White Horse forges ahead with major renovations and art installation
Black Mountain Listening Room reopens with plans to build rooftop deck
Fred McCormick
The Valley Echo
May 11, 2026
The White Horse has announced plans for a new mural, which will be featured on the exterior wall facing Montreat Road. The piece will be designed and installed by Asheville muralist Ian Wilkinson, who painted an existing mural on the north facing wall in 2020. Photo by Fred McCormick
A music venue in the center of Black Mountain is back in the saddle, as the White Horse resumed its regular concert schedule less than three months after the demolition of a ticket booth resulted in a partial roof collapse.
The nonprofit listening room, on April 16, hosted its first show since January, moving forward with plans to construct a rooftop deck and patio while installing a prominent mural on the exterior wall along Montreat Road.
Work on exterior renovations to the building began late last year, proceeding until the removal of a small attached structure that functioned as a greeting space for guests. The facade of the main building was damaged when the booth fell during the demolition process, according to White Horse Director of Marketing and Communications Judi Melton, who added that no injuries were reported in the incident.
The music venue hosted intimate shows at the Monte Vista Hotel while the building underwent structural repairs.
“That allowed us to keep staff working and artists playing, and helped us continue our mission as a community space for music and art, supporting music education, and bringing people together,” Melton said. “Above all, we’re committed to keeping live music accessible to everyone.”
The White Horse, which adopted a nonprofit membership model in 2023 and currently allows concertgoers to pay what they can for tickets, is celebrating its return with a “community-driven creative experience” that will culminate with a new installation by Asheville muralist Ian Wilkinson. The project launched, May 1, when Wilkinson, who painted a white horse on the north-facing wall of the building in 2020, hosted a workshop attended by students from ArtSpace Charter School. The gathering, which allowed local students to design individual pieces that will be incorporated in the project, was followed by a workshop for children attending Black Mountain Primary School.
“There’s something powerful about watching young people take part in creating art that will outlast us,” White Horse Managing Director Zach Hinkle said. “This is about leaving a lasting legacy of community collaboration and artistic beauty.”
Wilkinson, who has designed and installed highly visible murals around the country during his 30-year career, offered students a lesson about the medium, while soliciting feedback to incorporate into his latest Black Mountain design.
Muralist Ian Wilkinson leads a workshop, featuring ArtSpace Charter School students, May 1, in the White Horse. Courtesy photo
“They were divided into wo groups, with one group writing their thoughts and, or, feelings about music,” Melton said. “The other groups painted individual pieces, which Ian will use in the final mural.”
The idea for the project, which will also incorporate ideas from White Horse members, came to Hinkle in the days after the incident involving the ticket booth.
“Ian and I became friends at the blues festival last year, and we started talking about the possibility of a mural inside the White Horse,” he said. “When we had our issue with the wall, I was looking for a silver lining and was standing there one morning, staring at the wall, and had a vision of the aesthetic of the current mural wrapping around the building, I called up Ian and he was incredibly enthusiastic about the idea and worked with us to come up with a plan where we could get it done.”
As the White Horse moves ahead with the mural, which will be completed in phases, plans to double the venue’s capacity are also progressing, with the continued development of a rooftop bar and patio. The space, which will be accessible by stairs of elevator, us designed for year-round use.
“It’s great for our area. When people come for experiences like White Horse, or the Black Mountain Center for the Arts, or local breweries, it all works together to support the small businesses that make this town what it is.” Melton said.
The elevated addition accentuates a view from the property that was previously unavailable to the public.
“I had the occasion to go up on the White Horse roof about two and a half years ago, and what I saw from that vantage point was 360-degree views of mountain ranges,” Hinkle said. “Communing with the Seen Sisters was a spiritual experience and I went up there many times over a period of months at different times of day. Each time was more than beautiful than the last.”
The project, partially supported by a $737,000 grant from the Buncombe County Tourism Development Authority last fall, will mark a new chapter for the nonprofit organization.
“We don’t have a timeframe for it yet, but we want to have it done as soon as possible,” Melton said. “There are a lot of moving parts, but it’s something we get a little closer to everyday.”
For more information on upcoming concerts at the White Horse, visit whitehorseblackmountain.org.