Tuesday, February 23, 2010

A go-to store to add to the list


My husband is a good gift-giver. He really tries to think about gifts and often gives me significant things -- a piece of pottery, little one-of-a-kind trinkets and jewelry that has a story. I thrive on this. But he has a secret.

In every one of the places we have lived together, he has a go-to store, a place where, for any occasion, he can go in and find something I will like. It's always a store that is part art gallery, part gift shop, and eclectic, filled to the brim with goodies. And once he finds it, he knows it.

If we ever move to Asheboro, I have his go-to store all picked out ... Circa Gallery.

A few weeks ago on a blustery but sunny day, I got to wind through the countryside to this little NC town, known more for the zoo than anything else. But what I found was a little oasis in a couple of downtown blocks where I could have happily wasted an afternoon. Circa would be the center of that afternoon.

Filled with art of various mediums, jewelry and even handmade soap (I love to smell handmade soap!), this gallery stocks close to 80 artists and is at the forefront of an evolving Piedmont art scene. They have good stuff, shiny stuff, colorful stuff, warm and fuzzy things, and plenty of space to browse, to stop, to take a closer look. Go, but be warned, it could become your next go-to store too.

Thursday, February 18, 2010

I'm Wild for Wild in the Kitchen

For this year's Southeastern Wildlife Exposition section in the Post and Courier, I had the opportunity to write about a new program which focuses on S.C. products and local chefs using those products (read article here on p. 10). Part "state fair" tent and demonstration kitchen, Wild in the Kitchen was a great event B. and I got to attend this past weekend.

Besides seeing a great cooking demonstration by Fred Neuville, here's what we sampled as a roving breakfast of sorts -- remember, all produced in S.C.-- in as faithful an order as I can remember:

-- boiled peanuts
-- a pork rind with barbecue sauce on it
-- a tortilla with barbecue sauce on it
-- creamy cheese grits
-- dry wine from noble grapes
-- semi-dry wine from muscadine
-- bloody mary mix
-- quail
-- more cheesy grits
-- pimento cheese
-- pickled okra
-- chocolate milk from the Coburg dairy

And then I was hungry for lunch.

Friday, February 5, 2010

Positive Art


Positive gets a bad rap. Pollyanna. Naive. Pipe dream.

Critical people are often seen as smart. Discerning. More in tune.

Truth is, it's often harder to be positive, to step over the ease of doing nothing because there is no use. I like positive people.

Edwin Gil is one of those people. A visual artist who transformed a youthful rebellious streak into an adult rebellious (or activist) streak that says "This does not have to be the way it is," he is using what he knows, art, to bring awareness of the growing problem of HIV/AIDS in the Latino community. He is speaking out when so many others are holding it in. He's tweeting. He's posting on facebook. And he's painting. And his paintings are cool.

I met him through his upcoming new exhibition, "Positive Art.". Who knew painting could be brave?