![]() The story is a bit sketchy, but through an association with the nearby John C. ![]() Donaldson lived in Marble, NC, and sometime in the 1920s or early 30s she started crocheting figures and animals from her homespun and dyed wool. It was made by Kate “Granny” Clayton Donaldson. This is a “cow blanket” though that is most likely a misnomer. People who follow me on Instagram have already seen this piece, but it is just too special not to share here as well. There are a few mended spots, but otherwise the dress seems to be in wonderful condition. The museum was a bit short on details, but dated the dress to around 1900. Here is a very rare survivor, a dress made for handwoven linsey-woolsey. There are other coverlets on display, like these three from North Carolina, Kentucky, and South Carolina. Women who had given up the labor of weaving returned to the loom as Goodrich and others started co-ops in which to sell the coverlets and other crafts. Unfortunately the coverlet was around forty years old at the time of the gift, and most women, even deep in the Appalachian Mountains had given up weaving due to the availability of cheap mass-produced textiles.īut Goodrich was persistent, and soon old disassembled looms were located and reassembled. In 1894 it was given to a missionary, Frances Goodrich, who was working in the area north and west of Asheville and she was so taken with it that she thought it might be a way for the local women to make money. This is the coverlet that pretty much started the crafts revival. The maker was Isadora Williams of Knoxville, Tennessee. This 1930s handbag was also made from cornhusks, backed with burlap. It was made by Alice Pratt of Asheville from braided cornhusks, lined in silk. Upstairs at the Folk Arts Center is a small, but interesting museum of some of the items in the collection.īesides textiles, there are baskets and other woven items, like the late 1930s or early 40s tilt hat seen above. The Southern Highlands Craft Guild is also in possession of a nice collection of crafts and other artifacts from the early days of the Guild. It also helped establish a strong renewal of craft traditions in the Appalachians. Remarkably, some of the efforts of these women still survive, as in the case of the Southern Highlands Craft Guild.Īnd while I find some of the ideas of one hundred years ago to be more than a bit patronizing toward the people of Appalachia, the efforts were sincere, and did actually lead to women in the Southern Mountains being able to make and market crafts, and thus to bring in badly needed cash to their families. For the most part, it was driven by a desire of middle class and wealthy women to help women in poverty through the production of traditional crafts. I’ve written quite a bit about the Crafts Revival Movement, and I’ll link to some of those articles at the end of this post. It was born from the Crafts Revival Movement, which was the rural twin of the Settlement House movement made famous by Jane Addams in Chicago. It’s mainly a crafts store that sells the products of craftspeople who are members of the Southern Highlands Craft Guild, which has been around, officially, since 1930. Visit Cameron Art Museum for more information.Just off the Blue Ridge Parkway as one is traveling south into Asheville, is the Folk Art Center. By acknowledging and questioning these effects, this exhibition hopes to highlight the many contributions, past and present, of women in the visual and literary arts. This exhibition recognizes these creators by the quality of their work however, their gender and societal mores within the time they lived, shaped their identity as artists, their work and the interpretation of it. ![]() Wallflowers at the Last Dance is included in the exhibition, titled "She Tells a Story," which celebrates the work of fifty-two visual artists from CAM’s permanent collection and connects the forms of visual and literary arts. 2016 :: CAMERON ART MUSEUM, Wilmington, NC New member of Asheville, NC's Southern Highland Craft Guild. Wonderland - a group show of mixed media works, including new teapots, at the Folk Art Center, Southern Highland Craft Guild, Asheville NC. Each year artists open their studios to the public. This will be a first time at this show in Charlotte, NC 9-10: Open Studio Tour, Kenilworth Artists Association, Asheville
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