Tours

Monday, July 18, 8:00 AM – 5:30 PM

Tickets: $105

Residing in Gatlinburg, Tennessee is the largest group of independent artisans in North America so it’s only fitting that the oldest craft school in Tennessee, Arrowmont School of Arts and Crafts, is located there as well.

Our tour will begin at Arrowmont, a national art and craft education center, where weaver and instructor Frances Fox will share Arrowmont’s history and lecture on the Pi Phi Settlement School. Afterwards Kelsey Dillow, Gallery Manager, will deliver a talk on Arrowmont’s current exhibition followed by a behind-the-scenes look at selected fiber works from their permanent collection. Lunch will be enjoyed in Arrowmont’s dining hall followed by free time allotted for visiting with current Artists-in-Residence, exploring the research library, or touring the campus workshop studios.

Next the tour will make its way to Cliff Dwellers Gallery, a historic gallery and workshop space established in 1933. Owned and operated as a cooperative by four local artists and featuring the work of 60+ local and regional artists, we will tour the space and then Pat K. Thomas, artist and co-owner of the gallery, will guide participants in a silk bandanna marbling activity.

Note: No elevators, but areas with steps are accessible by ramp. Access to the Artists-in-Residence studios may not be possible for people with some mobility issues.

Monday, July 18, 8:45 AM – 4:30 PM

Tickets: $115

Our tour begins at the Museum of Appalachia where we will tour the mountain farm and pioneer village with over three dozen historic log structures, two exhibit buildings filled with thousands of authentic Appalachian artifacts, multiple gardens and free-range farm animals. The museum’s exhibits include collections of folk art, musical instruments, baskets, quilts, Native American artifacts, and more. The museum staff will also display and discuss a selection of Appalachia quilts from their archives. A full southern Appalachian lunch buffet will be offered while we enjoy a live performance by the Museum of Appalachia band.

After lunch we will journey across the street to the Appalachian Arts Craft Center, a co-op featuring an artist gallery and weaving and ceramics studios. Run primarily by volunteers, 60 local artists are represented in the center. Here we will meet with members of the Tuesday Weavers who will share the history of the center, what they do, how they operate, and why they are successful.

Our final stop will be The Oak Ridge Art Center to view The Fabric of Memory, a mixed-fiber-media exhibition open to artists of any fiber media including weaving, tapestry, crocheting, knitting, felting, braiding, spinning, dyeing, fabric construction, and basketry, etc. The exhibition is intended to showcase the exceptional work produced throughout the region.

Note: The Museum of Appalachia is set in a rustic environment. The second floors of the display buildings can only be accessed by a staircase and there may be one or two stairs to enter the first floor of the buildings. This tour will require walking on some irregular terrain. The pathways through the village are a combination of cement and hard-packed gravel.

Tuesday, July 19, 7:15 AM – 6:15 PM

Tickets: $115

Step into the 1850’s at the Exchange Place, a historic living history farm representing an antebellum era working farm and named for its role in the exchange of goods, horses, and currency. The site was once a community that served as a self-supporting plantation, a relay station along the Old Stage Road and the Post Office for Eden’s Ridge, Tennessee. The farmstead includes restored original and reconstructed buildings, a kitchen garden and field crop demonstration garden, and livestock and poultry breeds. Of interest is the Dyer’s Garden showcasing plants that would have been traditionally grown to use for dyeing yarn and fabrics, such as madder, weld, woad, lady’s bedstraw, sunflowers, marigolds, and black-eyed susans. We will enjoy a guided tour of the farmstead and the Burow Museum which will feature an exhibit, sponsored by the Overmountain Weaving Guild, of the site’s history and an Antique Weaving Draft exhibit based on weaving drafts found in the region. This tour also comes with a surprise guest who is sure to delight and encourage laughter.

After a stop for lunch, Ruth Anne Goss will provide a guided tour of the Two Roots Fiber Mill, full-service mill specializing in servicing the local artisan fiber farms; and she will demonstrate the whole fleece processing procedure and the equipment that the mill utilizes. While there, enjoy a visit with the alpacas and a wine tasting produced from the grapes of the Two Roots vineyard.

Note: There will be a 200-feet walk with a small incline from the driveway to the mill. 

Tuesday, July 19, 8:15 AM – 5:00 PM

Tickets: $95

We will begin our day at the Great Smoky Mountains Heritage Center to celebrate the cultural heritage of East Tennessee and the Great Smoky Mountains region as we take a historic journey through time to visit the diverse cultures of Townsend and Tuckaleechee Cove. Through their exhibits and programs, we will learn what it was like to live in an Appalachian community in the early 1900's, including the struggles and challenges the early Native Americans and European pioneers faced while trying to carve out a life in the southern Appalachians. Merikay Waldvogel, nationally known quilt historian and author, will bring to life the history of the Walker sisters and the textiles they created in her presentation, “Getting to Know the Walker Sisters of the Smoky Mountains”. The Walker Sisters were the only family who chose not to sell their land to the National Park Service when the Great Smoky Mountains National Park was established, and as such, they were granted a lifetime lease and became quasi-ambassadors for the National Park. The sisters strongly adhered to the self-sufficient pioneering lifestyle and were spinners and weavers, who utilized wool from their sheep and flax and cotton plants to produce their own textiles, and they would often sell their handmade products to park visitors. Quilts and coverlets from the family will be on display in The Walker Sisters Quilt Exhibit and provide insight into the sisters’ dedication to the traditions of their family/ancestors and the area where they lived.

Next, we will walk to the Great Smoky Mountains National Park Collections Preservation Center for a tour and discussion of the history and work with museum collections at Great Smoky Mountains National Park led by the park curator and park archivist/librarian. The Preservation Center houses park archives including archeological artifacts, textiles, historic photographs, furnishings and other items capturing the park’s history; and specific artifacts and documents will be made accessible for closer viewing.

Our final stop will be the Clayton Center for the Arts’ Denso Gallery to view Three Voices, a month-long tapestry exhibit featuring the work of Tommye Scanlin, Pat Williams, and Jennifer Sargent. Explore the featured artwork that captures each artist’s distinctive voice and approach to tapestry weaving.

Note: There is a special type of matting under the gravel walkways, but it can be tricky for some types of ECVs and wheelchairs. Lunch will be served outside in a covered amphitheater.

Wednesday, July 20, 7:15 AM – 6:45 PM

Tickets: $130

Travel to the campus of Haywood Community College (HCC) known for its Professional Crafts programs in Clay, Fiber, Jewelry, and Wood. Their renowned Fiber program is an intensive curriculum focusing on the design and creation of fiber work, ranging from textile products to contemporary fiber art. Join Fiber Instructor Amy Putansu and HCC students as they provide insights on the history of the program, the curriculum, their studies and work. Amy will also demonstrate and share her own methods of ondulé weaving. Tour the new facility dedicated to craft studios and view a recent alumni exhibition in the Mary Cornwell Gallery featuring Dendel Scholarship recipients.

After lunch we will visit the home studios of Kathrin Weber (full-time dyer, weaver and teacher) and Catharine Ellis (an authority on natural dyeing).

Kathrin Weber has a love and fearless approach for color and enjoys creating unique hand-dyed colorways (warps and skeins) that she sells worldwide through her company, Blazing Shuttles. Weber teaches at craft schools and fiber guilds in the U.S. and internationally. Her weaving and dyeing workshops focus on utilizing color and creating color designs that flow.

Catharine Ellis has over 40 years of experience as a weaver and a dyer and previously served for 30 years as the lead instructor for the Fiber Program at Haywood Community College. Ellis developed the woven shibori process and is the author of the instructional books, Woven Shibori, and with co-author Joy Boutrup, The Art and Science of Natural Dyes.

Note: When visiting the studios there will be big, uneven hand-laid stone steps, a gently sloping hill, and a parking area with rough gravel.

Wednesday, July 20, 7:30 AM – 7:00 PM

Tickets: $115

Enjoy a full guided tour of the Center for Craft’s facility and their galleries. Founded in 1996, the Center for Craft is the leading organization in the United States identifying and convening craft makers, curators, and researchers and matching them with resources, tools, and networks to advance their careers. In 2019 the Center expanded its urban creative campus to include expanded galleries, coworking/shared workspaces, event spaces, and one-of-a-kind maker installations. One of the Center’s 2020 Curatorial Fellowship exhibitions will be on view as well as an exhibition by Warren Wilson College highlighting the Southern Highland Craft Guild.

Next, we will walk to the Black Mountain College Museum + Arts Center (BMCM+AC) who will host a private tour of the museum, dedicated to preserving the history and extending the legacy of Black Mountain College (BMC). Legendary in its own time, BMC was a small, experimental liberal arts college in Black Mountain, NC founded in 1933 and closing in 1957. Influenced by faculty and students from the Bauhaus school of design in Germany as well as the American avant garde, BMC became a convergence point for the greatest artists, thinkers and educators of the 20th century. In this tour, you will learn more about the college, its legacy in weaving and design, and view works from the BMCM+AC Permanent Collection relating to Anni Albers’ weaving workshop.

Following Lunch, our tour travels to Echoview Fiber Mill, a spinning mill, knitting operation, and design house that produces high quality home goods, accessories, and craft knitting and weaving yarns using natural fibers like wool, alpaca, silk, mohair, and organic cotton. Their facility is a Gold LEED certified building and sustainability is the foundation of everything they do and make. We will enjoy a guided tour of the Fiber Mill and their dye garden as well as a spinning demonstration with Angora Rabbits by Yoko Morris and a dye vat demonstration.

Note: The downtown Asheville locations are within 0.2 miles of each other and will require walking between the sites.