Locals
Every day R. Brooke Priddy blesses Asheville residents — or those lucky enough to pass by her storefront window — with a vision of her latest creation, usually a breathtakingly sensuous gown executed in hand-dyed silks and satins. Each of her ethereal garments goes out into the world tagged with a Spanish blessing, a fittingly nautical touch from a designer so infatuated with all things maritime that she named her label Ship to Shore. Priddy, 28, moved to Asheville in 2003 to peddle a popular line of dainties she first created while living in New York. Once ensconced in the mountains, Priddy, a graduate of the North Carolina School of the Arts and the San Francisco Art Institute, started sewing dresses. Her flowy, body-hugging, often-reversible pieces have been embraced by women of all sizes, many of whom undergird every outfit with her ultra-feminine bras and panties. www.shiptoshoreshop.com 828-242-1278

Marisha Pessl:
A Very Brief Biography
(author of the international bestseller Special Topics in Calamity Physics)
When she was three, Marisha Pessl's family moved to Asheville, known in select circles as the Paris of the South and one of the best places to retire in America. Marisha cultivates entirely healthy obsessions with old Hollywood, Alfred Hitchcock, film noir, Broadway, Katharine Hepburn, slang, Wes Anderson,  The Talk of the Town, socialitelife.com, Saul Steinberg, Martin McDonagh, Bloc Party, Francesco Clemente, New York City Ballet, Coco Chanel, Charles Dickens, Jonathan Franzen, art deco furniture, Aubrey Beardsley, Un homme et Une Femme, Marcello Mastroianni, black and white portrait photography, Paris, F. Scott Fitzgerald, the Jazz Age, "The Dead," 1960s French and Italian cinema, Mario Batali restaurants, tea at Brown's, Edith Wharton, Arden Editions of Shakespeare, horses, Debussy, Ian McEwan, David Mamet, Jeffrey Eugenides, Elia Kazan, Egon Schiele, Cassell's Movie Quotations, Gene Kelly, On the Waterfront, Alberto Giacometti, Pnin, Matisse, Charles D'Ambrosio, John Patrick Shanley, Romancing the Stone, Tamara de Lempicka, Oscar Wilde, The Nature Channel, Neapolitan mastiffs, DK Eyewitness Travel Guides, Jimmy Stewart, George Cukor, Nat King Cole, portable encyclopedias, It Happened One Night, Clive Owen, The Killers, W magazine, Ogden Nash, Quentin Tarantino, and gnocchi. Marisha lives in New York City with her husband and two cats, Hitchcock and Fellini.

Christopher Holt
While living among artists who use the most up-to-date digital technologies to express their visions, Christopher Holt has taken a more traditional approach to his craft. Holt has followed a course of study minted in the Renaissance, relying on a mix of apprenticeships and formal training to develop his drawing and painting skills. Holt earned his studio art degree from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill before returning to his hometown of Asheville to enroll at the Fine Arts League. He has since assisted Ben Long and Roger Nelson on their regional fresco projects.