inspiration trip to Charlotte

my husband took me to charlotte this past weekend for my birthday, and i was so excited to see their arts district called NODA. we strolled the streets of an area really similar to Pendleton Street Arts Dist (where my studio is in greenville) an area being revitalized. cool old brick buildings with funky and fun galleries inside lined the streets. there were some fun little sandwich shops along the way, a coffee shop, a theater/music house, a cool book house, a "pamper your pet" shop, a french bakery and a nice restaurant. It wasn't that far ahead of my arts district. the gallery and boutique owners were so nice to share their experiences and offer their advice. Some of my favorite galleries and boutiques were, lark & key owned by Sandy Snead and boyfriend Duy Huynh, both talented artists themselves. This was a gallery/boutique with a mix of jewelry, clothing, fine art, and ceramics. they are what and where i want to be in the future with a nice mix of all things creative. another really cool gallery that also included working artist studios was green rice owned by Carla Garrison. she had a super great mix and was so kind to share how she got to where she is and share some tips. Both of these ladies were young professionals which was cool for me to see them young and following their dream, and achieving it! they both have done such an awesome job with their spaces and have really nice collections of affordable artwork.

A few other cool places to check out are the Boulevard this boutique/gallery carries some really cool local goods and artwork. also, Center of the Earth Gallery was a very nice higher end gallery that had a really great collections in. another funky place we stopped in was Beet a gallery of contemporary craft and functional art.

I'll be posting more about some of the individual artists this week. if you're ever in charlotte, be sure to check NODA out. i was so happy i had the chance to go this weekend, and i'm ready to get to work in my own artist district and studio :)