Small craft center wields big influence
Tucked in a grove of hardwoods and hemlocks in a quiet residential neighborhood near Hendersonville, N.C., is the humble home for a unique organization with a national reputation.
Its official name is the Center for Craft, Creativity and Design. With its deceptively modest wood and glass frame, this building has become a beacon for promoting studio craft in the highest academic and curatorial circles.
In the eight years since its inception, the Center has filled a niche in the contemporary craft world and developed an influence far beyond western North Carolina. The Center’s role is clear, according to executive director Dian Magie: to advance the understanding of crafts by encouraging more scholarship, critical writing, and professional development.
For too long, craft has not received the attention it deserves in academic circles, according to Magie but that is changing as the field increasingly receives more attention from scholars and economists. The Center for Craft, Creativity and Design is responsible for much of this evolution by funding artists and graduate students, sponsoring international craft residencies, supporting museum internships, and coordinating a major economic impact study of craft in western North Carolina, as well as exhibitions, conferences and educational outreach. The Center also has strong ties with three universities that offer undergraduate degrees in craft disciplines: the University of North Carolina at Asheville, Appalachian State University in Boone, and Western Carolina University in Cullowhee.
Acres for the Arts
The idea for a craft center emerged in the 1990s out of a mix of people from professional crafts and the university system. HandMade in America, a non-profit organization promoting craft and culture for community and economic development in western North Carolina, had identified the need for academic support as essential to developing the craft in the area.
“There was no awareness of the rich tradition of craft in this area,” Magie said. “No classes on the history of craft, no academic respect for the field at that time.”
The University of North Carolina board of governors accepted the Handmade in America report and established the Center in 1996, encouraged by Hendersonville lawyer Sam Neill, a long-time arts supporter who then headed the board.
“We wanted to develop a center to show how craft, creativity and design inter-relate,” he said. “We didn’t want another institution. Instead, we wanted a catalyst for the field.”
It took some intense lobbying through several legislative sessions, but eventually the North Carolina General Assembly approved funding for the building, and the Center opened in 2001. It is part of the 50-acre UNC Kellogg Center property, which also includes a small conference center and a walking trail.
The state continues to provide funding for operating costs, including support for the three staff members. Other funding comes from the Windgate Charitable Foundation of Arkansas.
“The timing was right for all of this to come together,” Neill said. “The institutional structure is in place and we have good relationships with foundations for programming. Not having to worry about basic funding has allowed people at the Center to dream boldly.”
Looking back, looking forward
“Dream boldly” could be the mandate for participants at the Center’s annual think-tank sessions. The two-and-a-half day retreats provide time and space for leaders in the arts, education, academia, and the museum world to grapple with important issues in the world of craft, and to imagine possibilities that transcend their own disciplines. For example, the first think-tank in 2002 identified the need for a textbook on the history of craft as a crucial way to put craft in a larger cultural context. Subsequent think-tank sessions clarified the book’s scope and recommended contributors. The result is Makers: 20th Century American Studio Craft by Janet Koplos and Bruce Metcalf. The University of North Carolina Press will publish the book in late 2009. The Center is also developing a companion website and DVD that will enhance the book’s usefulness.
These think-tanks provide a rare opportunity for participants.
“It’s such a privilege to have time with vibrant, intelligent people in the craft world to talk about pressing issues in the field,” said Cindi Strauss, curator of modern and contemporary decorative arts and design at the Museum of Fine Art in Houston, Texas. “We have open and honest discussions, and the conversations break loose in a remarkable way.”
Strauss, who has attended two of the CCCD sessions, credits Magie for her skill in selecting a good mix of people and organizing relevant topics.
“It’s just a great way to make connections and do deep thinking about the field in a way that’s both relaxed and intense,” Strauss said.
She has forged connection with CCCD in other ways, too, having been awarded a grant to complete a catalogue for a major exhibit on contemporary jewelry. She’s also received Center funding for summer interns. Magie explained that CCCD partners with museums around the country to provide $5,000 awards for each of four students who are selected through a nationwide competition. The idea is to identify future curators who have a background and experience with craft, either in collection or exhibitions in major museums.
Strauss said the experience has been invaluable for her, as well as for the interns.
“I was able to provide experience for the students, and they contributed to our museum’s work on major exhibitions,” she explained. “It really works in terms of exposing young people to curatorial work in craft.”
In addition to the internships, the Windgate Foundation provides more than $95,000 annually for the Center’s Craft Research Fund to encourage scholarship in craft. Recipients can obtain grants of up to $15,000 each for projects relating to craft history, scholarship, and criticism. The Fund also provides money to support graduate students as they complete their theses and dissertations, as well as travel grants for students.
Fostering future craft artists
Craft artists are a critical part to the Center. Each year, 10 graduating seniors in the field of craft are selected as Windgate Fellows and awarded $15,000 to pursue their work. That sum can make a substantial difference for many young artists. For, Timothy Maddox, a 2007 Windgate Fellow, the award allowed him to work at his craft full-time.
“The Windgate Fellowship hurtled me out of one world into a completely different one,” he said. “It gave me the push to leave the university safety net and move to the realm of the working artists. The fellowship helped me focus on where my joys come from and how to translate those into a sustainable way of life.”
Maddox, who lives and works in Asheville, concentrates on making furniture using primarily wood and steel, creating quality crafted, contemporary designs.
Shining a spotlight on the work of craftsmen through exhibits and education is another important activity for the Center. Each year, three to four exhibits are first showcased in its gallery and then travel to area colleges or regional museums. There’s also an educational component to everything the Center does, Magie said. For example, the winter exhibit, “Soul’s Journey: Inside the Creative Process,” highlighted the work of 22 Southeast object makers who do contemporary work in wood, metal, glass, paper, furniture and clay. The exhibit travels to two additional venues and includes a companion documentary featuring extensive interviews with the artists who talk about the process of making their work.
“The documentary has been several years in the making,” said Magie. “It’s important to hear artists speak about what inspires them, how they got into the field, how they work. That really inspires students.”
The exhibit itself is a reminder of the new directions in which contemporary craft is moving.
“Many of these makers began doing traditional work but have moved beyond what many people consider typical craft objects to create more sophisticated work,” said Center assistant director Katie Lee. “Typically, the change is material-driven. Craftsmen begin to imagine the possibilities as they learn from their material and consider how to combine different materials.”
Michael Sherrill’s work illustrates such a transition. The Hendersonville artist began his career making functional pottery but has evolved a more sophisticated sculptural style incorporating other material like metals and glass. His piece, “Flourishing Rhododendron,” is both botanically accurate, with its depiction of long, curled rhododendron leaves, and artistically astonishing. The leaves are rendered in colors—pale blue, rust, mottled green—not seen in nature, but somehow just right. Sherrill used a five-step process of glazing and sandblasting to achieve the rich colors. The pale, pink petals of the rhododendron bloom are made of glass, and the branches and stems are fashioned from bronze and iron.
Upcoming exhibits will highlight chairs as craft objects in North Carolina, both traditional and contemporary interpretations, and the intersection between jewelry making and blacksmithing.
In addition to the exhibits, the Center also hosts conferences focusing on a specific aspect of craft, such as the recent international “Inspired Design: Jacquard & Entrepreneurial Design” held in Hendersonville. It also sponsors cutting-edge artists from around the world to participate in an artist residency. The 2009 international artist-in-residence will be Patrick Hall from Tasmania. Selected students and faculty from the affiliated colleges, plus regional schools such as Haywood Community College’s Professional Craft Program and the Penland School of Crafts, will take part in creating Hall’s site-specific artwork at Marshall High Studio, an arts center in Marshall, N.C. Previous international residencies brought Danish clay sculptor Nina Hole and Welsh sculptor and land artist David Nash.
Economic Impact
The Center for Craft, Creativity and Design also recognized the lucrative business of craft was critical to raising the profile of the field, so it coordinated a recent study, “The Economic Impact of Craft Industry in Western North Carolina.” The report found that the craft industry brought in more than $206 million to the region, a 36 percent growth over the past 12 years.
“This report shows that craft is a huge economic driver in the region,” said Brent Skidmore, director of UNC-Ashevilles’s craft program, who contributed to the study. The impact comes from a combination of direct sale of crafts, tourism, craft schools, craft organizations, and craft suppliers.
The report also notes the significant growth in professionals who produce craft, up from 739 in 1995, the year of the last survey, to 2,200 currently. Much of that growth comes from artists who move to the area, attracted in part by the supportive community and the rich offerings of craft schools and programs. UNC-Asheville is part of that mix, as it has plans to develop a Craft Campus, which will serve as a national model for dynamic, interdisciplinary craft education and environmentally innovative campus design. The facility will be built on the site of a former Buncombe County landfill and will use methane gas to provide energy to power kilns, furnaces and forges.
The influence of CCCD extends far beyond the region, according to Judith Duff, a Cedar Mountain studio potter and member of the Center’s board of directors. The Center’s impact on craft scholarship is enormous, both nationally and internationally, according to Duff, who travels widely to teach pottery workshops. Duff curated “Architectual Echoes in Clay,” a ceramic exhibition associated with the Nina Hole residency.
“In addition, the Center has brought so many artists and important people to western North Carolina and exposed them to the rich tradition of craft in our area,” Duff said. “Visitors leave with an appreciation of how important crafts are to our state.” Duff credits Magie is the linchpin in the entire effort.
“She has deep and broad knowledge of every aspect of craft,” said Duff. The ability to bring together the right people, the ability to run very efficient board meetings, and a vision that she communicates with tremendous enthusiasm.”
The executive director modestly deflects such attention and likens her role to a Johnny Appleseed.
“We are planting seeds here, raising awareness about the value and importance of craft and encouraging young artists and scholars with research grants and internships,” she explained. “We want to build a solid foundation for the field and invest in the future.”
Public art enhances nature trail
A gently winding nature trail begins just behind the Center for Craft, Creativity and Design and meanders for about a mile through three distinct ecosystems—hardwoods, an open meadow and wetlands. Neighbors and visitors can stroll on the Perry N. Rudnick Nature Trail, an easy walk that offers two loops through the 50-acre tract of the UNC-Asheville Kellogg Center.
“The trail was developed as a way to welcome the community to the space,” said Dian Magie, CCCD executive director.
The Perry N. Rudnick Foundation provided funding to develop the trail and to commission public art along the path. The Carolina Mountain Club constructed bridges over streams along the trail, which opened in May 2002.
Placing public art along the trail appeals to visitors and deepens their visual connection to the outdoors. Fourteen artworks have been placed in key spots along the path. This project also benefits artists who are interested in submitting work to public art commissions and working with sculpture on a larger scale than a typical gallery or museum setting allows.
“And it’s very popular with the community,” Magie said.