Locality & Crafting: A Journey Through Local Artists.

An up-close look of a quilt pattern that she has been working on.The Folk Art Center started as a cottage industry by Frances Goodrich in the 1890s. A haven for trade among the local woman and artisian crafters in the area around Asheville. As time went on, it expanded and the first Artist's Guild was created in Downtown Asheville in 1908.

Sandra Rowland is a local Ashevillian that is apart of the Southern Highland Guild. Her medium is fiber, and she expresses her exuberant personality in each piece that she creates. Her kooky attitude and kind eyes only reflect a mere tidbit of what emenates from within her creativity. Here, in the photo above, she is explaining her book making for infants and young children who can't read. They are images to bring presedence to visual understanding early on. They are made from old fabrics and fibers found all around the city, that she stitches together to make fun images for the kids. She has been with guild for many years and is apart of the Chair Board. She loves kids and is just full of so much energy. Her work is adorable and educational. She is eager for life and loves her art. It shows in everything that she does. So inspirational.

Handmade in America uses handmade crafts for interiors to give a personal and more expensive look. It is one of the only interior companies that does this solely. It benefits the local economy and gives local artists a chance to let their work shine through. Asheville is all about supporting local!
This tea pot is sold at Handmade and was created by Maud and Austin Boleman. It is a typically made pot from clay adorned and glazed with different oxides. However, this is a one of a kind piece that is a perfect fit for a space that someone in the local area would love to have! It is so artfully put together with such detail that the textural facade actually looks and kind of feels like wood! It is very organic. Maud and Austin are known for these types of designs and are apart of the Black Mountain Studios in Asheville. They mimic nature so beautifully and have really found their niche in recreating it so realistically. This married duo have been creating together for years. Austin was educated at Columbia University, and Maud learned her skills from Nova Southern University.
http://www.blackmountainstudios.com/index.html

Center for Craft Creativity and Design is a center in Asheville that houses many local crafters' works. This exhibit was done by Lia Cook called her Bridge 11 Exhibit. She explemlified what it means to extend emotionalism into fabric form. She wanted to understand at what extent does a photo convey what is needed from it as far as the emotional presence is concerned. She took pictures she took of people and blew them up and had them woven into large scale on jacquard fabric. These monumental images evoke so much from the viewer. Such a strong exhibit, it resonates so brightly in the open space at the gallery.
Close up of woven fabric. 

Oriole Mill is unlike any other mill in America. Sure, the staff is small and the location is unlikely, however what makes is so much more unique than the other mills are the large windows on the building. They value their resource of natural light. It allows them to view the color so vividly and realistically, creating a trueness to their work. The create fabrics, covers, blankets and other woven products that are to transcend time and be so different from what else is offered by other mills. The machines are computer run and have a very complex way of working. They weave so intricately and rapidly that the human eye has trouble understanding it in natural motion.

Natural light from windows.Thread being fed onto a giant spool.Weaving Process.

In Asheville's River Art's District one finds so many fascinating artists and materials! Glass art is very popular. Robert Gardener has a glass blowing studio and shop in the area where so many pieces were created. They were edgy, different and so delicately gorgeous. Many of his pieces incorporated other materials and had such a elegannce to them.

Glass Ornament.Mixed Media Piece of Glass and Stone.Interior of the studio space.Exterior of Glass Blowing Studio.