Testimonials!
“The events and spaces Swannatopia inhabits have an uninhibited joyousness baked in. I look forward to these events because I know that a Swannatopia event is going to be fun, safe, and appropriate for my whole family (ages 2-75). We can rely on a communal, non-pretentious, artistically engaging hang that the kids and grandparents can all enjoy. Their work sets a singular bar of quality, bravery, and vision. Tempered with levity, their work is uniquely accessible, educational, and engages communal and multigenerational dialogue — from toddlers ogling taffeta-drenched visionary sculpture, to providing a platform for artists at any stage in their career, across disciplines, to interact with their collective-minded all-hands-on-deck post-happenings. Swannantopia is a major and undeniable force in the Asheville art world, and my kids are their biggest fans.”
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"Swannatopia is a place to learn and create, providing studio space and materials, and also provides a stage and audience to share and perform developing projects. Swannatopia’s Art Club brings us together weekly to make things for fun in a remarkably accessible way."
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"The immersive worlds of Swannatopia inhabit the pre-lingual nave of the human; the umbilical art turning viewer into participant. Through the most basic existential acts, Swannatopia requires perhaps the most difficult thing from any who wander through - direct experience. Like Alice in Wonderland, presented with nothing more than her own ability to discern and embody choice, those willing will embark on the intimate journey of play and self-discovery. As both a player and a collaborator, I have found the interdisciplinary and non-authoritarian approach of Swannatopia invaluable. This instinctive aspect is perhaps their greatest asset and most common hurdle in the sterile and over-commercialized “world of art” which more often treats art, artist, and viewer as quantifiable elements of illusory science, rather than honoring them with their true ephemeral nature. There is the cave and the allegory of the cave, and Swannatopia is the cave."
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"Swannatopia is entirely about community and sharing in creativity and joy together. My whole heart feels gratitude for the beautiful things Swannatopia has done and support and excitement for the things they will dream up in the future. Swannatopia has created an inclusive community experimental art club that welcomes anyone interested to join in the joy of creating art together."
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"What I find so inspirational about Swannatopia is how it approaches art through a “cultural landscape” lens, seamlessly weaving history of place and recognition of the land into its events and happenings. By drawing from a deep well of community and environmental histories of Western North Carolina, the group activates places, drawing out intrinsic cultural and ecological connections in vibrant celebration. In doing so, Swannatopia not only references and reinforces old linkages between people and place, but also simultaneously helps to foster the creation of new ones. Swannatopia never fails to situate its aural or visual displays to the place in the moment, such as with the regular “Sunset Surprises” or the Marigold Daze event held on a Summer Solstice. These and all of Swannatopia’s offerings are about these moments, these shared moments, where community flourishes through its shared connection to place and to one another.”
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“Thousands of years from now when the art gods above and below remember the creative on-goings present in the Asheville area, they will furnish extra partiality to the eclectic and ungovernable clan of freaks known as the SWANNATOPIANS. Time and time again, this troupe has challenged the stiffness so common in the traditional art world with their vitality, humor, and willingness to explore- a beautiful counterbalance to the formality of modern white-walled gallery environments. The art gods love mischief and unpredictability, and they see the SWANNATOPIANS and they are pleased. When met with their unapologetic, truthful, and lighthearted approach to art installations, it is clear that the SWANNATOPIANS are untrappable. Through their interactive creations, this collective helps remind us as viewers/participants to investigate concepts like who cares, why not, and fun. Where there is an undeniable place for the stoicism of art that ponders death, life, and other immeasurably heavy topics, SWANNATOPIA makes much more efficient use of our time by creating helpful pieces such as Skating Rinks for Worms and kaleidoscopic adventures through neon, polka dots, and disco balls. Long live SWANNATOPIA.”
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"When I arrived in Swannatopia, I was not sure from which direction I came. Unheralded, I was unsure if the sun was rising or setting. I was harried and hounded by the quotidian beasts; grist ground down for profit by the Mean Machine. At first, I was surprised to find the Dolphins spoke my language. But their invitation calmed my mind and soon I joined them, swimming as they shared with me their wisdom. They hipped me to the manifold ways in which the universe’s beings and matter express agency and evolve towards their dearest intellectual, biological, and existential imperatives. Consciousness was unhomogenized, and funky for all, equally in our own wild ways.
Spangled in penumbral light refracting through the timeless ocean between the terrestrial and sidereal, plant and animal were one, good dog and hot dog danced together in joy, tides of sound ebbed and flowed over all moods, and Freedom was the thing as our Dolphin guides sang to us from beyond the reef. We floated weightlessly and swam, leashless, towards our fondest wishes bathed in the warm, jazzy welcome of fellowship that vined among branches of the evolutionary tree. All of us changing, bathed in light, baptized in sound, and dressed in shimmering hues, are reborn, limber and hale, from the benevolent womb of Swannatopia.
As I departed these delights to return to the world beyond, our Dolphin hosts shared their blessings and goodbyes. I now swim on land and through time knowing I can return to Swannatopia if I should choose. Until then, I will plant its seeds and tend to them in the world outside as I drift near and far. I – an Evangelist – am ready to share the fruits of wild community and dazzled senses as they ripen on this planet and beyond.
We are invited, welcome, and secure in Swannatopia: forever a zone of tender abundance, psychic rest, and brand new colors and tones, visible to all beings and audible to all minds."
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