The Power of Helping Hands
Thanks to grant funding from Crafting the Future, Caravan Art Bazaar (CAB) was able to launch a series of workshops, which provided income for facilitating artists and shared community experiences
This series helped boost our presence in our region, particularly with more BIPOC artists, and we’ve built many great connections since. Some of these newer folks joined the CAB collective and have since made passive art sales through our efforts. This was a huge learning experience for both ourselves and the facilitating artists, and a great opportunity to collaborate with and support other local artists and businesses throughout the process.
While we originally budgeted a plan for $10K, we shifted plans with the new award of $5K unwilling to cut our plans in half even though funding was. We got creative and got to work, creating four main workshops with the help of grant funding, and launching two others thanks to the popularity we gained from the first four.
All workshops included volunteer support and photography coverage by CAB founder Mike Talyad. Facilitating artists and guests were given access to these photographs, allowing the artists to use them for future marketing or portfolio of their own.
In addition to workshop creation, we were able to cover the cost of a batch of art prints for several artists in our collective. These prints are sold at markets and events at no cost to the artists, without them needing to be present for the sales.
Artists choose how much to donate from art sales, and who to donate to. In some cases the artists give back to CAB, allowing CAB to purchase more prints and maximize sales for artists and raised funds. Prints are purchased from a local lab in Asheville, NC, keeping the money we use within our economy of artists and small businesses alike. Art prints pictured here by Raw Dairy Club/Alejo Salcedo.
Three full days in a secluded arts warehouse called Apocalypse Parlor, we lead our first workshop with Arulu where guests created clay molds, coated with paper mache, and decorated with paint, paper glue, and other materials.
This particular workshop was ticketed, with free sponsorship for BIPOC guests. Ticket sales helped us form our originally planned series of four workshops, without having to lower the fee of the facilitating artists. It also provided us with plenty of marketing material to use for future workshops.
To our surprise, we had guests come to Asheville for this workshop all the way from Maryland and Utah! Tickets from this workshop also helped cover costs for things like catering, giving guests more time in the studio by not having to leave and come back for lunch, keeping them fueled with healthy food and focused on their art.
Mask Making with
House of Arulu
Reconnecting with Nature
through Journaling & Tea
This particular workshop was free and made for BIPOC guests to join CAB collective artist Carolina Corona, who guided our group through various prompts of sketching, journaling, and examining the natural world around us, applying the skills into different series.
This experience was amplified by our surroundings at Southside Community Farm, a black-led urban farm in the heart of one of Ashevilles oldest neighborhoods.
This workshop closed with tea pouring with local artist Shunyu Huan of Wild Flavors Tea. During this time, guests shared their works as well as stories about their connection to nature. Particularly as we all collectively neared the 1 year anniversary of Hurricane Helene.
Many folks around here still have yet to venture back out into the mountains, rivers, and woods. Our hope with Reconnecting with Nature was to encourage folks to explore again, using art as a bridge.
Nature Journaling
& Birding with CAB
Carolina Corona came back to lead another nature journaling workshop, with CAB founder Mike Talyad sharing composition, photography, and nature observation tips.
We had a weather scare this morning and a handful of folks who were originally joining ended up staying home. Even though turnout was low, we were still able to pay Carolina her full fee without relying on ticket sales.
An additional positive outcome of the smaller group was that Carolina and Mike were able to provide a lot more in depth one on one time with guests throughout the workshop.
This workshop experience was geared exclusively towards BIPOC guests, taking place once again inside Apocalypse Parlor who was kind enough to donate their venue space to us.
In addition to Arulu’s facilitation on mask making, CAB founder Mike Talyad of Jungle Branch photographed everyones masks with studio gear set up on location.
Following the workshops and beyond of the realm of CAB, some of these masks were used in performative arts and Halloween parties. Other masks were displayed in homes as altar or decoration pieces in their studios.
This particular event was incredibly well received by our guests, and we had many comments from folks about wanting more events that are geared specifically for BIPOC folks to create and share together.
Mask Making with
House of Arulu
Loy Krathong Brunch with
WNC AAPI + Dalaya Thai
In collaboration with Dalaya Thai Cuisine and local organization WNC AAPI (Western North Carolina Asian American Pacific Islanders) CAB created a workshop experience for AAPI, family, and friends. This event was part brunch, part crafts, part cultural celebration.
Chef Gun, owner of Dalaya Thai, has opened her doors to CAB several times in the past. She jumped at the chance to revisit traditions she had not practiced in over a decade until collaborating with CAB. Loy means “to float,” and krathongs are small vessels or baskets created out of natural materials like banana leaf & stalk, flowers, and even offerings of food.
We harvest locally grown flowers and banana plants here in WNC for both the crafting of krathongs as well as our long table styled dining, which features menu items from Chef Guns home in north Thailand. The traditional celebration of Loy Krathong involves releasing lanterns into the water as offerings to the water spirits, as well as letting go of heavy or negative elements to step into the new year free of bad energy. Crafting art that is temporary, while community connecting is the lasting element in this workshop.
Parol Making Potluck
In December 2025 CAB teamed up with local organization WNC AAPI once again to help bring back a once annual tradition in their community, another experienced derailed in 2024 thanks to Hurricane Helene. Well within our bounds and cost next to nothing to organize, this was a fun way for folks to come together and celebrate the holiday season without the usual Western Capitalist elements.
Parols are a star-shaped lantern that became tradition in a post-colonial Philipines, formed by Spanish influence. Celebrating the holidays in the U.S. as people of the diaspora can at times be challenging in many different ways. Replacing the pressure of things like gift exchanges with community-based activity and connection was the center point of this workshop.
Sharing foods from our diverse backgrounds and building parols together was a simple, yet fulfilling experience, and a great way to end the years events for both CAB and WNC AAPI.
Our goal has always been to support BIPOC artists, create experiences for artists and community members to participate no matter their skillset, and use art sales to raise funds for mutual aid support around the globe. Particularly after many artists and businesses in our region were greatly impacted by Hurricane Helene in late 2024, with the majority of us still facing lingering effects of the economic and physical devastation left behind.
2025 was a heavy recovery year in Western North Carolina. Being able to support fellow artists, businesses, and organizations in our region with help from things like the financial assistance through the Crafting the Future grant was monumental.
We are forever grateful for the opportunities, connections, and experienced we were able to help facilitate thanks to the power of helping hands from Crafting the Future.