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 skill and imagination nurture both innovative and traditional handcraft practices that exist side by side in a thriving creative economy.
In the early 20th century, a growing interest in craft was part of a renewed worldwide focus on things made by hand. Nationally, this interest is referred to as the Arts and Crafts Movement; its Appalachian counterpart is known as the Craft Revival. For the most part, the artisans who peopled the Craft Revival were not the professional craftsmen of today; rather, they were individuals with the talent and ability to make things needed for daily living. For many rural communities, craftwork — coupled with the growing popularity of mountain tourism — helped shape the region’s economy and culture. Potters, weavers, woodworkers, metal smiths, and glass artisans have made a place for themselves in these mountains for decades.
North Carolina continues to nurture its artisans. The Blue Ridge Craft Trails is a 21st century effort that follows in the footsteps of the Revival, promoting the region’s artists, their work, and the heritage of their rural communities. An online resource of over 350 Craft Trail sites and events allows visitors to experience the artistry that has come to define Western North Carolina. The historic Revival and contemporary Craft Trails share similar goals — providing support to individual artisans to preserve their creative contributions to mountain communities.
Cherokee
All people at all times make things; some say that this act of making is the essence that defines human nature. In Western North Carolina, the first artists were Cherokee people whose craftwork continues to be acknowledged worldwide. The bounty of its homeland — wood, cane, copper, and clay — are used to create all manner of work — masks, baskets, gorgets, and pots — that are carved, woven, hammered, and coiled to form a legacy of fine handwork, some of which is featured along the Craft Trails. The Snowbird Cherokee Matriarchs Mural in Robbinsville features eleven women holding artifacts to celebrate tribal traditions. The Cherokee Indian Fair, begun by Big Cove farmers in 1912, morphed into a tribal-wide fair in 1914 and has been a seasonal event ever since. The fair became a showcase for the tribe’s finest arts and crafts as interest in the handmade grew. The prestigious artisan cooperative, Qualla Arts and Crafts Mutual, was formed in 1946, followed in the early 1950s by the openin of the Oconaluftee Indian Village and the Museum of the Cherokee People. These key cultural sites form a strong basis for the preservation of native traditions, and each are stops along the Blue Ridge Craft Trails.
Pottery
Western North Carolina’s abundance of natural resources has long provided materials for industrial and creative manufacture. In the 19th century, there was a huge clay mine in Webster that extracted kaolin, a fine-grained clay, to make industrial porcelain products. At one time, 20 mines were in operation but, within a generation, the clay pits were exhausted and no longer served as an industrial export. Still, this abundance of natural clay deposits allowed for the success of a number of family-run potteries that operated in Candler, Weaverville, and Arden. In Weaverville, Reems Creek Pottery was run by two brothers. In Arden, Walter Stephen’s Pisgah Forest Pottery produced a cameo ware reminiscent of Wedgwood and, nearby, the Brown brothers operated Brown Pottery. The Craft Trails has an abundance of potters that have built on this history. Some of the longest producing are Bringle Pottery in Penland, Leftwich Pottery in Mills River, and Bolick Pottery in Lenoir. A pottery collectiv and gallery forms today’s Reems Creek Pottery in Weaverville. Annually, the WNC Pottery Festival in Sylva celebrates the medium every fall.
Fiber
Other crafts have a long history in the region. In 1895, while working for the Presbyterian Home Mission in Madison County, Frances Louisa Goodrich was given a woven coverlet that inspired her to market the weaving of local women. She established Allanstand Cottage Industries in Flag Pond before moving it to College Avenue in Asheville. South of Asheville’s center, the Spinning Wheel is remembered with an historical marker on Hendersonville Road. In 1917, a commercial weaving operation moved into a building behind the Grove Park Inn where, today, the Biltmore Industries Homespun Museum tells its story. At the height of its success, Biltmore Industries had a total of 40 looms in steady operation producing bolts of some of the finest hand-woven wool fabric in the country. In Crossnore, a weavers’ collective is documented via a display in the Crossnore Weavers and Gallery, which continues to produce hand woven items for sale. Hendersonville’s Heritage Weavers and Fiber Artists celebrate the skills of spinning and weaving on the Historic Johnson Farm.
Woodworking
Northeast of Asheville, the Woody family began making chairs in the 1800s, a tradition that carried through several generations. Woody’s Chair Shop has been featured in National Geographic and their chairs are in the Smithsonian’s collection. Wood products have long been a staple of Appalachian forests and North Carolina manufacture. Besides furniture, carving was popular during the Craft Revival. The Brasstown Carvers, a neighborhood cooperative, are known for their nativity sets with each piece the specialty of a different carver. In the 1950s, sculptor Amanda Crowe began teaching dozens of students how to make her signature bears and other forest animals at Cherokee High School.
Blacksmithing
Daniel and Lawrence Boone perpetuated the tradition of pioneer blacksmithing, as well as their famous name. In 1937, the Boones received a contract to forge the restoration ironwork at Colonial Williamsburg. Bea Hensley was a young neighbor boy who grew up within earshot of the Boone’s ringing anvil. Hensley worked at his own smithy for decades and, at age 76, was named a National Heritage Fellow. Today’s Fire on the Mountain festival honors the decades-long tradition of blacksmithing in the Toe River Valley. Stuart Nye, inspired by blooms outside his window, made his first sterling silver dogwood pin in 1933 while a patient at the Veterans Hospital in Oteen. In today’s Stuart Nye Hand Wrought Jewelry shop, a handful of full-time workers turn out jewelry in silver, copper, and brass at the Tunnel Road shop.
Crafts Education
In 1921, Olive Dame Campbell documented 42 “Southern Highland Schools” in North Carolina, many of which taught crafts as part of their manual training curriculum. Campbell later founded the John C. Campbell Folk School, which will celebrate its 100th anniversary in 2025. Located in the western-most corner of North Carolina, the school has operated continuously for an entire century, offering weeklong classes in every media. More recently, the Folk School opened Olive’s Porch in Murphy, where visitors and locals can take afternoon classes, purchase art supplies, and buy quality handwork. Lucy Morgan, a native of Andrews, moved east to join her brother at the Appalachian School in Penland. After learning to weave in 1923, she made a commitment to empower her neighbors through a revival of weaving. In 1929, on the threshold of the Great Depression, Morgan established the Penland School of Craft, which continues to offer courses year-round. In 1933, Black Mountain College was formed as an educational experiment that left a unique legacy on American art. Although it remained open for only 24 years, today’s Black Mountain College Museum + Arts Center documents and celebrates its impactful history. As public education developed, many communities outgrew their schools. Fortunately, some have found creative ways to re-purpose historic school buildings. The Cowee School Arts and Heritage Center and Stecoah Valley Cultural Arts Center preserved WPA-era stone buildings to serve as creative community centers. The Historic Banner Elk School, HUB Station Arts Center in Hudson, and Rock School Arts Foundation in Valdese have found ways to reuse schools as environments for creative learning. In Clyde, the Haywood Community College Professional Crafts Program grew from its earlier incarnation as Haywood Institute to allow for an academic study of craft.
Glassmaking
Glassmaking was a relative latecomer to the Western North Carolina craft economy, although today, it plays a significant role. It wasn’t until 1965 that Penland School of Craft set up its first glass studio. Within a few years the school was hosting glass artists who experimented, collaborated and taught others. Today, there are a number of glass artists who live and work in and around Penland and in the nearby community of Celo. Asheville is home to the North Carolina Glass Center, which maintains a gallery representing the work of 30 WNC artists. The Jackson County Green Energy Park in Dillsboro utilizes landfill methane gas to fuel its glass furnaces, providing a space for artists while making a contribution to the health of the environment.
Southern Highland Craft Guild
With the increasing success of the craft economy in the early 20th century, its leaders encouraged craft production centers to work together. In 1928, they came together to discuss their goals and pledged to form a cooperative marketing organization. Since its founding in 1930, the Southern Highland Craft Guild has provided a framework for coordinating opportunities for artist-craftsmen in nine states. In 1948, it launched the Craft Fair of the Southern Highlands, which continues as a major event in downtown Asheville every summer and fall. The Guild supports multiple galleries, an archive, and a huge sales shop housed in the Folk Art Center on the Blue Ridge Parkway.
The Appalachian Craft Revival set out to nurture cottage industries which, in turn, successfully improved the income of rural neighbors, established schools and production centers, and created an infrastructure which would effectively encourage others to make hand-crafted objects. Craft Revival makers shaped clay, in turn shaping the attitudes and values that contribute to today’s appreciation of the handmade object. Makers wove cotton, linen, and wool, weaving a sense of community that contributes to a strong sense of place. Craftsmen hammered metal, forging partnerships to effect change. Artisans worked with wood, building a regional economy based on individual talent and entrepreneurship. Craft Revival activities emphasized quality, individuality, and workmanship, values that remain evident in a 21st-century region that is both dynamic and supportive of today’s creative entrepreneurs. It is these values, skills, and creative individuals that form the foundation of the Blue Ridge Craft Trails.
This story was written by Anna Fariello, the Blue Ridge Craft Trails curator, and it was first published in the inaugural issue of Blue Ridge Craft Trails magazine.
Enjoy more of our Blue Ridge Craft Trails — Guide to WNC Craft Artists here.
