Over the weekend, my son and I walked about the center of Asheville, enjoying a sunny Southern day and stopping in at various shops, galleries and cafes.
For example, we stopped at one gallery displaying the work of two artists my son had met and had a chance to chat with the artists and talk about their work. Later on in the day we stopped in again and stocked up on a couple of items to bring back to Massachusetts as gift items. One of the artists, Melissa Terrezza, explained the subversive notions behind plaster fortune cookies she had on display and revealed that she'd also played a part in work being displayed at another gallery. So we walked a couple of blocks and checked out a provocative show at Satellite Gallery by Joel Vanfuller. While my son talked shop with the gallery owner, I reviewed the photos on display. In each case, female models wore large African masks and not much of anything else, and a caption explained the meaning of the masks. Metaphors ran thick as the message of the masks collided with their setting in an American gallery, creating a cross cultural collage.
Next, we dropped in at the Green Sage, a premier coffee place with strong green thematica overtones -- not to mention wonderful food -- and I used my iPod to connect to the net.
We moved on to Wall Street, where we scanned several menus before ending up at the Laughing Seed, a vegetarian restaurant with remarkable menu choices. I ordered a Mango Lassi -- essentially an Indian version of a smoothie, though in this case including herbal overtones -- and their rendition of a falafel. While waiting for our meal, I found another Internet link and tweeted about this latest stop. Soon after, the food arrived and more than fulfilled my expectations, offering the taste of a falafel accompanied by a melange of fresh greens, peppers and other vegetables -- exquisite. As we headed out, my son bumped into a couple of other friends and we all exchanged jibes about the day and summer plans -- sometimes it feels like everybody in Asheville has some kind of artistic gig. Walking in Asheville -- it always seems to give back more energy to me than I expend.
Time to move on. I write this as my son and I take a road trip through ten states, making our way back to Massachusetts. It's a long way, but we've seen a lot. Onward.