Art for Everyone

Creative entrepreneur John Cram came to Asheville more than 30 years ago from Racine, Wis. With $500 and high hopes for the future, he opened the New Morning Gallery in Biltmore Village in 1972. The idea was to offer a contemporary craft gallery in contrast to the heritage crafts of the Southern Highlands.

Cram soon learned that 90 percent of America’s population was less than a two-day drive from a geographical point near Asheville.

“I said, ‘I’m going to take that point and scoot it over to this pretty little town called Asheville. I’m going to [create an] image of this as the center of the United States, and people will find us,’ ” he recalls.

Since then, he’s provided many reasons to come to Asheville. In addition to New Morning Gallery, he opened the Bellagio Art to Wear emporium around the corner in 1991. His 14,000-square-foot Blue Spiral 1 gallery downtown represents about 100 regional artists, and his restoration in 1997 of the Fine Arts Theatre gave the city a venue for arts and independent films.

“ It’s an insane, wonderful journey that has allowed this to happen,” he says.

Ashville, NC 2003 Edition

Story by Dave Turner
Photo by Theresa Montgomery