Brenda Macauley, founder of Aesthetic Art Gallery.   Photo: Urban News

Groundbreaking Art Treasures From Around the World

Staff reports

The mission of the Aesthetic Art Gallery is to bring ground-breaking art from around the world to Asheville, promote Asheville artists to national and international audiences, support indigenous artist worldwide, and support the artistic development of local art students.

Brenda Macauley, founder of Aesthetic Art Gallery in downtown Asheville, grew up in Liverpool, England. She discovered her talent for textiles and her penchant for doing business while still a child when she made fully clothed dolls to sell to the neighborhood children.

Brenda came to the U.S. in the nineteen-sixties and continued to dabble with textiles while studying art. In addition to creating her own work, she became knowledgeable and proficient enough to teach fiber arts to adults and children.

In 2000, Brenda joined the Peace Corps and went to Lesotho, Southern Africa, where she served as Marketing Advisor to cooperatives of local women fiber artists in rural villages. While there she helped the women produce quality-controlled textile art and accompanied them to various locations in South Africa to sell their art pieces to tourists. Profits from the sales not only raised the women’s confidence and self-esteem, but also enabled them to pay their children’s school fees and buy seed to grow abundant food crops.

In 2006, Brenda returned to the Lesotho village. To her amazement the women had built a primary school, purchased land, and built a textile one-room schoolhouse. Acting on her recommendation, another friend, a Kodak distributor, was hiring young village women to work in his film shop, including one young lady in management training. “I was very proud that these cooperatives still exist today in the villages of Lesotho, and I do plan to keep this an on-going relationship,” she notes.

After many years of travel, Brenda chose to live in Asheville because of its relaxed lifestyle, climate, beautiful mountains, art culture, and affordability.

Aesthetic Art Gallery brings groundbreaking art from around the world to Asheville and promotes Asheville artists to national and international audiences. The gallery highlights fiber art and displays multimedia paintings, sculptures, and photography. It also features iconic photography by local artists, which is reinterpreted into vivid intricately detailed textiles created by Australian artisans. All can be viewed at leisure within the Gallery’s warm and intimate setting.

Presently, Brenda helps local art students and experienced artists alike by promoting their works in the Gallery. She is also planning to teach fiber art to youth at the City Parks and Recreation department.