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Big Birthday Celebration and Open Studio Celebrates ‘The Shop Cat’ at Anvil Arts Studio on Aug. 24

Aug. 19, 2013. It has been over 15 years since Floyd, “the shop cat” wandered into Bill Brown’s sculpture studio. The twelve foot high studio door was raised up and the artist was working on a large piece of sculpture when the dark stripped cat wandered in to take a look, and he has been around the studio ever since. Floyd even had his moment of TV fame when Bill Brown was featured last year on a PBS program about regional artists and Floyd ran into the opening shot.

Floyd pr1With a loyal following of art collectors and cat lovers often inquiring about Floyd, Brown decided it was time to throw Floyd a party. Floyd’s Big Birthday Celebration will take place at an open studio event on Saturday, Aug. 24 from 10 a.m.-5 p.m. The Birthday Celebration and Open Studio takes place during this months’ Avery Tour de Art which includes thirteen artists’ studios and galleries in the High Country. 

Bill Brown opened his Anvil Arts Studio in Linville Falls in 1981, where he creates a wide range of sculpture, sculptural lighting and select commission work. Brown has a long list of numerous solo, group and invitation exhibitions, and his work is included in public and private collections across the country. One of his large scale sculptures was just selected by artists Carol Mickett and Robert Stackhouse for a prestigious exhibition at Auburn University in Alabama.

Anvil Arts sits in a beautiful setting and consists of a main studio building, outdoor power hammer building, a separate gallery that showcases completed pieces and beautiful sculpture garden highlighting Brown’s large scale work. It is a busy yet inviting setting and shop cat Floyd in the self-appointed greeter. This confident cat seems comfortable wandering around the equipment and when the power hammers, welders and hot steel fill the studio, he finds a quiet place to nap. He has a favorite spot to sun on the back deck of the gallery, and in the winter likes to sit on the anvil or stool and warm up by the gas forge.

Everyone is invited to the open studio event to see what sculptures are in progress, walk the sculpture garden and gallery, and wish the old shop cat a happy birthday; cat nip and other refreshments will be served. Maybe like Floyd, you will find yourself very happy that you wandered in.

Avery Tour de Art maps for other locations on the tour will be available. The Anvil Arts Studio is located on U.S. 221 Linville Falls directly across from the new Linville Falls Winery. 

For more information call 828-765-6226, or visit www.studiosculpture.com