Main Gallery Exhibitions

The Southern Highland Craft Guild will host the Haywood Community College Graduate Show at the Blue Ridge Parkway’s Folk Art Center from April 27 - June 23.  Join us for an Opening Reception on Saturday, April 27 from 3 - 5pm. 

Graduates of Haywood’s Professional Crafts Program will showcase their talents in wood, clay, fiber, metal and jewelry. This exhibition continues the historical relationship between the Folk Art Center and Haywood, an Educational Center Member of the Southern Highland Craft Guild.

Haywood Community College is located in Clyde, North Carolina, just west of Asheville. The college’s Professional Crafts Program began in recognition of the region’s strong craft heritage. It was envisioned that students would learn the basics of craft media and how to transform that craft into a business. The clay studio was the first to open in 1974. With the addition of jewelry, wood and fiber studios, a comprehensive curriculum was in place by 1977.

The program’s total enrollment is about 60 students; classes are, therefore, small which allows for one-on-one student to teacher attention. Students come from the area, the nation and abroad. They may or may not have prior experience of their craft and many are pursuing crafts as a second or third career. The course of study is challenging, combining craft concentrations with supplemental classes in design, drawing, craft history, business, marketing and photography. Students spend the majority of their time in the studio making their work. At the end of the two-year program, graduates are awarded either a diploma or an Associate of Applied Science degree.

The teaching of professional practices has set Haywood’s program apart. The college has worked closely with NC Real Enterprises (Rural Entrepreneurship through Action Learning) to develop a hands-on approach to the business and marketing of crafts. This practical training has proven far more successful than academic business classes in the development of entrepreneurial skills. For more information about the Professional Crafts Program, call 828-627-4674 or visit www.haywood.edu.

Haywood Community College and the Southern Highland Craft Guild share a history that documents the role of craft education in preserving traditional culture, creating economic opportunity and fostering professional practice. All of the artists represent the vitality and creativity of craft practice today, which is the ultimate purpose of both institutions.
Many Haywood graduates have become individual members of the Southern Highland Craft Guild and have served the Guild in various capacities.

The Graduate Exhibition will be on display in the Folk Art Center’s Main Gallery through June 23. The Folk Art Center is located on the Blue Ridge Parkway at milepost 382, just north of the Hwy 70 entrance in east Asheville.

Graduates

Wood
Richard Hughes, Waynesville, NC
Amy Johnson, Barnardsville, NC
Andrew McFate, Marshall, NC
Brandon Skupski, Asheville, NC
Adam Thomson, Canton, NC

Fiber
Brooke Burleson, Arden, NC
Karen Donde, Candler, NC
Elissa Merrill, Hendersonville, NC
Rebecca Porche, Clyde, NC

Metal
Linda Azar, Waynesville, NC
Jaime Felton, Asheville, NC
Andrew Pitts, Clyde, NC
Keith Berner,Hendersonville, NC

Clay
Melissa Dunn, Lake Junaluska, NC
Helen Sanders Geltman, Clyde, NC
 

Faculty

Terry Gess, Professional Crafts Program Chair
Robert Blanton, Jewelry Program
Brian Wurst, Wood Program
Amy Putansu, Fiber Program
Steve Lloyd, Clay Program

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