The Red House is operated by our member artists. Various activities occur within the Red House, coordinated by different groups or individuals:

• Gallery open to the public for retail sales
• Studios open to the public for retail sales
• Studios closed to public but used by artists or to host Life Drawing sessions
• Art Education Room used for scheduled workshops
• Art Education Room used for interest groups (e.g. Photographers)
• Art Education Room used for league meetings
• Art Education Room reserved for artist use
• After-hours receptions and special events
• Gallery installation activities (exhibition turn-over, gallery wall rotations, spotlight artist installation, etc.)
• Perhaps other uses

Given our location, we will be impacted by inclement weather from time to time. The situation is complicated by the large number of volunteers who staff the gallery, and the fact that our members live at different locations and elevations, and are not all local to Black Mountain. The weather may be “fine” in Black Mountain… but driving can be treacherous in other areas nearby, or an hour away at the home of a member scheduled as gallery attendant that day.

The safety of our members, instructors, and guests is of paramount importance. While guidelines are provided below, it is the responsibility of each individual to assess weather and travel conditions, and make their own decisions to ensure their safety. Nothing at the Red House is worth risking your safety and wellbeing.

Only under extreme conditions will the Red House be officially “closed” (e.g. large winter storm, power outage, flooding, etc.). In such events, Red House management will post a message on the RedHouseGallery.org website home page, send a “blast” email to our mailing list, and will attempt to contact scheduled attendants and workshop instructors.

Note that you can view current conditions on Cherry Street on a live webcam, installed at the Veranda Cafe: 

Cherry Street Webcam
This can be useful to understand conditions in Black Mountain; we recommend you augment this with other information on local travel conditions.

Gallery Attendants / Opening the Gallery during scheduled hours

We rely on our scheduled Gallery Attendants to open the gallery to the public, and we appreciate their efforts to maintain our normal operating schedule when practical. It is the personal responsibility of scheduled Gallery Attendants to assess travel conditions from their location to the Red House and decide whether they feel safe to travel. Use publicly available information sources (e.g. TV newscasts, online weather and traffic reports) to assess driving conditions.

If you decide that it is unsafe to travel, please notify the Attendant Scheduling Coordinator at the phone or email provided on your schedule confirmation email or text message. If conditions are deemed safe in Black Mountain, the Attendant Scheduling Coordinator may attempt to identify a local substitute attendant who is available. If not, the Gallery will remain closed until conditions improve and an attendant is available to work. 

Studio Artists

Studio Artists may use the Studios and open them to the public at their discretion. We recommend that you carefully consider weather and travel conditions and prioritize your safety.

Scheduled Workshops

It is the responsibility of each instructor to assess travel conditions in the area, determine whether their class should be postponed, rescheduled, or canceled, and notify registered participants as proactively as possible. The Red House Workshops Coordinator will assist with communications and schedule changes.

Note that it is the policy of the Red House to refund or credit workshop fees to participants who do not attend due to inclement weather if the participant deems travel to be unsafe, if the workshop is cancelled by the instructor, or if the workshop is rescheduled to a date that the registered participant can not accommodate. This will reduce the number of registrations paid to the instructor.

Other Activities

It is the responsibility of the organizer / coordinator of other activities (e.g. Life Drawing, meetings, installations) to assess travel conditions in the area, determine whether their activity should be postponed, rescheduled, or canceled, and notify expected participants as proactively as possible.