Guild readies for upcoming Craft Fair

Asheville's long-standing Craft Fair of the Southern Highlands opens at the U.S. Cellular Center on Friday, October 19, at 10 a.m.

The fair cultivates the traditions and legacies of handmade craft skills, featuring juried members of the Southern Highland Craft Guild.

This year's featured maker is woodworker Steve Noggle of Morganton, North Carolina. His one-of-a-kind, wood-turned bowls embrace simplicity in form and function, as well as decorative design. Noggle was juried into the guild in 2004. After receiving a degree in forestry, he landed in the Pacific northwest as a timber cruiser. He discovered the art of crafting fine furniture, and while engineering new designs began to turn wood on a lathe. Today each of his pieces is spun from a chunk of wet, green wood into a bowl or vessel with a satin finish.  

More than 170 booths will line both the concourse and arena level of the U.S. Cellular Center throughout the event. Both contemporary and traditional work in clay, wood, metal, glass, fiber, natural materials, paper, leather, mixed media, and jewelry will be featured. Members of the guild undergo a two-step jury process in which their work is evaluated by peers in the industry.

Musicians will perform daily during the fair.

Chartered in 1930, the Southern Highland Craft Guild is one of the strongest craft organizations in the country, and second in age only to the Boston Society of Arts and Crafts.

The guild represents 780 craftspeople in 293 counties of nine southeastern states. The guild has partnered with the National Park Service for more than 50 years, and operates the Blue Ridge Parkway's Folk Art Center in East Asheville.

The fair is open October 19 – 21; Friday and Saturday from 10 a.m to 6 p.m. and Sunday, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.

General admission is $8; students $5; children under 12 for free. a weekend pass is $12.

For more Information visit the guild's website.