Girlfriend Getaway: Things to do in Asheville
20.05.12
Our first stop: The River Arts district on the south side of town. We grabbed a cup of coffee at the cute Clingman Coffee to immerse ourselves in the Asheville scene first. Whereas the people in Charlotte were remarkably well-groomed, Asheville residents dress more like you’d see in a hipster neighborhood in a large northern city – only with the requisite Southern charm.
On the second Saturday of each month, the galleries in the River Arts district have open houses where you can meet the artists. Talk about Southern hospitality: Many galleries had serious food spreads too.
We walked around the galleries, taking it all in. As befits a smaller town, the scene seemed very friendly with the artists eager to talk to us and each other.

The highlights included the colorful patterns at Jonas Gerard Fine Art and the community-oriented Odyssey Center for Ceramic Arts, where individual artists have their own mini-studio space. We came away without seeing anything we’d like to buy – unusual for us on a girlfriend trip, and perhaps representative of a smaller, more isolated market. But then again, both of us commented on how we’d been burned by buying artwork that our husbands didn’t like. Maybe we’re learning something in our old(er) age.
Source: USA TODAY (blog)