Bringing together the crafts and craftspeople of the Southern Highlands for the benefit of shared resources, education, marketing and conservation. j S&UTHERN HIGHLAND CRAFT GUILD The Southern Highland Craft Guild is an educational non-profit organization recognized for over six decades as a leader in promoting crafts of the Southern Highland region. Its acftive juried membership of over 700 craftspeople come from the mountain counties in nine southeastern Slates. Craftspeople are juried for life-time membership and only the work of these members is found in Guild owned shops. The corporate headquarters of the Guild is located at the Folk Art Center on the Blue Ridge Parkway. SPECIAL EVENTS The Guild sponsors several educational special event days throughout the year at the Folk Art Center. Fiber Day, Clay Day, Appalachian Melody, Wood Day and Celebrate Folk Art all bring craftspeople together so that visitors have the opportunity to observe the craft process first hand. Many special events also include hands-on opportunities for gueSts. From April through December craft demonstrations are held at the Folk Art Center. Watch brooms are made, coverlets woven, 1 in cornshuck dolls assembled, precious stones set into elegant metal pendants and figures carved out of wood; call for specific information. The third Thursday-Sunday of every July and 0<flober the Guild sponsors the premier craft lair in the Southeast in downtown Asheville at the Civic Center. The Craft Fair of the Southern Highland Craft Guild, a mountain tradition since 1948, includes demonstrations and exhibitions as well as retail booths. ALLANSTAND Craft shop The Blue Ridge Parkways Folk Art Center is home to the nations first craft shop, Allaniland, which was Slatted in 1895 by Frances Goodrich. Located in downtown Asheville from 1917 until it was moved to the Folk Art Center on the Blue Ridge Parkway in 1980, AUanftand was a gift from Goodrich to the Guild in 1930. The purpose of the gift was to allow the Guild to have a strong financial base from which to carry out its mission; purchases made today enable visitors to be a part of this ongoing gift. Allanftand has long been recognized as one of the nations top craft shops representing pottery, wood, glass, fiber, metal and jewelry made by members of the Guild. The shop continues to offer an exciting array of work from traditional mountain handcrafts and folk art to the iateft in contemporary American craft. CRAFT GUILDjj The Southern Highland Craft Guild is an educational non-profit organization recognized for over six decades as a leader in promoting crafts of the Southern Highland region. Its acftive juried ^ membership of over 700 craftspeople come from the mountain counties in nine southeastern Slates. Craftspeople are juried for life-time membership and only the work of these members is found in Guild owned shops. The corporate headquarters of the Guild is located at the Folk Art Center on the Blue Ridge Parkway. SPECIAL EVENTS The Guild sponsors several IfS educational special event days sta throughout the year at the Folk ' Art Center. Fiber Day, Clay Day, Jf Appalachian Melody, Wood Day F I and Celebrate Folk Art all bring craftspeople together so that visitors have the opportunity to r observe the craft process first hand. Many special events also include hands-on opportunities for gueSts. From April through December ‘ craft demonstrations are held ^ at the Folk Art Center. Watch brooms are made, coverlets woven, iy 1 11 comshuck dolls assembled, precious stones set into elegant metal pendants and figures carved out of wood; call for specific information. The third Thursday-Sunday of every July and Ocftober the Guild sponsors the premier craft lair in the Southeast in downtown Asheville at the Civic Center. The Craft Fair of the Southern Highland Craft Guild, a mountain tradition since 1948, includes demonstrations and exhibitions as well as retail booths. Pendant, James Chametki GUILD HISTORY MAIN GALLERY & NATIONAL PARK SERVICE The Guild hosts a wide range of exhibitions in the gallery The Southern Highland Craft Guild was founded in 1930 of the Folk Art Center. The annual Members’ Exhibition for the purpose of offering a network and market for mountain showcases a variety of work in all craft media from the traditional craftspeople. In addition, the Guild offered educational k- to the contemporary. The Chair Show (pictured) is a biennial opportunities for craftspeople working in the mountains. national juried exhibition highlighting the moil exciting design That small group began what is known today as the Southern and craftsmanship related to the chair. The Folk Art Center Highland Craft Guild. From just a handful of members in is also home to the Guilds permanent collection of craft objects 1930, the Guild now has over 700 members. The mission dating back to the turn of the century. These objetfls are frequendy for the organization remains the same: marketing, preservation used in exhibitions and interpretive areas. Located adjacent of mountain crafts, shared resources to the gallery is the Robert W. Gray Library Collection, one of and education. the region's foremoft resources of craft publications and books on Southern Appalachian history. In the 1930s, when construction began on the Blue Ridge Parkway, a relationship was established between the Guild and the National Park Service. It blossomed over the years and has included many significant collaborations. In the 1970s the two organizations embarked on a large-scale project which would become the Folk Art Center. The National Park Service desired a facility to interpret Southern Appalachian Mountain culture on the Parkway; with the Guild as a partner, this goal could be realized. Built as a public/private partnership between the National Park Service, the Appalachian Regional Commission and the Guild, the Folk Art Center opened to the public in 1980. It houses an Eastern National bookstore and a Blue Ridge Parkway information area. The long-term relationship between the National Park Service and the Southern Highland Craft Guild has resulted in a rich history of successful projects. SOUTHERN HIGHLAND CRAFT GUILD GUILD SHOPS Allanstand Craft Shop at the Blue Ridge Parkway’s Folk Art Center MilepoA 382, Blue Ridge Parkway Asheville, NC 28805 828/298-7928 fax: 828/298-7962 Guild Crafts 930 Tunnel Road Asheville, NC 28805 828/298-7903 fax: 828/299-0610 Arrowcraft 576 Parkway Gatlinburg, TN 37738 865/436-4604 fax: 865/430-4440 Parkway Craft Center at Moses Cone Manor Milepost 294, Blue Ridge Parkway Blowing Rock, NC 28605 828/295-7938 fax: 828/295-0703 The Folk Art Center & Allanstand Craft Shop P.O. Box 9545 ♦ Asheville, NC 28815 www.southernhighlandguild.org email: [email protected] Open Daily: 9AM - 5PM January thru March 9am - 6pm April thru December Closed Thanksgiving, Christmas 8C New Year’s Day The Southern Highland Craft Guild is authorized to provide services at the Blue Ridge Parkway ’s Folk Art Center wider the authority of a cooperative agreement with the National Park Service. PyvtWCTl °flhc Interior.Cow Photo: John Wimt