ARTS & CRAFT

The Handicrafts of the Southern Highlands, the landmark study of craft in the Southern Appalachians by Allan Eaton in 1937,  led the way for many scholars to begin the work of defining a regional art and craft. North Carolina was one of the most active areas of the Southern Appalachian region explored by Eaton and others and was seminal in helping to define the unique Appalachian regional arts and craft movement that continues to be a vibrant part of the culture of western North Carolina.

The following industries and individual craftsmen represents a beginning selective list of arts and crafts in the western North Carolina region. It acknowledges many omissions and attempts only to provide the briefest overview of material found in the Special Collections at UNCA and in some other locations in western North Carolina. The list is provided for reference only and does not attempt a comprehensive and in-depth overview of regional art and craft in western North Carolina. As more exploration of this unique contribution to the culture of western North Carolina is made, it is expected that this list and other descriptive material will grow.

• Allanstand Cottage Industries

• Artisans' Shop

• Arval Woody's Chair Shop

• Biltmore Estate Industries

• Biltmore Industries

• Biltmore Industries Quotes

• Brown Pottery

• North Carolina Woodturners Association

• Hardy Davidson, wood carver

• Log Cabin

• Log Cabin Pottery and Gift Shop

• Mace Family, chair makers

• Penland Weavers

• Penland Pottery

• Pisgah Forest Pottery

• PMSS connections

• Samuel Wilson Jacob, woodcarver

• Silver Shop (See Artisans' Shop)

• Southern Highland Craft Guild

• Sunset Mountain Pottery (Steeds, NC)

• The Treasure Chest

• Three Mountaineers

• Tryon Toy Makers & Weavers

• Wade and Wayne Martin, carvers

BIBLIOGRAPHY:

Books:

• Weaver, Emma. Crafts in the Southern Highlands, with seventy-three photographic illustrations. Asheville, NC, Southern Highland Craft Guild, 1971.

• Alvic, Philis. Collection Inventory (#20053) , Manuscripts Department, Library of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

• Alvic, Philis.  Weavers of the Southern Highlands. Lexington, KY: University Press of Kentucky, 2003.

• Alvic, Phillis. The Weaving Room of Crossnore School, Inc. Newland. NC: Avery County Historical Society and Museum, 1998.

• Alvic, Phillis. Weavers of the Southern Highlands: Penland. Murray, KY: P. Alvic, 1992.

• Alvic, Phillis. Weavers of the Southern Highlands: The Early Years in Gatlinburg. Murray, KY: P. Alvic, 1991.

• Alvic, Phillis. Mary Hambidge Weaver of Rabun. Rev. ed. Murray, KY: P. Alvic, 1989, 1993.

• Eaton, Allen H. The Handicrafts of the Southern Highlands . Russell Sage Foundation. New York: Dover Publications, c1937.

• Goodrich, Francis Louisa. Mountain Homespun. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1931.

• Hall, Eliza Calvert. The Book of Handwoven Coverlets. New York: Dover Publications .

• Whisnant, David. All That is Native and Fine: The Politics of Culture in an American Region. Chapel Hill, North Carolina: University of North Carolina Press .

• Foxfire 2: Ghost Stories, Spring Wild Plant Foods, Spinning and Weaving, Midwifing, Burial Customs, Corn Shuckin's, Wagon Making and More Affairs of Plain Living. . Wigginton, Eliot, ed. New York: Anchor Press/ Doubleday, 1973.

• Bibliography of Southern Appalachia. Charlotte T. Ross, ed. Boone, NC: Appalachian Consortium Press, 1976.

• Ennis, Lynn Jones. Penland and the 'Revival' of Craft 'Traditions': A Study of The Making of American Identities. Thesis, Union Institute, 1995.

• Farr, Sydney Saylor. Appalachian Women, an Annotated Bibliography. Lexington: University Press of Kentucky, 1981

• Ardery, Julia S.  The Temptation: Edgar Tolson and the Genesis of Twentieth-Century Folk Art . Chapel Hill : University of North Carolina Press, 1998.

• Caldwell, Katherine.  From Mountain Hands: The Story of Allanstand Craft Shop’s First 100 Years. Asheville, NC: Southern Highland Handicraft Guild, 1955.

• Craig, James Hicklin.  The Arts and Crafts in North Carolina, 1699-1840.  Winston-Salem, NC: Museum of Early Southern Decorative Arts, 1965.

• Barker, Garry. 1995. Notes From a Native Son: Essays on the Appalachian Experience. Knoxville : University of Tennessee Press. 207 pp.

• Becker, Jane S. Selling Tradition: Appalachia and the Construction of an American Folk, 1930-1940 [. Chapel Hill : University of North Carolina Press, 1998.

• Payne, Elizabeth Eaddy.  “John Ruskin’s Romantic Idealism and Its Influence on Early Arts and Crafts Institutions in the Southern Appalachians.”  Ph.D. diss., Florida State University, 1991. 

• Cuthbert, John A. and Jessie Poesch.  David Hunter Strother: “One of the Best Draughtsmen the Country Possesses” [He wrote under the pseudonym, “Porte Crayon.” Strother was both illustrator and essayist for Harper’s Weekly articles]. Morgantown : West Virginia University Press, 1997.

• Roberson, Ruth. North Carolina Quilts. Chapel Hill, NC: Universtiy of North Carolina Press, 1988.

• Gore, Marilyn Y.  A Historical Study of American Quilts: Designs from North Carolina  from 1660 to 1976.  Washington DC: Howard University School of Human Ecology, 1975.  Masters Thesis

• North Carolina Country Quilts : Regional variations. Exhibit catalog for Ackland Art Museum, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, December 17, 1978-January 21, 1979.  Chapel Hill, N.C. : The Museum, 1979.

• Wilson, Kathleen Curtis.  Textile Art from Southern Appalachia: The Quiet Work of Women.  Johnson City, TN: Overmountian Press, 2001.

• Wilson, Eleanor Lambert.  My Journey to Appalachia: A Year at the Folk School.  Fairview, NC: Bright Mountain Books, 2004.

Periodical Sources and Articles:

• Handweaver and Craftsman. New York: Handweaver and Craftsman. Bound: v. 13-24, 1962-1973.

• Mountain Life & Work . Berea, KY: Berea College. v. 1 - 64, 1925 - 1988.

• Appalachian Journal: A Regional Studies Review. Boone, NC: Appalachian State University. v. 1, 1972 to present.

• Foxfire (earlier title: v. 1 - 26:2, 1967-1992). Foxfire Magazine (current title: v.26:3, 1992 to present) . Rabun Gap, GA: Foxfire Fund, Inc.

• Martin, Charles E. "Kentucky's Traditional Arts and Crafts: A Bibliography." Kentucky Folklore Record . v. 31, 1985.

• Amberg, Rob. "'Photographs of Lasting Value': An Interview With Earl Dotter." The Southern Quarterly 34 (Fall), 1995: 99-103.

• Anderson, Colleen. “Redeeming the Wood: Self-Taught Woodcarver Herman Hayes” . Goldenseal: West Virginia Traditional Life 25 (Summer), 1999: 20-29.

• Appalachian Photography.  Special issue, Now and Then: The Appalachian Magazine 14 (Summer), 1997: 1-41.

• Ardrey, Julia S. “How Edgar Tolson Made It: Oral Sources and Folk Art’s Success”. Oral History Review 23 (Winter),  1996 : 1-18

• Austin, Peter. 2001. “The Ironwork of Tony Lord” [1930s Asheville blacksmith and architect]. In May We All Remember Well: A Journal of the History & Cultures of Western North Carolina , Vol. 2, ed. R. S. Brunk, 35-57. Asheville , N.C. : Robert S. Brunk Auction Services, Inc.

• Bezner, Lili Corbus.  “Photographer Bayard Wootten in 1930s Appalachia ,”  Southern Quarterly 36 (Summer),1998. : 20-37.

• Dolby, Sandra K. "Call It Tradition" American Quarterly - Volume 52, Number 3, September 2000, pp. 585-591

• Chastain, Patti. 1998. “Pine Needle Baskets: An Interview with Mrs. Diane Taylor” [Tiger, Ga. ]. Foxfire Magazine 32 (Spring/Summer): 41-46.

• Cheek, Mary Margaret. "Romanticizing Democracy: the Mountain Art of Howard Murry." Appalachian Journal 21 (Winter), 1994: 152-171.

• Cheek, Pauline Binkley.  “The Hooked Rug Workers of Madison County, North Carolina: A Narrative Record” . In May We All Remember Well: A Journal of the History & Cultures of Western North Carolina , Vol. 1, ed. R. S. Brunk, 8-35. Asheville , N.C. : Robert S. Brunk Auction Services Inc.1997.

• Ford, Bonnie Willis.  The Story of the Penland Weavers.  Penland, NC:  [s.n., 1941].

• Goodrich, Frances Louisa.  Mountain Homespun. Knoxville: University of Tennessee Press, 1989.

• Fariello, Anna. “Arts and Crafts in Appalachia : The Third Wave”. Style 1900 16 (February), 2003: pp.70-75.

• Harwell, Jane M. 1995. "Ed Briggs: Reviving a Traditional Craft With a Contemporary Eye" [bowl carving]. North Carolina Folklore Journal 42 (Winter-Spring): 35-52.

• Hawthorne, Ann, and Robin Dreyer. 1996. " Penland School of Crafts."  Appalachia : Journal of the Appalachian Regional Commission 29 (January-April): 34-39.

• Hearne, Janet. 1997. “Ken Murray: Advocating for Appalachia ”. Now and Then: The Appalachian Magazine 14 (Summer): 26-29.

• Holbrook, Jaime. 1996. “The Art of Making a Cherokee Arrow”. Foxfire Magazine 30 (Fall/Winter): 119-123.

• Horton, Laurel .  “‘If Quilts Could Talk’: Voices from the Late-Twentieth Century.” Folklife Center News (Library of Congress) 21, no. 3 (Summer), 1999.: 7-12.