THERMAL BELT: ARTISTS OF THE FOOTHILLS
PRESENTED BY TRYON ARTS & CRAFTS SCHOOL
ON DISPLAY JANUARY 23 – MAY 9, 2021
The Southern Highland Craft Guild opens its first exhibition of the 2021 year with Thermal Belt: Artists of the Foothills, presented by Tryon Arts & Crafts School in the Folk Art Center’s Main Gallery. The exhibit features artists working in the foothills in and around Tryon who are affiliated with the school. Disciplines represented include bladesmithing, copper textured bronze, hand-built and wheel-thrown ceramics, glass lampwork, jewelry, quilting, weaving, wooden furniture, woodcarving, and woodturning.
Tryon Arts & Crafts School (TACS) is an Education Center Member of the Southern Highland Craft Guild and located in Tryon, North Carolina, approximately 40 miles southeast of Asheville in Polk County. The town has a rich history in the arts since its establishment as an artists’ colony during the craft revival at the turn of the twentieth century. The town’s accessibility to Asheville by rail and its mild, “thermal belt” climate made it a desirable destination for affluent lovers of arts and literature. Today, the climate and beautiful scenery still team with the arts to uphold Tryon’s historic charm.
Tryon Arts & Crafts School is housed in a retrofitted public-school building situated adjacent to Harmon Field parks and recreational lands and the Pacolet River. The school is host to an artisan retail shop, gallery, 200-object Heritage Collection, and seven independent studios, covering a range of media – Blacksmithing, Clay, Enameling, Fiber, Glass, Silversmithing, Welding, and Wood.
TACS’ mission is to provide creative opportunities for everyone through education, instruction, and expression of heritage and contemporary arts and crafts in a friendly, stimulating and enriching environment.
The Southern Highland Craft Guild is a non-profit, educational organization established in 1930 to bring together the crafts and craftspeople of the Southern Highlands for the benefit of shared resources, education, marketing and conservation. The Southern Highland Craft Guild is an authorized concessioner of the National Park Service, Department of Interior.
Featured Artists:
Jimmi Buell, Don Clarke, Joe Cooper, Doug Dacey, Gerry Drew, Bernard Edwards, Madison Geer, Ann Gleason, Fred Herres, Julie McIntyre, Suzanne Monroe, Merry-Beth Noble, Sam Oliver, Jean Preston, Toby Wolter, and Priscilla Yeager