Just because I wander doesn't mean I'm lost!

This beautiful landscape is on the Blue Ridge Parkway in North Carolina. This was the last stop on our last wandering. Beautiful country!

We began our journey by following the North Georgia Arts Tour. We drove up US 23 and began our trip in Dillard, GA then to Clayton, Lakemont and Tallulah Falls and then to Toccoa all small towns in north Georgia. They do this twice a year and it is a great time to see all the galleries who all have working artists there. We saw wood working, painters and even basket makers using Kudzu . We had lunch at the Dillard House. Like most things Southern this is still in the family and began the tradition in 1820 as farmers and providers of traditional Southern hospitality.

The have a lodge and very famous restaurant where you eat family style. The term "groaning board" covers the event. They bring everything to the table and you serve yourself what you want. The cheerful waitress says, "Now if you want more you just holler."
I think this photo of my husband Tom and the lunch spread will let you see why this place if famous.

Yes, all this food was just for the two of us. No, we didn't eat it all but made a good dent.



Tallulah Falls was an interesting stop. The Tallulah Falls School, which still operates today as a private school, was begun by Mary Ann Lipscomb a member of the Georgia Women's Federation Club. It was originally founded to provide the mountain children with education since there was no school in the area. The organization still operates the school, a gift shop and now a beautiful hotel called The Lodge at Tallulah Falls. It is the best lodging in this area, brand new and beautifully decorated by the Women's Federation.

Our next stop was in Greenville, South Carolina. What a wonderful town, filled with art and an beautiful downtown, arts district and river walk area. Our first visit was the Greenville County Museum of Art. They currently have a great show called Art & Artists of South Carolina which included both historic and contemporary art. The highlight for me, however, was the collection of Andrew Wyeth. They have a great body of his work and it was delightful to see them up close and in such a wonderful museum. The entire town was a surprise and beautiful. Their river walk area (they have a real river and water fall running through the city) has been developed into a charming area with lots of restaurants, loft housing, art galleries and boutique shops. We strolled both sides of the river and enjoyed watching the ducks and the kids enjoy the water. This is a view of the pedestrian suspension bridge over the river.


Then on to Salisbury, North Carolina to visit our artist friends Whitney Peckman and Syed Ahmad. They and their neighbors have restored an historic building in downtown which they call the East Square Artworks. The town of Salisbury is making great efforts to preserve and protect the historic buildings and homes in the community by creating various historic districts. This includes the downtown where Whitney and Syed have converted an old bakery to galleries, work space and loft housing. Salisbury has a historic preservation commission that even has buildings for sale. It is a great place for art and artists and a growing beautiful community.

Whitney and Syed fed us, entertained us and gave us a great tour of the area including the Waterworks Visual Art Center where Whitney currently has a show of her beautiful paintings.

They will also exhibit their work at the 20th annual Celebration of Fine Art and we will see them there in Scottsdale Arizona during the winter.


After Salisbury we drove to Asheville, North Carolina. Asheville is filled with galleries and artist colonies. This beautiful mountain setting provides a home to many artists in various
media. The tradition of crafts is very strong in this part of the country and many of these artists have taken the craft to fine art. One of the places that you must stop is the Southern Highlands Craft Guild shop on the Blue Ridge Parkway where they also have a Folk Art Center.

We shopped and enjoyed the art and crafts and watched an artist making psalteries (pronounced without the P). It is a musical instrument that has a lovely lyrical tone. I almost bought one just for the sound. The artist, Rick Long, showed me how to play "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star " and allowed anyone could play a psalterie. It looks easy and sound great but I still am not sure I could get past the first song.



There are simply too many galleries in Asheville to record them all. It is like a multi day feast for art addicts. I will mention one special gallery and a couple of fabulous artists. There are two very famous places in Asheville. One is the Biltmore Estates and the other is the Grove Park Inn.

Next to the Grove Park Inn is the Grovewood Gallery a gallery of fine art crafts, sculpture, furniture and more. Among the art displayed their was a wonderful desk. It is called an Aaron Burr desk and was made by artist Barry Tribble. When closed the desk will look like a table with a beautifully inlaid top. When open half the top folds back and the sides open to reveal a desk with drawers and a chair! The inlaid wood veneers contain many colors and textures which have been influenced by the ancient art of marquetry.



The second gallery was the Haen Gallery where the owner chatted with us and told us all about the artist who's paintings had me spell bound. His name is Lynn Boggess. He is a plein air landscape painter who lives in West Virginia. His paintings are amazing. He has a special portable studio that he hauls with him into the wilds so he can paint in any weather. It is shown on his web site (click the link on his name) and it is amazing. The spontaneity shows in all his work, even the biggest canvases which he does right on the spot, no studio work for this guy. He is brilliant.

It was a fabulous trip filled with art and covering 3 states. You can do that in the South in a matter of hours. Asheville is only about 4 hours away from us. I am sure we will be going back again.

The Customer Service Rant for the month:
You know from reading my blog that I am adamant about customer service in galleries and this trip we had mostly great experiences with people talking to us about the art and artists. There was only one really startling bad moment. We were in in an Asheville gallery and I was studying a huge painting ($10,000 price tag) that had all sorts of hidden detail. The sales gal came from behind me and said, "Excuse me would you move please we (an artist and herself) need to see these frame choices." She then plops a small painting with different frame corners on the couch in front of this big painting and proceeds to discuss the frame choices with this guy, ignoring me completely. Amazing!