Connecting to Place: Blue Ridge Craft Trails Invitational 2026
An event every week that begins at 10:00 am on Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday and Saturday, repeating until July 25, 2026
As Georgia is known for its peaches and New Orleans for its jazz, so too is Western North Carolina known for its high-quality craft. What makes WNC a center of craft is the artists’ knowledge of natural materials and their connection to the place that provides them. Their hand skills and imagination nurture both innovative and traditional handcraft practices that exist side-by-side in a thriving creative economy.
The Bascom: A Center for the Visual Arts and the Blue Ridge National Heritage Area will present Connecting to Place: Blue Ridge Craft Trails Invitational 2026, a juried group exhibition featuring 20 craft artists from across Western North Carolina, on view in the Thompson Gallery from May 16 through July 25, 2026. Curated by M. Anna Fariello, the exhibition celebrates the Blue Ridge Craft Trails and the living traditions of handcraft that define the region’s creative identity.
Artists
Teresa Bouchonnet | Myron Carter | Susan Coe | Laurey Faye Dean | Brad Dodson | Gayle R. Haynie | Karen H. Hovis | Carol Lynn Johnson | Ilene Kay | Mike McKinney | Paul Hornbuckle | Janlyn Messina | Davy Arch | Caden Painter | Terance Painter | Paul Pieringer | William S. Rogers | Desmond Suarez | Gayle Barker Woody | Joe Frank McKee
