On Saturday, April 21, 2012 the 82nd Annual Meeting of the Southern Highland Craft Guild was held at the Folk Art Center.  The following people were honored during the Awards Ceremony:

Honorary Membership

Anthony Cole

Karol Kavaya

Walter Powell

Heritage Craft Affiliate

Brown's Pottery

Wayne Henderson

Life Membership

Carlson Tuttle

In Memoriam

Kitty Alcott

Garry Barker

Evelyn Brown

Phillip Brown

Joyce Cooper

Lenda DuBose

Jim Hiett

Hal McClure

Ralph Morris

Roy K. Pace

Dyan Peterson

Miriam Thompson

Legatha Walston

Sally Wilkerson

The New Board of Trustees was also announced at the Annual Meeting.  The 2012 - 2013 Members of the Board are:

Teresa Brittain, President
Oak Ridge, TN

Alan Hollar, Vice President
Newland, NC  

Freida Terrell, Treasurer
Clyde, NC

Mary Dashiell, Secretary
Meadows of Dan, VA 

Hugh Bailey
Knoxville, TN  

Sandra Rowland
Murphy, NC  

Janet Taylor (finishing out the remaining 2 years of Lila Bellando's term)
Spruce Pine, NC  

Greg Magruder
Asheville, NC  

Bernie Rowell
Candler, NC

Alice Pratt hosts a weaving demonstration at the 1957 SHCG Craftsmen's Fair

Alice Pratt: A Life of Weaving and Service

Editor's Note: This post is the second in a series called "From the Archives" - a look back at the people who served and helped shape the Southern Highland Craft Guild. The author of the series is Bonnie Krause. Bonnie works at Allanstand Craft Shop and volunteers in the
SHCG Library.

Alice Pratt was born in Covington, GA in 1899. Following in the footsteps of several generations before her, she would become a talented weaver. Her grandmother and great grandmother wove counterpanes and coverlets in the early nineteenth century. She attended Maryville College in Tennessee, taking studies in home economics and the Bible from 1925 to 1929 where she also taught tailoring. After college she took a position at Pi Beta Phi Settlement School in Gatlinburg where she worked as a bookkeeper for the weaving outreach program. Continuing in the family tradition, Pratt developed her weaving skills there in Gatlinburg. As reported in an Asheville Citizen-Times article about Pratt, "Her love of weaving is a family inheritance."

With the economic troubles of the Depression, Pratt found a position from 1933 to 1937 teaching weaving in the Works Progress Administration Women's Program in Knoxville. This was one of the many programs aimed at increasing unemployed women's skills and helping them find work to support their families. According to the Knoxville News Sentinel in 1936, nearly 1,000 women worked seven hours a day, five days a week at a sewing room on West Jackson Avenue . They created cotton dresses, overalls, infant and children's clothing. The women earned $33 a month and the clothing was distributed to those in need. Some women made quilts and others wove rag rugs, linens and draperies. They also learned additional skills in family and childcare, health and literacy. At an exhibition of products from the Women's Program, Pratt participated by demonstrating loom weaving. One of her students later wrote , "I have you to thank for one of the great joys of my life. We built a loom and began learning and have never stopped."

Following her work in Knoxville, Pratt advanced to Regional Supervisor of Handicrafts for the Farm Security Administration Homestead Project with headquarters in Raleigh, NC. The Homestead Project created new communities for unemployed and homeless families and taught new skills. From 1938 to 1940, Pratt set up craft rooms, gift shops, working 2 - 3 months at each site. She worked in Crossville and Cumberland in Tennessee, Eleanor in West Virginia, and Wolf Pit Farms and Rockingham in North Carolina. During this time, Pratt met with Eleanor Roosevelt, a supporter of crafts and new communities.

Through the late 1940s to the 1960s, Pratt taught weaving in a variety of educational settings: University of Tennessee Home Economics, Asheville College, Warren Wilson College and the Asheville Recreation Department. After studies in social work at the University of North Carolina, she served as a caseworker and therapist at the Asheville Sanatorium and Appalachian Hall. She also taught crafts for paraplegic World War II veterans at the Regional Veterans Center in Asheville.

Throughout her life Pratt attended summer school weaving classes at Penland School of Crafts. She joined the Southern Highland Craft Guild in 1942 and received Life Membership in 1978. She served on the 1945 Guild incorporation board, the nomination committee, and the craft fair exhibitions committee. She continued weaving until her death in 1990.

Alice Pratt dedicated her weaving studies to traditional work, saving weaving drafts in an album for coverlet and counterpane designs, including family drafts dating back to the 1830s. Her contemporary weaving included napkins, towels, placemats and runners. She donated numerous samples of her work as well as family counterpanes to the Southern Highland Craft Guild's Permanent Collection.

Alice Pratt looks on during a weaving demonstration at the 1961 SHCG Craftsmen's Fair

(New Member Orientation at the Folk Art Center, March 6, 2012 - shown left to right:
John Turner, Tony Dills, Greg Shaffer, JJ Brown, Simona Rosasco,
Paul Weller, Shelby Mihalevich,
Harry Hearne, Patte Vanden Berg, Lucy Gibson, Bob Gibson, Barb Butler,
Donata Jones, Beth Andrews, David Wright)

The following artists were accepted into the Southern Highland Craft Guild following the first jury of 2012:

Beth Andrews
Greer, SC
FIBER

JJ Brown and Simona Rosasco
Fyreglas Studio
Bakersville, NC
GLASS

Barb Butler
Sutherland Handweaving
Asheville, NC
FIBER

Tony Dills
Weaverville, NC
WOOD

Karen Donde
Candler, NC
FIBER

Robert and Lucy Gibson
Cruso Studios
Canton, NC
MIXED MEDIA

Harry Hearne
Turning Point Clay Studio
Murphy, NC
CLAY

Donata Jones
Bostic, NC
FIBER (HERITAGE)

Alex Matisse
East Fork Pottery
Marshall, NC
CLAY

Shelby Mihalevich
SMetal Designs
Waynesville, NC
JEWELRY, MIXED MEDIA

Annette Romines
Pigeon Forge, TN
FIBER

Denissa Schulman
Skyland, NC
FIBER

Greg Shaffer
Three Springs Forge
Bristol, VA
METAL

John Turner
Reidville, SC
CLAY

Patte Vanden Berg
Pattecoats
Asheville, NC
FIBER

Paul Weller
Aero Pablo Designs
Asheville, NC
METAL

David Wright
Tazewell, TN
WOOD (HERITAGE)

This post is first in the series, "Book Report," which will review new acquisitions to the Robert W. Gray Library here at the Folk Art Center. The author of the series is Guild librarian and

archivist, Deb Schillo.

The Robert W. Gray Library at the Folk Art Center was able to add several new titles to the collection this month. We are keeping an eye on Lark's 500 series, since the books often include the work of Guild members. We added 500 Vases, 500 Tables, and 500 Raku. We also purchased the latest Foxfire books, so we now have all 12 volumes.

Of special interest to our membership is a new book titled Heirlooms & Artifacts of the Smokies, Treaures from the National Park's Historical Collection. The Great Smoky Mountains National Park artifact collection contains prehistoric items such as arrowheads and pottery shards, so the book begins there with a sampling of items that have been cataloged for their collection. In the 1930s and 40s collecting did not focus on Cherokee objects, leaving that field of research to the Cherokee Historical Commission and their own collections. Rather the park supervisors were interested in preserving a sense of what life in this isolated area was like for early pioneers right up to the time that people began leaving their mountain cabins.

The book is concerned with the artifacts left by early settlers in the Great Smokies region. Chapters are divided into the various occupations and needs of isolate families. For instance Farm & Field includes photos of tools used for planting, harvesting, tending livestock, clearing forests, and trapping animals - all items made by regional artisans. Crafts such as Blacksmithing, Woodworking, Spinning and Weaving, and Quilting merit their own chapters. Looking at the photographs of the old artifacts gives one a sense of the rugged, unadorned life of Appalachian immigrants. As the opening section states "To scratch with a garden hoe, day after day, in a rocky hillside cornpatch had to be exhausting work. To wear out that hoe, and start on a new one, simply taxes comprehension. This book is about the people who did that kind of work, and the tools they used to do it."

Aside from the object photographs there are historical photographs of the people who lived on this land. Nearly all of the people photographed have been identified. Former Guild members Matt and Mary Ownby are shown making rifles. Claude Huskey, a relative of current Guild members is shown working at the draw horse to shape a chair leg.

Each chapter is introduced with a brief essay about why the objects were important to their owners and how they were used. Seeing the old tools in their rough condition adds to the story and the sense of connection one feels with these artifacts. It is not difficult to imagine the isolated families and the strength it took to survive in these mountains. As Guild members, there is a special connection to the items in this book. Whether or not you grew up in the Appalachian mountains, by living here and working with crafts you help to keep the traditions and the story of mountain folk alive.

About the Robert W. Gray Library:

The mission of the Robert W. Gray Library is to collect, preserve, and make available for research materials concerning the appreciation and knowledge about traditional and contemporary crafts - particularly the craft heritage of the Southern Appalachian region.

Library materials relate to craft work from around the world and in all media with historical background as well as "how-to" information. There are also materials on regional history and development.

The collection contains over 7,000 books and exhibition catalogs, 45 current periodical titles as well as many that have been donated and are no longer available. A recent addition is an audio-visual area where visitors may choose from over 100 craft-related videos.

While the resources do not circulate, the materials are available for use on site.

The Library is open whenever the Folk Art Center is open- every day from 9-6 (5pm in winter). It is housed on the second floor, to the left of the receptionist desk. The collection catalog is available on the library's computer at all times and a librarian is present four day's a week ( T-W-Th-F ) to assist users.

Editor's Note: This post is the first in a series called "From the Archives" - a look back at the people who served and helped shape the Southern Highland Craft Guild. The author of the series is Bonnie Krause. Bonnie works at Allanstand Craft Shop and volunteers in the
SHCG Library.

O.J. Mattil

O.J. Mattil, he never used his first name Otto, was born in 1896 in Chattanooga, TN and earned a Bachelor of Science degree at the University of Tennessee in 1920. From 1922 to 1929 as an agricultural extension agent for the University of Tennessee, he taught vocational education, agriculture and woodworking at the Pi Beta Phi Settlement School High School. His wife Francis was a public health nurse for the school. Mattil taught wood shop, animal husbandry, horticulture and poultry raising and visited rural farmers, giving advice on crop rotation and fruit tree pruning. His early visits to farmers along primitive mountain roads were on horses that he cared for at the school along with cattle. On later trips he drove his Ford, carrying the first movie projector seen in the area, showing new farming method films at small local school houses.

Mattil created the first woodshop at Pi Beta Phi School funded through the industrialist Louis E. Voorhees of Cincinnati. Voorhees would later donate his Tennessee property and buildings for the founding of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. At the shop students constructed cabinets, furniture, mountain furniture reproductions, miniature beds and chests. He researched, searching remote mountain homes, then reproduced traditional mountain designs in his pieces as well as creating new designs. Many of the Gatlinburg, TN woodcarvers such as Carl Huskey studied and worked under Mattil and created their own woodshops and carving businesses.

In the 1930s - 40s Mattil taught adult education at the Tennessee Valley Authority Center in Norris, TN after the TVA created the lake and electrification at Oak Ridge. Many of his students were workers on the 1933 dam construction. He worked with the Civil Conservation Corp (CCC) and with young men in thirty-four east Tennessee counties.

Mattil joined the Guild at its official founding in 1932 representing his business Woodcrafters and Carvers. He participated in the first traveling exhibition of the Guild in 1933 under the American Federation of Arts sponsorship. That show with over 500 items traveled to Washington, D.C., New York, Illinois, Nebraska, Missouri, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, Virginia and Kentucky. Mattil served on the Guild Board over 34 years, being President from 1937 to 1940and 1966 to 1967. He was regarded as "Mr. Craftsman's Fair" by assisting with the Guild fair from its founding in 1948 and leading its organization and set-up for 43 fairs. When the TVA founded the craft organization, Southern Highlanders, Mattil participated on the Board of Directors until it joined the Guild in the 1950s. He served on the Guild's Old Crafts Committee which supported a museum of old crafts for the Great Smoky Mountains National Park resulting in the historic farm at the Oconaluftee Visitor Center. Mattil was awarded a Guild Life Membership in 1965 and was declared "Director Emeritus" of the Guild in 1971. He died in 1976. Mattil and his woodworking were mentioned several times in Allen Eaton's Handicrafts of the Southern Highlands. Mattil and his incredible volunteerism over three-quarters of the twentieth century contributed significantly to the success of crafts and craft organization in the Southern Highlands.

Oscar Cantrell, blacksmith, and O.J. Mattill, photo taken at the 1959 Craftsmen's Fair

Claudia and John work on a collaborative project at Yummy Mud Puddle.

There are many paths which lead people to settle in the mountains of western North Carolina. For Claudia Dunaway the move to Burnsville was a sort of homecoming. She grew up in Reidsville, NC and has fond memories of visiting the mountains in her childhood. For her husband, John Richards – home is where Claudia is (and, of course, he fell in love with the amazing natural beauty of the area and the thriving arts community). The artists (Claudia is a potter and John is a sculptor) form Yummy Mud Puddle – the site of two studios and one gorgeous view. Claudia creates hand thrown stoneware and porcelain fired in a gas reduction kiln. John works with mixed media and found objects to make sculptures, lamps, and jewelry.

Claudia and John moved to Yancey County in 2003. By 2005 they were both members of the Southern Highland Craft Guild. John recalls visiting the area before the move and one of the places which resonated with him, assuring him this was the right place for them was the Folk Art Center. He appreciated Allanstand Craft Shop and the exhibition galleries and their obvious support of regional craftspeople. Their work is now represented at the Folk Art Center, Guild Crafts, Parkway Craft Center and Arrowcraft.

Claudia’s attachment to the Guild was formed years earlier. Her mother was a lifelong advocate of the arts and took Claudia year after year to Guild fairs – in Gatlinburg and later in Asheville. She grew up wanting to be a member of the Southern Highland Craft Guild. After her graduation from UNC – Greensboro she studied under legendary potter and SHCG member Charles Counts at Rising Fawn in Georgia.

Claudia and John have been blown away by the inspiring and supportive community in Yancey and Mitchell County. With its close proximity to Penland, the area is a mecca for talented craftspeople. The couple (who have each lived in several other art towns) notes that it is like no other place on earth – not only the quality of work being made but the amazing support that is provided by other artists and area galleries. They are both involved with the Toe River Arts Council and regularly participate in the TRAC studio tours. Claudia also regularly exhibits at the Spruce Pine Potters Market. She also plans to exhibit at the Craft Fair of the Southern Highlands, perhaps in October 2012.

Spending time at Yummy Mud Puddle is an opportunity to see a couple creating not only art, but living life as an artful collaboration. As business partners they share responsibilities. For example, Claudia handles the online elements and computer-related aspects of their work, and John makes regular trips to galleries to deliver work and check in with buyers. As artists they bounce ideas off one another and occasionally collaborate for exhibitions. They enjoy their lifestyle, living moment to moment, embracing the risks and solitude afforded craftspeople, and making up their own rules as they go along.

John and Claudia will be participating in an exhibition of their work at
W.B. Tatter Studio/Gallery in St. Augustine, FL.
Artists' Reception
Saturday, January 28, 5 - 9pm

Did you know that there are nearly 500 fiber animal farms in western North Carolina and 400o fiber artists? I didn’t either until reading about Handmade in America’s new exhibition, Farm to Fashion in a recent Asheville Citizen-Times article. Yesterday I had the opportunity to check it out at HIA.

The show, which is sponsored by Echo View Fiber Mill in Weaverville, explores the fiber community in North Carolina, raising awareness about the importance of handmade clothing and bringing to light the networks which are being created to bring the raw materials of fiber arts into the hands of craftspeople. The exhibition not only highlights the final product, but the raw materials from which the art begins including sheep’s wool and plant materials used in natural dyeing.

Objects featured include coverlets, shawls, scarves, hats, and handbags using felt, wool, cotton and repurposed materials. Styles range from traditional to contemporary, all showing a mastery of skill and design. Many Southern Highland Craft Guild members are active in the locally sourced movement and have work in the show. The list includes: Mary Nichols, Teena Tuenge, Edwina Bringle, Eileen Hallman, Cassie Dickson, Dede Styles, as well as Haywood Community College and the Crossnore Weaving School.

This video, "Natural Dyeing with Dede Styles" is on display in the exhibition:

Here is more information from Judi Jetson of Handmade in America about the network of suppliers and artists working together to build the local fiber economy:

The WNC Fibershed Initiative's Mission:

To sustain and encourage the growth of the regional fiber and textile arts economy and professions through collaboration, education and innovation.

Approach: A group based in Asheville, North Carolina has started an initiative to grow the regional fiber economy, focusing on craft artists, fiber animal farmers and emerging fiber mills and processing businesses. Based on strategies of adding value to locally harvested materials and substituting local products for imports, they have identified 8 areas for attention:

· Develop an on-line directory of sources, makers & users of fiber, including

o Fiber Artists

o Guilds and associations

o Research and trade organizations

o Schools and colleges with fiber programs

o Retail stores and boutiques carrying local fiber and locally crafted garments

o Fashion & home furnishing designers

o Local manufacturers and custom mills

· Develop an online calendar for events and classes

· Estimate and track the size of the fiber economy

· Organize textile shows and tours

· Start a Textile Study Group

· Study feasibility for a Community Dye studio & Textile Center

· Support Fiber Entrepreneurship and identify $ for new fiber-related ventures

· Advocate wearing & making garments from the local Fibershed

Interested in Joining? contact Judi at jjetson@handmadeinamerica.org or call 828-252-0121, ext 304