Our Hurricane Helene Story
If you've already read our About page, then you know how Crazy Green Studios came to exist across two studio spaces in Riverview Station in Asheville's River Arts District. My studio within The Village Potters Clay Center (TVPCC) was where I made work to sell in our shared gallery, fulfilled commissions, and designed and made work for restaurants and food professionals. In that studio, I shared use of electric and gas reduction kilns, and kept a full inventory of backstock pottery for sale in our gallery. My own studio included an electric wheel, a large variety of tools, hand made molds, clay, and small equipment and studio furniture. My production studio was also on the first floor of Riverview Station, and it housed wheels, an electric kiln, slab roller, extruder, clay, glazes, and other materials to produce works for wholesale accounts, as well as our shipping equipment and supplies. Riverview Station is located across the street from The French Broad River.
A brief note here to say that under what we knew at that time as normal storm situations, we would generally have days in advance of any storm surge to prepare and move vulnerable equipment and inventory to the second floor or off site. In the case of this storm, the forecasts mainly focused on when the hurricane would hit our mountains, and so we planned for the days before as our time to move equipment and inventory. What we had not planned for, however, was the nonstop rain in those days ahead of the hurricane, and that caused early flooding of area roads and ended up cutting short our plans to move equipment. Our original plan was to load trucks and move them to higher ground, but we soon saw there wouldn't be time for that, so we started moving what we could to the second floor of our building. As I had equipment, tools, and inventory in both locations, my own time was split between the two spaces. In the end, we were evacuated from the building on the morning of September 26 as the river began to cut off all exit routes. We locked up and hoped for the best, and I think even at that point all we imagined we would have to deal with would be flood waters and a loss of wooden display pieces, kiln damage, and loss of work, tools, and materials on or near ground level.
What we could not imagine was what happened: the river rose over 26 feet, flooding the building with a force stronger than Niagara Falls, roiling the contents of the first floor and rising up to four feet in sections of the second floor. The water wouldn't recede for more than 70 hours, leaving storm debris and river sludge in its wake. Both studios were completely destroyed. When we went to the building after the waters receded, we could only get part way into one of the entrances to the TVP space. I made my way to my production studio, but the door was held shut by the sludge and what I imagined was studio furniture that landed against it. It would take several days of careful clearing to gain entry to other parts of the TVP space, and in all it was over a week before we could even peek into our studio spaces as large debris blocked all entrances. The same was true for my production studio. At one point during salvage operations, there was an organized call for help to the community, and hordes of people showed up with tools and patience and love to help us reach spaces and bring out whatever could be salvaged. I admit that after a few days of mucking through the sludge I was feeling more than overwhelmed, and it was hard to see anything among all the destruction. Big shout out to all the helpers (including my friend Andrea who came and patiently carried things through dark muddy hallways from the second floor to my car for salvage when I could barely move).
They say a picture is worth ... well you know. What follows are several thousand words, in that case. Scroll down for our post-storm recovery updates.
A brief note here to say that under what we knew at that time as normal storm situations, we would generally have days in advance of any storm surge to prepare and move vulnerable equipment and inventory to the second floor or off site. In the case of this storm, the forecasts mainly focused on when the hurricane would hit our mountains, and so we planned for the days before as our time to move equipment and inventory. What we had not planned for, however, was the nonstop rain in those days ahead of the hurricane, and that caused early flooding of area roads and ended up cutting short our plans to move equipment. Our original plan was to load trucks and move them to higher ground, but we soon saw there wouldn't be time for that, so we started moving what we could to the second floor of our building. As I had equipment, tools, and inventory in both locations, my own time was split between the two spaces. In the end, we were evacuated from the building on the morning of September 26 as the river began to cut off all exit routes. We locked up and hoped for the best, and I think even at that point all we imagined we would have to deal with would be flood waters and a loss of wooden display pieces, kiln damage, and loss of work, tools, and materials on or near ground level.
What we could not imagine was what happened: the river rose over 26 feet, flooding the building with a force stronger than Niagara Falls, roiling the contents of the first floor and rising up to four feet in sections of the second floor. The water wouldn't recede for more than 70 hours, leaving storm debris and river sludge in its wake. Both studios were completely destroyed. When we went to the building after the waters receded, we could only get part way into one of the entrances to the TVP space. I made my way to my production studio, but the door was held shut by the sludge and what I imagined was studio furniture that landed against it. It would take several days of careful clearing to gain entry to other parts of the TVP space, and in all it was over a week before we could even peek into our studio spaces as large debris blocked all entrances. The same was true for my production studio. At one point during salvage operations, there was an organized call for help to the community, and hordes of people showed up with tools and patience and love to help us reach spaces and bring out whatever could be salvaged. I admit that after a few days of mucking through the sludge I was feeling more than overwhelmed, and it was hard to see anything among all the destruction. Big shout out to all the helpers (including my friend Andrea who came and patiently carried things through dark muddy hallways from the second floor to my car for salvage when I could barely move).
They say a picture is worth ... well you know. What follows are several thousand words, in that case. Scroll down for our post-storm recovery updates.
Recovery Updates:
It's hard to believe it's been almost 15 months since the hurricane, and that we are still working on getting into a new studio space. While I (Lori) knew it would not be quick or easy to recover, I underestimated the challenge of maintaining existing business, designing new work for a new firing source, developing a new body of work, and looking for a new studio home.
With the incredible help and support of so many, I was able to salvage a key piece of equipment, finish making pieces that I was supposed to fire the week after the storm, and fire commission pieces in a reduction kiln. After all pending commissions were filled, I set about the work of planning what my studio and business would look like in its new form once I made the decision that I would not be rejoining TVPCC. I knew it would be prohibitively expensive to try to replace the gas reduction firing source I had at TVPCC, so all new work going forward would be designed for electric/oxidation firings. I was already creating work for that firing range before the hurricane, and had existing clients I hoped to serve again, so I needed space both for exploration and new design as well as fulfilling orders for those clients. Thanks to the generosity of fellow potters, I was able to design a new body of work for a new wholesale market and fulfill a handful of orders for new clients, as well as continue to fulfill existing wholesale orders as well as a significant corporate holiday gift commission. My garage hosted my shipping supplies and equipment as well as all newly acquired equipment, tools, and materials. It almost became a new normal to be working across three locations, and I am so proud of all we were able to accomplish, and grateful for the support.
With the incredible help and support of so many, I was able to salvage a key piece of equipment, finish making pieces that I was supposed to fire the week after the storm, and fire commission pieces in a reduction kiln. After all pending commissions were filled, I set about the work of planning what my studio and business would look like in its new form once I made the decision that I would not be rejoining TVPCC. I knew it would be prohibitively expensive to try to replace the gas reduction firing source I had at TVPCC, so all new work going forward would be designed for electric/oxidation firings. I was already creating work for that firing range before the hurricane, and had existing clients I hoped to serve again, so I needed space both for exploration and new design as well as fulfilling orders for those clients. Thanks to the generosity of fellow potters, I was able to design a new body of work for a new wholesale market and fulfill a handful of orders for new clients, as well as continue to fulfill existing wholesale orders as well as a significant corporate holiday gift commission. My garage hosted my shipping supplies and equipment as well as all newly acquired equipment, tools, and materials. It almost became a new normal to be working across three locations, and I am so proud of all we were able to accomplish, and grateful for the support.
A 'first look' floor plan for our potential space
In the Spring of 2025 I began looking at potential new studio spaces. As much as I love and cherish my many years in the River Arts District, 80% of that area. had been devastated, and while great rebuilding efforts have been going on there, I was not comfortable with the idea of rebuilding in a potentially vulnerable space again. I visited many spaces, but never found the right combination of factors that would give us a good place to not only rebuild but grow. I am learning more than I ever thought I might want to know about commercial real estate, but thankfully have yet another incredible person to be thankful for in my broker, Jessi Leonetti. We are now in the process of negotiating a lease on a space, and I am gathering quotes from contractors for turning a space that was never a pottery studio into a functioning production facility. But the location is wonderful, parking plentiful, and the layout shows the promise of a highly proficient production studio with space for both wheel and hand building work, kilns, glaze mixing area, shipping, workshops, and a retail gallery.
As of December 2025, we have just completed all orders for the year and are hopefully in the final stages of determining the scope of work needed to secure this new space. Stay tuned for more details on the space, and if you are interested and able, how you can help us meet the challenges of the upfit costs. Thanks for reading this far - we really can't wait to share more concrete information and hopefully a "coming soon" address!!
As of December 2025, we have just completed all orders for the year and are hopefully in the final stages of determining the scope of work needed to secure this new space. Stay tuned for more details on the space, and if you are interested and able, how you can help us meet the challenges of the upfit costs. Thanks for reading this far - we really can't wait to share more concrete information and hopefully a "coming soon" address!!
GIFT CARDS
