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Handmade for the Holidays

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These 12 Crafters for Christmas represent “time-honored traditions and a legacy of handcraft” native to the people of the southern Appalachians, as celebrated through their membership in the Southern Highland Craft Guild.

Their modern work echoes the “joy in the handmade” that imbued the products of generations of mountain crafters, no matter whether the item was fundamentally utilitarian or a flight of fancy.

“The makers featured here carry their own craft story while furthering the legacy of handmade,” says Deborah Schillo, librarian and archivist of the Southern Highland Craft Guild.

This 12 Crafters for Christmas collection offers a wide variety of crafts from notecards or purses to metalwork and functional furniture.

While the Guild and its precursor organizations honor the skills and traditions of mountain handmade, it also embraces traditional works exemplified by a Tamassee, South Carolina, leatherworker who fled Communism and brought his third-generation knowledge with him.

The works of these 12 featured artists represent some of the highest-quality handmade crafts that could be offered as gifts this Christmas, with prices ranging from under $10 to breathtaking centerpiece furniture priced in the thousands.

— Managing Editor Jonathan Austin

Diana Gates photo

Jeff McKinley

In 1994, I was doing custom remodeling work with my dad, and when we got snowed out for a week, I got my first taste of lamp-working through a family friend, Gary Newlin from A Touch of Glass in Asheville. Gary and I played around making beads. For the next two years, Gary hired glass artists to teach classes, and I attended most of those and experimented with sculpture, marbles, and various forms. Two years later, I began working for a scientific glass company in Raleigh. That experience taught me the qualities of glass I use to create not only beautiful, but strong and sturdy craftsmanship.

In the fall of 1998, I returned to A Touch of Glass and started making ornaments and have been making them ever since. I like the flexibility of working with glass and I still experiment with sculpture and other objects, but ornaments are what I most enjoy making. I have been known to overblow an ornament until it "pops" and to use the burst bubble to construct a flower; my wife likes these.  

Justin Smith photo

Diana Gates photo

Ivan Ivanoff

A native of Bulgaria, Ivan fled Communism in 1970.

“That’s the one place I didn't want to stay.  The only place I could have legally gone was another Communist country. So I escaped.

“My grandfather was a saddlemaker, then my father went into women’s side. He started making handbags. I’m the only one in the family that took after him” in working with leather.

“I still find joy in the handmade, otherwise I wouldn’t be doing it.”

Jeff and Crim Bassett

“Our intention is to offer authentic, quality products that reflect the innate beauty of nature’s creativity and attention to detail. From our perspective, beeswax, in a simple way, is the perfect medium. The honeybees produce a wax with important practical characteristics like structural integrity and high melting point, in addition to aesthetic properties like brilliant luminosity and soothing aroma.”

Our work, in an expression of gratitude, is a small extension of that thread, connecting hand, sun, rain, seed, flower, wax, light. Our hands plant and press flowers, pour pillars, shape lanterns, and finish lamps.  Through the synergistic combination of materials, creativity, hard work and attention to detail, we have created a unique line of products that share the wonderful experience of beeswax. 

Since 1996, we have combined the finest natural beeswax with excellent craftsmanship to produce Bee Glow lanterns, ornaments, pillar candles and electric lamps.

Mark Hendry

“I strive to use sustainable, renewable resources, and materials that are alive. I work in tandem with Mother Nature, collaborating respectfully in the creation of our work. In nature, I find the inspiration.”

When I follow my bliss, it always leads me to the great outdoors. In nature, I find the inspiration, materials and a state of well-being; all of which coalesce into the creation of my art. Living in the Appalachian mountains, I’m surrounded by a rich history of time-honored traditions and a legacy of handcraft. To me, historic handcrafts embolden a greater simplicity and a deeper connection to nature, so I naturally gravitate to the old-timey way of doing things.

Sarah Hooker photo

Sarah Hooker photo

Cara May

“My vision is founded in the Japanese wabi-sabi aesthetic. Architect Tadao Ando describes it as ‘underplayed and modest, the kind of quiet, undeclared beauty that waits patiently to be discovered.’ Every garment is handcrafted from start to finished, in small batch, artisanal production.”

Knitting became increasingly intuitive when I began to pursue “perfection” in the craft. Cursing my mistakes or sobbing while unraveling hours of work has morphed into intrigue as an opportunity is offered by a dropped stitch, a random dye lot, a perceived mishap.

An altered avenue of exploration presents itself, and I practice heeding the whispers that pull me on a new path. I find peace and joy in that space, quietly crossing barriers between fashion, craft, perhaps art. My pieces are understated, natural fiber creations. 

The subtlety of each piece belies unique textures, remarkable fibers and sculptural shapes.  Every garment is handcrafted from start to finish - starting with selecting yarns and designing, then moving on to knitting, sewing seams, felting, blocking finished pieces, (or not blocking, just leaving deliciously crumpled & deconstructed).

Sarah Hooker photo

Sarah Hooker photo

Erica Bailey

Erica Stankwytch Bailey is both a maker of contemporary, handmade sterling silver jewelry and a teacher of metal smithing and jewelry fabrication. Erica’s work is inspired by observation and collection in nature.

“My work is both organic and architectural, and is created from the visual fragments of a life collecting images. I inspect the world in great detail and have always collected shells, seedpods, stones and interesting organic elements. 

“My studio often resembles a laboratory with trays of specimens lined in rows. The walls and pages of my sketchbook are covered with myriad images of my world from nano-photography of plant life to the expansiveness of the Grand Canyon.

“In designing, making and living I see a strong relevance for the smallest things within the larger context; the seed that becomes a plant, the jewelry on the wearer, our planet within the universe. I use a variety of techniques in an effort to create pieces that are tactile and invoke in the wearer a sense of personal attachment.”

Jason Reed photo

Ben Caldwell

Ben is a classically trained painter and sculptor. Before finding his passion for metalwork he made everything from custom guitars to West African drums.

“I am an artist, specializing in the creation of functional and timeless metalwork. All of my work is custom hammered, raised and chased by hand, resulting in quality, one-of-a-kind creations that will far outlast their creator.”

Nathan Chesky photo

Hayden Wilson

Hayden Wilson grew up in Western North Carolina and received his Bachelor of Fine Arts with a concentration in sculpture from the University of North Carolina Asheville.  

As a second-generation glass maker, he has been around glass his entire life, but has been working professionally as a glass blower and caster for the past six years. 

He has been an assistant instructor in the glass studio at Penland School of Craft, in Mitchell County, North Carolina, and also at Pilchuck Glass School in Washington. 

Hayden currently works with glass artist Alex Bernstein and manages the Asheville Glass Centers hot shop, a public access studio that focuses on art glass making as well as offering an array of classes. Hayden creates his work at the Asheville Glass Center. Hayden's work conveys his aesthetic of clean lines and inspired by modern, utilitarian design. He works with utilitarian vessels, as well as steel and cast glass sculptures. In addition to his own work, Hayden has also designed and created various lighting commissions for local restaurants and businesses in the region.

Diana Gates photo

Ken Thomas

Cold, hard, immovable steel and beautiful, graceful, lines, shapes and patterns are the oppositions which inspire my work. I work as a blacksmith to achieve balance between these properties. The challenge is to acquire elegance through an exciting process of transforming one into another. There is a satisfaction to creating an object from an inherently cold material, which is both sophisticated and warm.

The desire to create a graceful shape begins in the fire. Metal is placed in a forge at temperatures of up to 2,400 degrees Fahrenheit. From the fire it is taken and the process of altering its shape begins. I use a hammer to draw out the surface and exploit the metal’s momentary elasticity. The process of heating and hammering takes place every few minutes until the piece is complete. Ultimately the piece is converted from bars of steel to a functional object with balance, warmth and fluidity.

Diana Gates photo

Lindy Evans

Lindy Evans began her doll-making art in 1975 when she created fabric dolls and animals as gifts for her family and friends. After 17 years as a teacher and administrator in public education, she decided to pursue her career in doll making on a full-time basis. For 20 years she has created one-of-a-kind and limited edition images from her studio in Berea. The expressive faces of her designs are developed from studies of real people. Lindy sculpts her faces from polymer clay, and uses vintage fabrics and toys to adorn her Santas, elves and other characters. Dolls range in size from 6 inches to life-size.

Jessica White

Jessica White grew up in Taiwan where she learned to love storybooks, art, and traditional crafts. As a studio artist she makes prints, book, and illustrations inspired by children’s book images, folk tales, walks through the forest, and the daily news. She enjoys exploring themes that revolve around fear and courage, blind optimism, naïveté, and wonder.

John Fowler photo

William Crooks photo

Michael McDunn

The work I do evolved from my need to survive in a part of the country where, for many years, contemporary furniture styles were quite unacceptable. This forced me to design furniture that was fitting for both 18th Century as well as more modern environments. As a result, much of my work has an Asian feel incorporating free-form pieces of wood that may well have been destined for mulch, firewood or a landfill.

From the beginning of my involvement with using an obscure piece of wood to make something lovely and fine, everything has fallen into place to keep me firmly entrenched in woodworking, sometimes as art, sometimes as craft.

Furthering the Legacy of Handmade

The mountains of Appalachia have long known the triumphs of hard work and perseverance. At the turn of the 20th century, one could have easily stumbled into the homes of wooded hollers to find few means, a result from industrialization sweeping the nation precluding the Depression.

However, many residents were artisans, and homes were filled with beautiful, crafted treasures. Skills in the traditions of handmade were prevalent among mountain folk as they had been passed down from generations before of European descendants. Women often wove coverlets and other household textiles, while men built and carved furniture among kitchen wares and décor.

With the arrival of adept and compassionate missionaries, such as Frances Goodrich, Lucy Morgan and Olive Campbell, the craft revival was born. These women recognized the talent within these mountain communities and worked with them to establish a cottage industry. Allanstand Cottage Industries was founded in 1897 in Madison County, North Carolina, by Frances Goodrich. It would ultimately become Allanstand Craft Shop when it moved to downtown Asheville in 1908 on College Street. Her headquarters became a network for other leaders of the Southern Arts and Crafts movement. 

By 1930, a formal organization under the auspices of the Southern Highland Craft Guild was formed.

Today the Southern Highland Craft Guild is one of the strongest craft organizations in the country. It represents nearly 900 makers in 293 counties of nine southeastern states, and continues the legacy of building a craft economy through the operation of four craft galleries and two annual craft expositions. 

The makers featured here carry their own craft story while furthering the legacy of handmade. You can find their work in Southern Highland Craft Guild Asheville locations at the Folk Art Center in East Asheville and Biltmore Village; at the biannual Craft Fair of the Southern Highlands in Asheville in July and October; and at the Southern Highland Craft Guild gallery at Moses Cone Manor in Blowing Rock.

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