Nonna DeAngelo’s: A Studio Turned Sanctuary

The city of Asheville is home to around 700 artists. Murals can be found throughout the city, showcasing different works from thousands of minds that have a shared love of art. Now, all of the businesses that were on the opposite side of the train tracks are gone without a trace. The flood waters left only concrete blocks where the business once sat. 

The Philip D’Angelo Art Studio was not one of the businesses that were destroyed in the flooding of the French Broad River. His studio, among a few others, was up on the hill, a hundred or so feet up from the river. They helped console and rebuild the idea of community through food. 

“It wasn’t until we actually drove over here and were standing out on the bridge that we could see how bad the devastation was,” D’Angelo said. “Those first few days, I was just kind of figuring out, how do I take care of everyone?” 

The River Arts District of Asheville was once a bustling community. After Hurricane Helene struck on Sept. 27, about 80% of this once-thriving area was wiped away. This was the worst disaster facing western North Carolina in its history, where Asheville was once considered a weather-safe zone. Reporters traveled out to Asheville this past April to talk with the community.

Some of the Businesses lost in the flood include Vivian restaurant, Bottle Riot, and Bold Rock Hard Cider’s downtown taproom. Other business closures include Little Pearl, Dogwood Cottage Baking, and Bun Intended in S&W Market. The Wedge Brewing Co. and The Getaway were also closed, with The Wedge closing indefinitely.

D’Angelo has been an artist his whole life and uses nature as a basis for most of his artwork. A lot of his subject matter also falls around trees, highlighting the tree of life as one of his iconic pieces. As reporters wandered around the studio talking to D’Angelo, his gigantic paintings and realism in woodworking stood out. Not only has D’Angelo been serving the art community, but he also provides for the community around him.

Vineyard has been in Asheville since 2008, and focuses on ceramics and a mixed-media structure for his art. He is a studio partner with the D’Angelos. Vineyard has been alongside D’Angelo throughout the entire recovery process.

“There are Silverlinings,” said Vineyard. “The businesses that survived are better able to keep the candle lit in the dark and help others.”

On those first days that D’Angelo and Vineyard were down in the district, they focused on digging and cutting out debris. The debris flooded out the entire area, pieces of art that couldn’t be saved were swept downstream, among the studios where people had built their careers around. 

“Then I thought, wow, my back will last about three hours, so I’m not going to be of much help around here. So I think the Lord just said ‘feed them.’”

Philip and his wife Tina were the ones to come up with the idea to build Nonna Deangelo’s Kitchen in the studio. “Sam’s Clubs was open, and they had just gotten a shipment of things. We were able to buy some meat and bread, and when Greg came in, he just jumped in and we started making sandwiches.”

The name Nonna Deangelo came from Philip’s grandmother. The family grew up with a tradition of feeding. His family would get together on Sundays and his grandmother would cook from scratch all day. 

“It was usually family and cousins, but it was a day of community,” D’Angelo said. ”I think that’s where my love of cooking came from and feeding people.”

D’Angelo’s church began bringing the studio cases of water, among other supplies. They then began introducing other types of sandwiches and snacks for people to grab. They also got help from a neighboring studio, Michael Hoffman’s, whose gas ranch was working. 

“We quickly went into cooking and making hot meals. As soon as a handful of our friends found out we were doing it, they jumped in and we always had enough hands.”

The team began to distribute the sandwiches around the community, wherever they found people in need. “In the beginning, we had two sets of people who were delivering to the district.” So many roads were shut off due to the flooding. “We had to get permission from the police to even get back there to the spaces to deliver food.” D’Angelos famous meatball sub was a favorite option among patrons.

Philip, his wife, and Vineyard began selling their artwork online for people to donate to Nonna’s Kitchen. All of the proceeds from the art went to feeding the community.

“I was cooking one day and got a phone call, and a client had been wanting a big commission piece for a while,” D’Angelo began. “He said he was sending a thousand dollars as a down payment, and he told me we can talk about the actual art down the road. We still haven’t talked about it.”

D’Angelo and Vineyard explained how many communities came to Asheville after Helene. Clients would come in and help cook. People would bring in food supplies to donate. There were also people bringing in art supplies for the artists who had lost everything in the flood.

World Central Kitchen ended up reaching out to the art studio as well. They were able to bring around 45 meals a day to Nonna’s kitchen. 

They were able to feed first responders who were staying at a nearby hotel called the Radical.

Over the span of two months, Nonna Deangelos was running six days a week out of the studio. Some of their busiest days the group was feeding around 250. 

“We eventually dialed down the days because people eventually were able to do it for themselves,” said D’Angelo. “They were finding things closer to home, so people had less need.”

D’Angelo and his family have used faith as a guiding tool their whole lives. “I grew up religious, and I’ve always found that it drives every decision I make,” D’Angelo said. “What would Jesus do?”

Vineyard has been closely following behind D’Angelo and his wife’s efforts. “Their drive has amazing results. It’s not only fed so many people, but it gave all these other people something to do,” said Vineyard. “It gave more ideas for the community on what to do and how to go about a tragedy like this. Finding that little light in the darkness.”

Now, almost seven months later, the art studios are back in business. Artists who were displaced are currently being relocated. Some in art studios throughout the surviving River Arts District, others in a space downtown in a River Arts dedicated gallery.

Rebuilding is a process, and no one is sure what the future of the River Arts District is. Vineyard said that the whole footprint of the district will look different, but the artists will return. Hope prevails through the darkness in this community. Even though so much artwork was washed away, you can’t wash away the spirit of these artists. 

“It’s very heartening to hear that they’re not gone,” said Vineyard. “They’re just somewhere else right now.”

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This story is part of a semester-long investigative reporting project into the aftermath of Hurricane Helene. It was created by an advanced reporting class in the Journalism, Advertising, and Media Studies program at UW-Milwaukee. Other stories from the project are available here.

This work was made possible through the support of MPC Endowment Ltd., the philanthropic affiliate of the Milwaukee Press Club.