Artist Care and Feeding

Christopher Holt is a painter, water-colorist, and fresco artist. A native of Asheville, North Carolina, where he still lives and works among the mountains of Haywood County, its natural beauty continuing to inform and shape his artistry. Christopher grew up painting and drawing, ​eventually finding his way to the art department at University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill. There, his attention was captured by the Native American Artist Kimowan Metchewais and he learned much about the creative process as well as storytelling through art. After Chapel Hill, his wanderlust took him to Central and South America, where he was exposed to ancient sites including Copan in Honduras, Tikal in Guatemala, and Chichenitza in Mexico, where he discovered the fresco paintings of Diego Rivera.
Upon returning to Asheville in 2003, Christopher’s path crossed with the legendary artist and fresco master Benjamin Franklin Long IV, who was founding a school in the mountains dedicated to the study of drawing and painting. Christopher quickly became a devoted student at the Fine Arts League of the Carolinas. Over time he became an integral part of the school as well as Long’s fresco work. After a decade of working with Long, Holt established his own studio in Asheville.
Christopher has continued traveling, painting and finding inspiration abroad, always returning to NC to show his work and teach, often working with students in the Asheville City Schools. His recent travels have taken him to Cairo, Egypt, Tuscany and the Dominican Republic where he has facilitated the painting of many large murals in a small village where children of Haitian descent worked alongside Dominican children to complete pictures of peace and community in a country caught up in racial injustice.
Christopher spent much of 2019 at Asheville's Haywood Street Church where he created a 10-by-27-foot Renaissance-style fresco on a wall in the main sanctuary of the small United Methodist church that encompasses and serves the needs of many unhoused or formerly-unhoused people. The church, where Holt had been spending time at its weekly services and famous Welcome Table on Wednesdays—a community meal open to anyone and everyone, served on linen tablecloths and with fine china, catered by some of Asheville's best chefs and cooks. Those who eat and worship together at Haywood Street are individuals carrying all their worldly possessions in ragged backpacks as well as privileged professionals, stay-at-home moms, students and the working poor.
The Haywood Street Fresco, which pictures several dozen members of the church community from diverse backgrounds, is one of hope and unity, reflecting Jesus' Beatitudes. The creation of the fresco has been made into a documentary film, Theirs Is The Kingdom, which filmmakers hope to release widely this spring.
Christopher's website: Kairos Fine Art
Christopher on Insta: @christopherholtfineart
Theirs Is The Kingdom documentary: HERE
Haywood Street Fresco on Insta: @haywoodstreetfresco
​

Karen Walrond is a writer, photographer, lawyer, author, and leadership and activism coach—a Certified Dare to LeadTM Facilitator trained in Brené Brown's work on vulnerability, courage, shame-resilience and worthiness, as well as in positive psychology coaching from the Wholebeing Institute.
She is a bestselling author on the subjects of tapping into your superpowers and how to work for change in the world without losing your joy. Karen's latest book, The Lightmaker's Manifesto: How to Work for Change Without Losing Your Joy, will be published by Broadleaf Books in November 2021. She also has contributed both photographs and essays to books on self expression and faith, including Disquiet Time: Rants and Reflections on the Good Book by the Skeptical, the Faithful, and a Few Scoundrels, a compendium co-edited by Cathleen Falsani. Find Karen's Books HERE
​Karen is a sought-after keynote and TEDx speaker, who has spoken to small groups, as well as audiences comprised of thousands. Karen has spoken throughout the United States and abroad on the topic of thriving through leadership development, the magic of creativity, the value of cultural and racial diversity and inclusion, and the power of social media. She has appeared on both local and national television and in other news media, including PBS, Huffington Post, CNN.com and The Oprah Winfrey Show. She holds a Bachelor of Science in civil engineering from Texas A&M University, and a Juris Doctor from the University of Houston Law Center, and remains an active member of the State Bar of Texas. Karen was one of 2016's 40 over 40 Women to Watch, as well as one of YWCA-Houston's 2016 Outstanding Women of the Year.
Karen's website: Chookooloonks.com
Karen on Twitter: @Chookooloonks
Karen on Instagram: @HeyChookooloonks
Karen's Podcast: The Make Light Show

Welcome to the dark corners of our pop-culture minds.
Kaitlyn Barrett and Cathleen Falsani are co-hosts of the Artist Care and Feeding Podcast.
ACAF Twitter: @ArtistCareNFeed
ACAF Insta: @ArtistCareFeed
Kaitlyn Insta: @kaitlynfaebarrett
Kaitlyn LinkedIn: Kaitlyn Barrett
Cathleen Twitter: @godgrrl
Cathleen Insta: @godgrrl
​Cathleen LinkTree: @GodGrrl
Cathleen Latest: Look for the Light
Mark Insta:@markrivet

Rives is a poet, storyteller, author, speaker, event host, paper engineer, night owl activist, and since 2013 has been curator of the Museum of Four O'Clock in the Morning. He is a frequent speaker at the TED conference (in fact he is one of a rare few presenters who have six talks on TED.com) and he has been a regular host of TEDActive and TEDYouth. Rives appeared on Seasons 3–6 of HBO's Def Poetry Jam and was a member of Team Hollywood, which won the 2004 National Poetry Slam. He also starred alongside model Bar Refaeli in the 2008 Bravo special Ironic Iconic America, touring the United States on a “roller coaster ride through the eye-popping panorama of American pop culture.” Rives also appeared as the “first 2.0 poet” in a series of ads for telecom company Orange S.A., and has performed at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, and appeared on NPR's All Things Considered.
As a poet, Rives' way with words has been called a “demonstration of what the English language is capable of.” He is known for humorously layered and heartwarming pieces such as “Kite” and “Mockingbird," as well as for his use of multimedia in his performances, seamlessly intertwining images, video, and often the audience members themselves with his poems. Rives has written and paper engineered several pop-up books for children and adults. Flat pages can't contain his storytelling, even when paper is his medium. The pop-up books he creates for children unfold with surprise: The Christmas Pop-Up Present expands to reveal moving parts, hidden areas and miniature booklets inside. Early in his career, Rives worked at Intervisual Books, under the leadership of Waldo Hunt. Two pop-up books, with paper engineering by Rives—The Consummate Cigar Book and If I Were A Polar Bear—were finalists for the Movable Book Society Meggendorfer Prize for Best Paper Engineering.
Recently, with our Cathleen, Rives began hosting Nighthawks Hangouts, invitation-only online gatherings for night owls, nighthawks, dawn-treaders, night shifters, midnight ramblers, lifelong and situational insomniacs, apprentice vampires, and those who are more likely to stay up until than to wake up at dawn, and who often find themselves awake when much of the rest of the world is asleep.
Rives' website: ShopliftWindchimes.com
The Museum of Four in the Morning website: fourinthemorning.com
The Museum of Four in the Morning on Twitter: @mofitm
The Museum of Four in the Morning on Instagram: @mofitm
Nighthawks Hangout on Twitter: @nighthawkshang
Nighthawks Hangout on Instagram: @nighthawkshang
Rives on TED.com

Welcome to the dark corners of our pop-culture minds.
Kaitlyn Barrett and Cathleen Falsani are co-hosts of the Artist Care and Feeding Podcast.
ACAF Twitter: @ArtistCareNFeed
ACAF Insta: @ArtistCareFeed
Kaitlyn Insta: @kaitlynfaebarrett
Kaitlyn LinkedIn: Kaitlyn Barrett
Cathleen Twitter: @godgrrl
Cathleen Insta: @godgrrl
​Cathleen LinkTree: @GodGrrl
Cathleen Latest: Look for the Light
Mark Insta:@markrivet