Tour the Arts Scene in Asheville, North Carolina

The Blue Ridge mountains, the Biltmore, and an intensive craft-brewery scene should be on any first-timer’s visit to Asheville, North Carolina. These attractions get at the very heart and soul of this beautiful and vibrant mountain town (population: nearly 100,000), but they are just the beginning of its wonders.

It’s true, for example, that the “give-it-the-whole-day” magnificence of George Vanderbilt’s celebrated estate sucks up much of the city’s rarified art and architecture air. But Asheville, which sees some 12 million visitors a year, also offers an enviable assemblage of art deco buildings, several art museums, and a host of galleries.

Asheville arts

Art pieces on display at the Black Mountain College Museum and Arts Center.

A recent show at the Black Mountain College Museum and Arts Center explored the influence of Mexican art on its community of artists. Photo by Michael Oppenheim

The Black Mountain College Museum and Arts Center provides an artistic overview of the influential college where notables like Buckminster Fuller and John Cage came to teach design, architecture, and music.

The museum’s collection of about 4,000 objects, along with an ongoing slate of concerts, workshops, and lectures, explores the College’s short history (1933–1957) and long legacy.

A recent exhibition showed how Mexican art influenced Black Mountain artists like Anni and Josef Albers, Robert Motherwell, and Ruth Asawa. This summer’s show will focus on ceramicist Robert Chapman Turner, who established the college’s inaugural pottery program. Free admission (donation suggested). Closed Sundays.

Visitors sitting in front of the “Intersections in American Art” exhibit at the Asheville Art Museum.

The “Intersections in American Art” exhibit at the Asheville Art Museum, which is in what was originally the town library. Photo by Tim Burleson

More works by artists associated with the college, as well as collections of glass, ceramics, and paintings by other Western North Carolina artists, are displayed at the Asheville Art Museum. It occupies a striking 1925 Italian Renaissance building that was originally the town library.

“Counter/Balance: Gifts from John and Robyn Horn,” a special exhibition on view through July, showcases major pieces of woodworking, metalsmithing, fiber, and pottery by renowned American artists like Albert Paley and Toshiko Takaezu. Adults, $15. Closed Tuesdays.

Architecture tour

Learn about downtown’s architecture on an Asheville By Foot walking tour. The area around the art museum “is a microcosm of the Asheville of the 1880s to the 1920s,” observes Tebbe Davis, a local artist and co-owner of the tour company. “At the same time, the Biltmore was being built [to the south] and what began as a Cherokee settlement protected by 4 mountain ranges was really coming into its own as a city.”

Pedestrians walking by the S&W Building.

On the National Register of Historic Places, the S&W Building now houses a nationally recognized food hall and taproom. Photo courtesy ExploreAsheville.com

A 2-hour walk covers a small patch of land chock-full of pedestrians and historic buildings. These included art deco marvels such as the white-and-red terra cotta S.H. Kress, part of a chain of five-and-dime stores; the ornate S&W Cafeteria, which now houses a thriving food hall and taproom; and Asheville’s City Hall, distinguished by a ziggurat roof that echoes the contours of the surrounding mountains.

The Grove Arcade was America’s first indoor shopping mall and later served as office space. The city reopened it in 2002 as a center for shopping and dining in the city center. Photo by Stephan Pruitt

In the downtown core, the Flat Iron office building is currently being converted into a boutique hotel. The tour’s piece de resistance is the Grove Arcade, a skylit Gothic Revival creation from the late 1920s. Built as a shopping mall, it later served as government offices before the city took it over and began the process of reopening its architectural treasures to the public.

That transformation opened in 2002, and the arcade is once again stocked with independent shops, including Battery Park Book Exchange & Champagne Bar, where visitors read and imbibe in an array of charming niches, sofas, and armchairs. Closed Mondays and Tuesdays.

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What to do in the River Arts District

Creative types do their thing in the River Arts District and open their studios on the second Saturday of each month. Photo by Stephan Pruitt

South of downtown, you’ll find the River Arts District, named for its proximity to the French Broad River, a bucolic waterway often populated with kayakers and tubers. Glassblowers, ceramicists, fiber artists, and painters open the studios they’ve carved out of abandoned mills and factories to the public on the second Saturday of each month, with extended hours and a free trolley to and from downtown.

One, Art Garden AVL, is a verdant art garden and plant shop. More than 60 artists sprawl across 2 floors, making beautiful things amid spaces draped in jungle-like foliage. Nature and art: a winning combination that perfectly sums up this mountain town venue.

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Where to eat

Diners eating on the outside patio at Benne on Eagle.

Benne on Eagle is located on Eagle Street in The Block. Photo by Nathan Lopez Photography

Asheville’s culinary scene has received recent attention from the James Beard Foundation. In 2022, Chai Pani won for Outstanding Restaurant and Cúrate won for Outstanding Hospitality. Here are some other up-and-comers:

At Benne on Eagle at The Foundry Hotel, Asheville, the menu and decor pay homage to the cooks and restaurateurs who were a pivotal part of The Block, a Black community that thrived in and around downtown’s Eagle Street in the 1960s and ’70s.

Entrées at Benne on Eagle include a Nigerian preparation of sea bass with plantains. Photo by Nathan Lopez Photography

The menu reflects The Block’s culture. Small plates include a West African hummus platter (peanut and sweet potato hummus, fried okra, candied pecans, and toast points). Nigerian sea bass (with plantains, grilled scallions, and sun-dried tomato beurre blanc) is among the entrées.

Executive Chef Jarrel McRae says his grandmothers, church, and neighborhood influenced his style of Low Country cooking.

Vivian started as a food truck and now occupies a building alongside the River Arts’ railroad tracks. Simple concrete floors, whitewashed brick, and Eames chairs provide a soothing, minimalist backdrop for the flavor-packed cuisine.

Chef Josiah McGaughey was a James Beard Award semifinalist for Best Chef Southeast in 2023. Vivian’s frequently changing menu might include standards like trout almandine or Scottish Fisherman’s Stew, a blend of fish and seafood with leeks, cannellini beans, and garlic puree. Nordic deviled eggs and the Vivian steak dinner are among items that are always offered. Closed Mondays and Tuesdays.

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Where to stay

Walkable from downtown, Blind Tiger posits itself as a guest house of a well-connected friend that is part living art and part gathering space. Photo by Matt Kisiday

Located in a tree-lined residential neighborhood a short walk from downtown, Blind Tiger offers 14 rooms outfitted in a mix of vintage furniture, plus several gathering spaces that include a garden. Rates start around $275.

In the River Arts District, The Radical offers funky luxury and a rooftop bar open Fridays and Saturdays when the weather permits. Photo by Matt Kisiday

The Radical plays on the acronym for the River Arts District, while nodding to the rebel spirit that defines the neighborhood. Rich textures and jewel tones are juxtaposed against graffiti mural walls for a spot-on blend of luxe and funky. Rates start around $269.

Based in Philadelphia, JoAnn Greco frequently writes about urban destinations.

Be sure to designate a driver if you plan to drink alcohol.