Artists return home after career move to NYC

Artists return home after career move to NYC
Originally uploaded by timeinch

By Timothy M. Meinch

NEW YORK CITY—After a near four-year stay in New York City, two Asheville artists are coming home.
Jason Weatherspoon and Lauren Gibbes helped start the Wedge studio alongside John Payne in the River Arts District after graduation from UNC Asheville in 2002. Less than five years later, they moved to Brooklyn, where they established themselves as painters.
“We have done quite well in New York, well enough that we are buying our second duplex for investment purposes in Asheville,” Weatherspoon said Thursday outside his apartment in Manhattan. “I'm not saying we're leaving forever, but we have things to do in North Carolina and our families are there.”
Weatherspoon said New York City was a great move for he and his wife, Gibbes, for career reasons and otherwise. Both of them sold and displayed their work in multiple galleries around the city.
“New York is very complex; it is not so cut and dry as 'making it or not,'” he said. “It's an international community that can connect you anywhere in the world.”
Surprisingly, the couple said they found a lot of similarities between life in Manhattan and Asheville. Things were just bigger in New York.
“It's much like Asheville,” Weatherspoon said. “It's a macrocosm of what we experienced in Asheville. But on that same note, my life best friends are in Asheville, so I'm excited to see them.”
Although they thoroughly enjoy the culture and vast opportunities in the Big Apple, the two look forward to living farther off the street and experiencing a little more solitude.
“We found from the last year we were drawn to the park,” Weatherspoon said. “Then we just sort of realized we really miss nature, sunsets and skylines and mountain expanses. I think we're ready for the rejuvenation period, going back to the roots and seeing nature.”
Now in their 30s, the couple said they are thinking about the future and spending more time with their family and perhaps starting their own family. Asheville is a great place for this lifestyle, but they do not think they are saying goodbye to the city forever, Weatherspoon said.
“People live in New York for a few years then move to Berlin, Portland, L.A. or Asheville for a while then come back for a few months or another year. Once you have made professional connections in New York, in whatever your field, you are always a part of it,” he said.
The artists loaded a large U-Haul outside their apartment in Upper West Side Manhattan and bade farewell to the city Thursday afternoon. Their two dogs and many art pieces accompanied them on the journey to their new home in West Asheville. Weatherspoon said they plan to work out of Randy Shull's studio in the River Arts District.