Asheville Craft Immersion Day

The Folk Art Center in Asheville, NC was established as Allanstand Craft Shop in 1902.  Francis Goodrich spent many years helping local women develop their craft and helped sell the results of their hard work.  The area became non-self sufficient so she helped create an industry whereby the local women could earn enough to make a modest living.  It appears she started with a looming business inspired by a 40 year-old coverlet she received as a gift from a neighbor in 1895.

The Guild, originally made up of members of the Southern Mountain Workers, established itself as The Southern Mountain Handicraft Guild in 1928, changing its name in 1933 to Southern Highland Handicraft Guild.  Its “mission stressed conservation, development and education of handicrafts, and standards of quality.” (From Mountain Hands – The Story of Allanstand Craft Shop’s First 100 Years, pgs. 7,8)

I have indicated my interest in this class as Jewelry and Metal, but I was struck by a basket displayed in the Black and White showcase.  The designers name is Billy Ruth Sudduth and come to find out, she is world renowned.  I fell in love with a basket call "Shakes Cat's Head", so I drew a pretty good rendering of it.  When I typed her name into google to see if there was any information on her, there was my basket!  

Billy Ruth Sudduth lives in North Carolina and is a member of the Guild.  "In 1997, she was named a North Carolina Treasure, the state's highest honor for creative excellence in the field of crafts." (http://www.brbasket.com/)  

The black and white basket (Oak, iron oxide dye, acrylic paint, plaited) is the basket that inspired me to look her up and veer from my original topic.  I added a few others so one could truly appretiate what she can do.

Handmade in America was kind of a tough one.  Personally, I took offense to the orator’s attitude, which put me off a little.  I didn’t feel she was that knowledgeable of the pieces and the designers of those pieces.  I did not come away with a good understanding of the pieces I was interested in.

With that said, I did really like 2 of the metal pieces displayed in the gallery.  I have attached pictures of the 2, but have no information on Linda Azar.  William Rogers is a little better at self promotion.  He is a member of the Southern Highland Craft Guild and teaches at the John C. Campbell Folk School.  

 William Rogers - Candle Holder, Steel Copper and Brass

Linda Azar 

At the Center for Craft Creativity and Design, we were supposed to receive an assignment.  I did not.  I'm hoping we just ran out of time and weren't given one.  I did take some pictures, because the tapestries looked really possessed and creepy through my lense.  I thought they should be shared.  The designer is Lia Cook.

I most enjoyed the Jacquard Loom tour given at the Oriole Mill.  I thought this was worth the entire days trip.  The women were welcoming, informative and so enthusiastic and with good reason.  Their product is absolutely beautiful.  I was so intrigued by the entire process, especially the actually weave demonstartion.  I still don't understand how it all comes together, but the result is gorgeous.  

They use all natural imported fabrics of wool, linen and cotton.  They demonstated the warping process which blew my mind.  I still don't understand if they hand tie all of those strands and if they do, how in the world...?  They showed us the huge computer operated jacquard looms and the beautiful fabric that it creates.  I just thought the whole proces and product was fascinating.  

The key idea behind Joseph Marie Jacquard's loom was to control the action of the weaving process by interfacing the behavior of the loom to an encoding of the pattern to be reproduced.  The amount of time that was put into weaving fabric almost eliminated the profit of the fabric, so Jacquard invented a loom that would design intricate patterns automatically, thereby reducing the cost of production. (http://www.suspenders.com/jacquard-history.htm)

The Warping Process:

The Loom:

The Loom in action:

Samples of product:

Lastly, I visited the Village Potters.  I found the 3 artists work particularly interesting.  It was more about the glazing than the shapes of the pieces.  I've traveled a lot and have visited many art exhibits, whether it's craft shows or galleries and I haven't seen glazes that look like these anywhere.  We only had a quick tour, so the process wasn't that clear to me, plus I was so interested, I wanted to buy more than understand.  Both Sarah Rolland and Cat Jarosz had a similar glazing result and held my interest equally.  I was interested in Melonie Robertson's work, because of the glaze too, but her work has a completely different feel.  The crackeled effect in her glazes is a process called Raku.

The top picture is an example of Sarah Rolland's work.  The middle is Cat Jarosz.  The final picture is an example Melonie Robertson's work.