Program. As founder of the artist collective Salon des Refusés, she works closely with friends and fellow artists Katharine Oltrogge and Drew Swartz.

Hanson has won two Honorable Mentions from the Scholastics Art Awards and an Honorable Mention from the United States Congressional Art Competition. She also received merit scholarships from the Minneapolis College of Art and Design, Maine College of Art, Cornish College of Art, and the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. She was granted entry into SAIC’s Art Bash of 2022 and had two of her works exhibited in the LeRoy Neiman Center. 

Her work is currently represented by 310 Art in Asheville, North Carolina as well as several private collections.