Suzanne Camarata had a problem.  

It was August 2010 and she was in the midst of a month-long road trip intended to help her recalibrate and redefine her career path. She was driving through the countryside of south Georgia when something caught her eye and she pulled over to take a photo. Unfortunately, when she tried to park on the side of the road, her car slipped into a ditch and got stuck.  

Suzanne was in the middle of nowhere, with no cell service, and no idea on how to extricate her vehicle from the ditch. As she stood by the side of the road contemplating her dilemma, an emaciated brown puppy suddenly appeared out of the nearby woods. The young dog clearly needed help, and it seemed the puppy had decided that Suzanne was just the person for the job. 

So, there they stood. Two beings needing help on a blistering hot summer day in Georgia. Both feeling lost. Both unsure of what would happen next.

Fortunately for Suzanne and the little brown dog, they both found the help they needed.

Guy and Carolyn Camarata with Suzanne as a baby.

In 1971, Carolyn and Guy Camarata were living in South Korea with their two young children, Cathy and Jim. Guy worked for Caltex Petroleum Corporation and was tasked with the startup and operation of a new oil refinery in a remote part of the developing country. It was a difficult assignment that had the Camarata family based in Yosu, Korea for more than three years.

During that time, Carolyn found an outlet for her compassionate nature by volunteering in the nursery at a local clinic set up by American doctors and missionaries from the Carolinas. The clinic primarily cared for families that were afflicted with cholera, diphtheria, and tuberculosis. The nursery was full of children whose mothers had died during childbirth. The staff would care for the newborns for a few weeks before typically releasing them to relatives who stepped forward to care for the children.

While working in the nursery, Carolyn was drawn to one child in particular. She was a baby girl who had been abandoned on the clinic’s doorstep and no one knew who her family was or from where she had come. Carolyn’s heart was irresistibly attracted to the tiny child with no family and no place to call home.

As the pair of castaways stood by the side of the road, a local farmer on a tractor suddenly appeared. Recognizing the problem immediately, he very calmly and quietly approached Suzanne and offered to help. With his assistance, Suzanne was able to free the car from the ditch. She thanked her soft-spoken rescuer and asked his name. “Charlie,” was his reply.

As he hopped back up on his tractor and drove away, Suzanne turned to get back into her car - and there was the puppy. She was face to face with two big honey-colored eyes that seemed to say, “Now, who will help me?” Suzanne laughs as she recalls the moment. “That dog was determined to get help.”

Unable to resist the canine tugging on her heart, Suzanne scooped up the bedraggled pup and plopped it in the passenger seat. She would have, it seemed, a stray dog as her co-pilot for the next leg of her journey.

Suzanne with her parents and brother Jim and sister Cathy.

Shortly after the chance meeting with the abandoned baby girl at the clinic, the Camaratas left Korea for a month’s leave in Australia. Although thousands of miles from Yosu, Carolyn Camarata’s thoughts kept returning to the baby girl in Korea. Immediately upon their return, she rushed to the clinic and found the baby was suffering from boils and rashes caused by the oppressive August heat. Determined to do something, she approached her husband with a proposal. Let her bring the baby home to the Caltex compound where the company doctor could treat her - a temporary arrangement to help the baby recover her health.

Guy Camarata agreed to one week. Fifty years later, that little girl would own an Art Gallery in Flat Rock, NC, and say, with a sparkle in her eyes, “Famous last words.”

Suzanne drove with the puppy to a nearby town and inquired about a vet. She was told there was one 30 miles away just across the border in north Florida. It was late on a Saturday afternoon and although it seemed unlikely that the vet’s office would be open so late in the day, Suzanne headed south.

Normally, the vet would have been closed at 1 pm on a Saturday. But fate smiled on the small dog for a second time in one day. The doctor was waiting on an air conditioning service tech to repair the broken AC and agreed to take a look at Suzanne’s stray.  

He quickly saw that the young female dog was in bad shape. Malnourished. Infected with worms. An ear infection. Covered in fleas. He cleaned her and provided some medicine. He figured that the dog might be five months old - and that it would never have seen a sixth month if Suzanne had not intervened.

When Guy Camarata’s work was done in Korea, the family was reassigned to a posting in Japan. Before they left Korea, however, the abandoned girl’s birth parents returned to the clinic. The wife was pregnant again and the struggling couple saw in the Camarata’s an opportunity for their baby girl that they knew they could never provide. They asked the Camaratas to adopt their baby.

Adopting a Korean baby and leaving the country was no easy task. Guy Camarata had to request six additional months in Korea to allow sufficient time for the adoption to be approved. Once they were cleared to leave with Suzanne, the Camaratas decamped for their new home and new life in Japan - with one additional family member.

 Growing up in Japan, Suzanne Camarata lived a life of constantly changing relationships. Students in her school included the children of company employees, diplomats, and missionaries. Often they would come and go in two to three-year rotations and Suzanne quickly learned to adapt to a life that was in a constant state of flux. She also learned how to help welcome strangers to a new life in a new culture.

Despite being very shy by disposition, young Suzanne was developing a knack for making people feel comfortable in new situations and for successfully bringing disparate personalities together. All skills that would one day serve her well in a faraway village in a country she hardly knew.

Driving through the Southeast, Suzanne’s solo road trip was now a buddy trip. Although she had never owned a dog in her life - she had two cats back home in Boston - she immediately bonded with the scrawny brown puppy.

The dog was content to ride shotgun and Suzanne was grateful for the company. Her new friend, however, needed a name. Remembering the kind farmer in Georgia, Suzanne christened the rescue, “Charlie,” in honor of the man who rescued Suzanne on the day they met.

When Suzanne was 15, her family returned to the States and set up home in Dallas, TX. Relocated once again, the young Korean woman who grew up in Japan was again asked to adapt to a new life in the midst of a strange new culture. The time in Texas was challenging and years later Suzanne would come to understand the source of her confusion. She was a Third Culture Kid. “Where are you from?” was not an easy question for Suzanne to answer. Still, as is so often the case, challenges build unique skill sets. “It was a challenge growing up and trying to fit in,” she says now. “But it has given me a wide aperture to embrace and love differences and to be very flexible.”

After high school, Suzanne was ready for a change from her new Texas home. She struck out for college at the University of Rochester in upstate New York. This time she would have to make a new home on her own.

Brown Dog on the beach in Florida shortly after being rescued by Suzanne.

At the time of her road trip, Suzanne’s home and successful photography business were located in Boston, MA. Having bonded with scrawny brown puppy, she resolved to take Charlie home to New England. But when she called to check with her landlord about bringing a new four-legged tenant, the answer was disappointing. No dogs allowed. Suzanne remembers being in tears during the phone call. She was going to have to give up Charlie and it broke her heart.

At this point in the trip, she was spending a few days at her parent's vacation home near Caesars Head in upstate South Carolina. Suzanne’s mother researched area animal rescue options and discovered an organization called, ironically, “Charlie’s Angels” in Fletcher, NC. Surely a sign, Suzanne steeled herself for the heartbreak of giving up her new friend.

It was Labor Day weekend, however, and she would have to wait until Tuesday to take Charlie to the rescue shelter - providing time enough for fate to step in yet again.

In college, Suzanne embraced the diversity of students at a large university. She enjoyed her college experience and reveled in the fact that she was no longer so obviously different from everyone else. It was her first step into a new life and a new sense of self. 

After school, Suzanne spent some time on the west coast but eventually ended up in Boston. She worked in retail for a few years and began developing a business as a freelance photographer. She loved the work and the flexibility of her schedule. “I love having flexibility. And my day was always different. I found my rhythm there,” she says.

Eventually, she contracted to work for Harvard School of Public Health. That job led to a connection with Harvard Medical School and she parlayed that connection into further jobs with other area colleges and universities. Suzanne had found her career niche. But change was looming. 

Photography at the time, like so much of society, was undergoing some profound technological changes and Suzanne was finding herself spending less and less time in the darkroom and more time in front of a computer. The transition was difficult for Suzanne. “In the darkroom you're always moving around. I loved the process of making prints. But when everything went digital, that's when I started falling out of love with photography. It got very different.”

Over the Labor Day weekend, Suzanne went to nearby Brevard, NC, and was shopping when she struck up a conversation with a fellow shopper. As they talked, Suzanne related the story of the small brown dog that had been traveling with her for a couple of weeks. She spoke of her growing affection for Charlie and how difficult it would be to give her up.

The woman listened to Suzanne’s story and immediately had a different idea. “Why don’t you let me take the dog for three months?” she said. Surprised, Suzanne asked why the person she’d just met would want to do that. “Because I think you are going to move here. And when you do, you are going to want her back.”

Suzanne returned to Boston without Charlie but soon confided to her friends she was indeed moving to the mountains of North Carolina. “I suppose I knew in the back of my mind that I wanted to move eventually,” she recalls. “But Charlie is the reason I moved as quickly as I did.”

Suzanne arrived in Asheville on December 12th, 2010 and was soon reunited with Charlie - the stray dog who helped convince her to move to a new home in search of a new career. 

At this point in the narrative of their lives, the winding journeys of the woman from Korea and the brown dog that emerged from the woods in Georgia, finally and permanently converged. They were both rescued. They were, in a very real sense, both rescuers. Most of all, they were now a team.

Suzanne rented a place in Asheville sight unseen and embarked on rebuilding her photography business. Finding clients was tougher than in Boston and she ultimately found herself returning to New England several times a year for contract jobs that kept her business afloat.  

The space that would become The Gallery at Flat Rock.

The constant traveling between Asheville and Boston, however, started to take a toll and Suzanne decided she needed to redefine her business model. Her search culminated on a cold and wintery February day when she drove into The Singleton Centre (now Flat Rock Square) in Flat Rock and happened upon a building with a “For Rent" sign in the front window.

Suzanne went to peek in the windows of the large empty space that had once been the cafeteria for the old Flat Rock High School. As she peered in, she realized that the door was unlocked. Since there was no one around on such a dreary day, she stepped into the inviting space with large windows that flooded the rustic wooden floors and high ceilings with natural light.

Standing in the center of the space that is now The Gallery at Flat Rock, Suzanne Camarata was overcome with the feeling that this was where she needed to be. “I took one look in that space and said 'I want to rent it.' I don't know what I will do with it, but I want to rent it.'”

Intuitively, Suzanne realized that the space had great potential as an incubator for creativity and community. “It's a really special space. It's open, but it feels warm at the same time." When she came back a few days later to look again, the ice on the sidewalk had melted to reveal a set of dog prints in the concrete leading to the front door. The prints were not Charlie’s, of course, but they did seem to be yet another invitation from the universe. Suzanne resolved to rent the space. She would figure out how to use it later. 

Paw prints in the sidewalk outside The Gallery.

Initially, Suzanne hoped to partner with 2-3 other photographers and share the space as an office and shooting studio. That plan never really took off and Suzanne quickly realized that the space would be an excellent venue to feature work by some local artists.

Displaying and selling art started out as a sideline, but Suzanne soon realized that her heart was leading her to a new business opportunity. “I thought I would show a few artists. And then it just morphed into what it is now. I think the timing was right. I was ready to get out of photography and the gallery was really what I wanted to do.”

Suzanne flourished in an environment where she could interact with people more frequently. She also discovered that her knack for bringing people together was a huge asset to the gallery. “I enjoy working with all kinds of people. Bringing different personalities together is really fun. I found my gift.”

She began assembling artists to represent and The Gallery's first show was in May of 2015. Suzanne looks back now and says it took about three years to get to a place where she was happy with her new business. “I truly was just feeling my way through. I didn't know for years in advance that I wanted to open an art gallery. There was a lot to learn.”  

The Gallery set up for Art in Bloom in 2019.

Today, The Gallery is one of the area's most well-known and respected art venues and is preparing to host its Sixth Annual Art in Bloom show over the Labor Day Weekend. The Gallery has become a connection hub for artists, clients, and local residents. And Suzanne sits at the hub of all those intersections. "I love that the locals will bring people and say, 'This is my gallery.' How cool is that? What an honor!"

Charlie - aka Brown Dog - in The Gallery with Suzanne

A decade after a chance meeting on a muddy Georgia road, Charlie - aka Brown Dog - now serves as the official Gallery Ambassador for The Gallery at Flat Rock. Visitors will either find her napping contentedly in her bed below a display table or vigorously wagging her tail in an enthusiastic canine welcome to The Gallery. She is pictured along with Suzanne on the home page of the Gallery website and one could argue that she is the most recognizable dog in Flat Rock.  

Suzanne is a tireless advocate for the importance of art in our lives. "Art takes us out of our normal realm. It's good to have beauty in your life - whatever that might mean. A view outside your window, or the people you choose to hang around with. Objects can have incredible beauty, but they also have a lot of energy to them. I love when people put things in their space and every time they walk by a piece of art they feel so good.” 

Today, as she sits with Brown Dog amidst the beauty and warm serenity of The Gallery at Flat Rock, Suzanne Camarata looks completely at home. Perhaps now more than ever, the child of multiple countries, cultures, and families has discovered a true “sense of place.” And she, more than most, can appreciate the power of that feeling. “The Gallery has given me roots," she says. "While I still fumble with the question of 'Where are you from?', the people in my life who I have met through The Gallery have become my tribe.”

Suzanne and Charlie have come a long way from that remote road in Georgia. And although the journey from there has been filled with occasional twists and turns, they always had each other - and knew that with the love and support of a good and loyal friend, you can accomplish almost anything.

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