Quiet Elegance: An Asheville Gallery Worth Its Frames!
The Momentum Gallery
Susan here. Thank you, thank you, to all my new subscribers, and especially to my paid subscribers! It means a lot! I love being here on Substack where there are no ads and no spam! Just all of us, sharing our belief in the benefits of culture, art, museums, and lifelong learning! Thank you!
We’ve all gone to the beach for a week, and we’re wandering the boardwalk in search of ice cream or a margarita, and we glance into a gallery window. There’s an attractive painting of a local scene, so we walk in. Inside, we see dolls made out of shells, sunsets created with sand art, and t-shirts. No thanks!
The gallery I visited last week is a real art gallery! A place that, in many ways, mimics a museum, except that everything has a price tag.
Let me share a bit of local Asheville, North Carolina, history before I tell you about this gallery.
When I was told I had been selected as assistant curator of Biltmore House, I was living in New York City, having completed two years of grad school and was finishing up my internship at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. I called a rental agent and explained what I was looking for, including living downtown. She told me, “No you don’t.” I tried to convince her why that was important to me and how moving from New York to downtown Asheville seemed like the right fit. She responded, “There’s nothing downtown, no apartments, no housing.” Oh…!
Eventually, I found an apartment - not downtown, that was just right for my first year in Asheville. A friend and I would go downtown occasionally. All that was there in the 1980s was Malaprops Bookstore (still there but in another location), a wig shop (which only closed a couple years ago), several tattoo studios, and lots of boarded up storefronts.
The beginning of downtown Asheville’s revitalization began with a gallery, Blue Spiral 1, in 1990. John Cram, Asheville visionary and entrepreneur, founded the gallery, and the rest is history! Slowly changing history, yes, but Blue Spiral 1 began the change.
There are now more than 25 galleries within a half mile radius in downtown Asheville. They showcase paintings, sculpture, photography, glass, and more. Momentum Gallery where I went last week is one of the best.
The space they’re in is 15,000 square feet of loveliness in a historic three-story building. Once you’ve entered the gallery, you are surrounded by a museum-quality ambiance. The flooring is beautiful. The lighting is impressive. The staircase is stunning. And the art is worthy of long, slow examination.
Momentum Gallery mission statement: “To provide compelling, museum-quality art to our clients.”
I’m always supportive of cultural experiences that provide wrap-around environments that please the eye and enhance our wellbeing; Momentum Gallery does that. The art is eclectic providing color and texture. And the building surrounding the art holds onto its architectural history.
The space is open. The stairway is wide. The ceilings are high. Yes, the art is amazing and intriguing, but the overall feel of the gallery is of calm and peacefulness. I wandered at my own pace. As I walked, I was intrigued and thoughtful about everything I saw. Some artwork was easily identifiable as in work by Chihuly. Other art was completely new to me. They change out their exhibits regularly. Artists are local, regional, and from across the United States.
Even the view out the window blended art and peacefulness, with a bit of nature.
One of the artists that intrigued me was Ron Isaacs. "My three primary recurring subjects are vintage clothing (for the way it continues the life of the past into the present, for its rich structures and colors and shapes, and for its anthropomorphic presence as a stand-in for the figure); plant materials in the form of sticks, leaves, flowers; and found objects. " - Ron Isaacs
Living in a big town like Asheville means we can fill our lives with art, architecture, and history! Everything from Biltmore House - the largest historic house in the United States, to our local history museum, to Art Deco architecture, and to galleries like Momentum Gallery. I’m very lucky!
Check them out: Momentum Gallery
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I've not been in there in a long time. I'll make a point to go soon as I can. :)