Popular gallery changes owners but sustains its original vision
The owners of Art on 7th will now also shepherd Gallery at Flat Rock. (Right: Ancestry, a painting by Dale McEntire)
Photo by Colby Rabon
“I didn’t plan to open a gallery,” says Suzanne Camarata, talking about the 2,550-square-foot space she’d originally rented in Flat Rock in 2015. At the time, she was a freelance photographer working out of her home. “I had decided to look for a place to use as an office and as a studio. My original idea was to transition from doing wedding [and] portrait photography to studio work specializing in pet portraits.”
She had hoped to find a couple of people to share the space and equipment. But in the end, only one person joined in. “After all this, I did just one pet photo shoot in the studio!” exclaims Camarata.
The gallery’s charming cottage-like exterior, above, gives way to a spacious venue featuring dozens of well-known artists including woodworker David Macvaugh (sculpture seen below).
Photo by Colby Rabon
Meanwhile, people were stopping by and asking her what the roomy venue was all about. “I had imagined it being utilized as a versatile space. There had been a gallery there at one point, and so a hanging system and lights were still there. It was such a pretty place to display art,” she remarks. Once it was marketed as The Gallery at Flat Rock, it quickly grew in popularity over the ensuing decade and now represents more than 60 regional and national artists working in 2- and 3D mediums.
“In my heart, I [had seen] the starry promise of an incubator for creativity,” Camarata remarked in Asheville Made’s last issue, referring to those early years.
But after her mother in Dallas, Texas, experienced a life-changing health event in February, and Camarata began traveling back and forth to care for her, her heart began to send a different message: “[It] was telling me to move back to Dallas so I could spend this valuable time with my parents.”
She reports that her mother is doing well in a long-term care facility, but obviously the life changes have affected everyone in the family. “My parents have been married 63 years, and now they are in separate facilities in Dallas,” she explains. To do that, she needed to find (quickly, hopefully) someone to take over the Gallery at Flat Rock.
Camarata says she’d met Julie and Phil Wilmot when they opened Art on 7th Fine Contemporary Art Gallery in Hendersonville’s 7th Avenue Historic District in 2021. “We hit it off immediately, especially upon learning they were from Dallas, [too]. Over the years, we’ve encouraged each other as gallery owners.” Not knowing what to expect, she asked them if they’d be interested in buying her gallery. “They showed such compassion for my dilemma and the timing was just right for them. So they said yes.” Julie and Phil soon became the new owners of The Gallery at Flat Rock.
Photo by Colby Rabon
Asked what about the venture intrigued them, Julie says, “It was more of a conviction. The three of us were on the same page: We felt strongly The Gallery at Flat Rock must stay open — and stay the same.”
Photo by Colby Rabon
But there was an important element that helped them make a decision — or rather two: Camarata’s experienced gallery associates Wendy McEntire and Meighan Ash. “Both of them agreed to continue. Without them, Julie and I would not have entertained the idea of acquiring The Gallery at Flat Rock,” says Phil.
Photo by Colby Rabon
The Wilmots assumed ownership of the gallery on June 1, with their immediate goal being to follow through on the commitments Suzanne had made before her decision to sell, including the popular Art in Bloom event in late summer. Julie adds, “We want the gallery to continue to serve as an incubator for creativity and community.”
Photo by Colby Rabon
And after that, says Camarata, “the Wilmots have joked that in a few years, when they’re ready to retire, they’ll sell the gallery back to me.”
The Gallery at Flat Rock (2702-A Greenville Hwy., Flat Rock, 828-698-7000, galleryflatrock.com) is open Tuesday-Saturday, 11am-4pm, and by appointment. The 9th Annual Art in Bloom opens to the public August 31 and September 1, 9am-5pm each day. $5 admission at the door. “The Natural World,” opening Saturday, Sept. 21 and running through Saturday, Oct. 5, showcases gallery members’ visions of outdoor life in a variety of media and is a fundraiser for Conserving Carolina (see more information in the gallery-openings section in this issue).