Climate change took her art studio—let's help Hannah rebuild

*Hannah is overwhelmed by all of your generosity (in the best way)! We've met her fundraising goal, and she will continue fundraising for other Asheville artists and arts organizations in need of financial assistance to make it through disaster recovery. This will help her support the art community that has given her a creative home. All new donations now will go to them.*

I’m raising funds for my creative, inspiring friend and artist Hannah Rothstein. Much of her work focuses on the impact of climate change, and in an ironic and heartbreaking turn of events, Hurricane Helene flooding destroyed her entire art studio. This included so much original art and nearly all of her art supplies. As you can imagine, she is devastated.

Hannah had only recently moved to Asheville after carefully searching for a place to put down roots and continue creating art. Her studio, along with the entire River Arts District in Asheville, was utterly decimated in the flooding.

We’re raising funds to replace Hannah’s lost art supplies and the lost income from her inability to create art right now. She would like to donate any extra money to other artists in the community who were impacted by Helene.

In Hannah’s own words:

BACKGROUND

I moved to Asheville in late 2023/early 2024 after 2.5 years spent choosing a home. I loved it for the mountains, the people, and the vibrant art community that gave me great joy. The art community was hit hard by Hurricane Helene. I lost my studio and everything in it, as did a great majority of my and Asheville’s artistic community.

As an artist, I make a lot of work about climate change. My work is an effort to wake people up, to incite them to act for the preservation of our homes. The irony and poignancy are not lost on me that my work, supplies, and studio were lost to the same issue I am fighting against.

THE SCALE

It’s hard to help people understand the scale of the damage. All buildings in my immediate studio area had water up to the roofs, and many other studios nearby were also irreparably damaged. We knew the rain was going to be bad, but no one expected this much flooding. It was very sudden and unanticipated.

The New York Times even wrote an entire article about the destruction of the River Arts District:

https://www.nytimes.com/2024/10/04/arts/hurricane-helene-asheville-nc-arts-district.html

Asheville is ~400 miles from where the storm made landfall and over 2,000 ft above sea level. It was called a climate haven on many “best places to live for climate change” lists. Climate disaster was not “supposed” to happen there.

A few photos:

My studio was at Foundation Studios.

Here’s the inside:

Here’s a look at the outside; my studio was right behind the piece of angled, partial wall:

THINGS LOST

I lost all supplies except for a travel watercolor box that I had in storage, a few sketchbooks, a Micron pen, and a few colored pencils (and my computer, which I do make digital art on).

All of the following were lost in the flood:

This is just what I remember. I know there was more.

HOW YOUR DONATIONS WILL HELP

I would like to use any funds raised to rebuy supplies, and I want to donate any funds I don’t need to my fellow artists and the studio employees and managers who lost all their supplies and work and their entire livelihoods.

A few close studio friends whom I’ve talked to and know suffered drastic loss are:

Spencer Beals

https://www.instagram.com/beals.art?igsh=MWhtbzBmZXRpdDN4Zw==

Jen Seuss

https://www.instagram.com/bluelotusdesignstudios?igsh=OTRodXA1NGp2djVs

Alan Hargraves https://www.instagram.com/mountainglasswerks?igsh=eXd1dGU2bWZiMzV5

RAD Printworks

https://www.instagram.com/radprintworks/?hl=en

Reid & Jordan

There are others whom I can find through word of mouth, depending on how much is raised. I’m worried many won’t have the means to rebuild without help. This art community means so much to me, and I want to help it stay and thrive in Asheville.

Thank you so much for your support.

I’ll leave you with a few photos of my work:

From 50 States of Change (2020)

From National Parks 2050 (2017)

From Cost of Denial (2018)

From Goodstock: Putting Climate Solutions Center Stage (2023)

You can view more of my art on my website: https://www.hrothstein.com/