Tag: Meet the Makers

Twenty years ago, ceramicist Ann Lynch moved into the neighborhood of Westerwood and began working as the director of development for the United Arts Council of Greensboro. While in her job, she noticed something within the organization’s artist database: Westerwood was chock full of ’em. When Lynch, as she puts it, “luckily got to stop working in 2008,” like clay in her hands, an idea took shape in her mind: the city’s first and only meet-the-artists-in-theirstudios walking tour.

Lynch approached her Fairmont street neighbors, fiber artist Paige Cox and reduction linoleum printmaker Marianna Williams, who became instrumental in making the vision a reality. In mid-June of 2009, they held a meeting to gauge interest on launching an art walk and studio tour the first weekend of October, only a few months away. Thanks to an enthusiastic response, “We pulled it together very quickly,” says Lynch, adding that she recalls Paige saying, “Who says artists can’t be organized?”

Of course, a catchy name was a must. In a fit of giggles, Lynch and Cox recall a fellow artist suggesting “Bomb Diggity.” After all, it was the 2000s. “We tossed that out,” says Lynch. On a walk in the mountains, Lynch’s husband, Russ, said to her, “We should call it Art & Sole, S-O-L-E.”

For the next 10 years on the first Saturday of October, art lovers would stroll through the charming neighborhood, visiting 20 or so Westerwood studios, and to the delight of the artists, purchasing tons of art. But in 2020, as the world shut down due to COVID, Art & Sole reached what Lynch calls “a natural death.”

This year, thanks to two Atlanta transplants, it’s being revived.

Chandra Young, an “appreciator of art,” says she and husband Ed, a participating artist, moved to Westerwood in 2013 because of Art & Sole. Acrylic painter and photographer Parlee Noonan and her husband, Patrick, had been friends with the Youngs for two decades. Ready for a change, they sought small-city living within drivable distance to their second home in Boone. After visiting the Youngs, they found themselves comparing everything else to Westerwood — and nothing measured up. Last year, they said goodbye to Atlanta and hello to Greensboro.

Before she even moved into their new Westerwood home, Noonan recalls with a laugh how Young said to her, “We have to get Art & Sole going again!”

With Noonan at the helm and Young by her side, Art & Sole has once again found footing. And the aim is to keep Lynch’s original vision alive, celebrating the creative community of Westerwood. This year, you can lace up and log your steps while visiting 31 artists from 10 a.m.–5 p.m., Saturday, October 5.

“We all feel like we are living in a really special place and it’s nice to be able to show it off,” says Young.