A Creative Bounty

Autumn’s finest art and craft events 

Marriage is a team sport. Ann and Sandy Batton of Batton Clayworks, an Asheville-based purveyor of beautifully functional vessels, know this well. “Every piece in the shop has been handled by both Ann and Sandy,” the couple shares on their website. “For example, Sandy will throw the mugs, and then Ann will attach and pull the handles. Ann might make a stack of sgraffito, but Sandy will glaze and fire it.” You can witness this matrimonial magic firsthand during the Kenilworth Artists Association Studio Tour. A longtime fixture of the central Asheville neighborhood, the tour invites more than two dozen resident artists to open their workspaces to visitors. The Battons will be joined by creatives working in fiber, wood, photography, and more.

Kenilworth Artists Association Studio Tour, Saturday, Oct. 5 and Sunday, Oct. 6, 10am-5pm. See kenilworthartists.org and the story on Diana Gillispie in this issue.

When Burke County native Lucas Hundley was eight years old, his father took up woodturning. Or, at least, he tried to. “But he just didn’t have time for it,” says Hundley, who began working on the lathe instead. By high school, Hundley had emerged as quite the craftsman, even winning an education grant from the American Association of Woodturners to study in Japan. Upon returning, he attended Haywood Community College’s Professional Crafts Program and then the Appalachian Center for Craft at Tennessee Tech University, where he received his BFA. Today, he makes everything from decorative bowls to rocking chairs in his Jonas Ridge studio. This fall, Hundley will exhibit his work during the 77th Craft Fair of the Southern Highlands, an indoor bazaar featuring 100-some juried makers from across the Southeast.

77th Craft Fair of the Southern Highlands, Thursday, Oct. 17 – Sunday, Oct. 20, 10am-5pm, Harrah’s Cherokee Center-Asheville (87 Haywood St., Asheville). Admission is $12. See southernhighlandguild.org.  

In the early aughts, when Leicester resident Maria Muscarella was pregnant with her second child, she began knitting baby clothes. “I also began to think more about what was in the yarn I was wrapping my children in,” she says. Determined to do away with chemical-laden fibers, she started purchasing natural yarns and creating natural dyes. “Each skein had a story,” says Muscarella, who soon founded her business, Daughters of the Red Sunset. “The yarn was a connection to the dye plants and the land where they grew, the animals that produced the fiber, and the farms where they lived.” In October, Muscarella will bring her storied skeins to the Southeastern Animal Fiber Fair. The fair celebrates fiber arts with displays, workshops, demonstrations, livestock showings, and more. 

Southeastern Animal Fiber Fair, Friday, Oct. 18 and Saturday, Oct. 19, 9am-5pm, and Sunday, Oct. 20, 9am-4pm, WNC Agricultural Center (761 Boylston Hwy., Fletcher). Admission is $5 per day or $10 for all three days. See saffsite.org.

Susana Abell has lived all over, from charming New England towns to the sprawling metropolis of Bogotá, Columbia. But it’s the Beaverdam Valley, where she settled 20 years ago after marrying her musician husband, that offers the most creative fodder. “I don’t have to go far for inspiration,” says Abell. “I seek out color palettes in deep woods or on grassy balds. I’m lucky to see the ridgelines every day, and every single day they have something new and different to tell me.” Abell will share her nature-centric encaustic monotypes, which are made by generating a reverse image in pigmented beeswax, during the Beaverdam Studio Tour. Now in its 7th year, the event will feature more than two dozen artists living in the North Asheville neighborhood, plus select guests. 

7th Annual Beaverdam Studio Tour, Saturday, Oct. 26, 10am-5pm, and Sunday, Oct. 27, 10am-4pm. See beaverdamstudiotour.com and the story on Thomas Irven in this issue.

“Well-designed chaos.” That’s how Courtney Fall Tomchik, an Asheville native who studied ceramics at Appalachian State University and later refined her techniques at the John C. Campbell Folk School, describes her abstract sculptures. “I slab-build using many layers of overlapping textures, Raku fire, and design to create multi-dimensional wall assemblages with found objects,” she says. In November, Tomchik will show her pieces at the WNC Pottery Festival. First hosted 19 years ago along the train tracks in Dillsboro, the festival began as a small gathering of 21 artists. The show now happens in Sylva, where, notes Tomchik, it draws “good crowds and artists from around the country.”

WNC Pottery Festival, Saturday, Nov. 2, 10am-4pm, Bridge Park (76 Railroad Ave., Sylva). Admission is $5. See wncpotteryfestival.com.

Curiosity. That’s what Weaverville photographer Bill Green says inspires his evocative shots of desolate gas stations and derelict grocery stores. “I love exploring the details of a scene and what they may reveal about that time and place,” he says. “Looking closely and highlighting seemingly mundane details helps me reveal a more unique story found in an image. And I wouldn’t be able to do that if I wasn’t curious.” Green will offer more insight into his creative process during the fall edition of the twice-yearly Weaverville Art Safari. The well-established event highlights makers living along the rural roads and village streets north of Asheville. This season’s participants range from Jan Swanson, a self-taught artist working in collage and acrylics, to Mark Bettis, a contemporary painter and local gallery owner. “Besides being one of the longest-running studio tours in Western North Carolina, what makes the Weaverville Art Safari unique is the diversity and quality of talent we have here,” says Bettis. “Painters, glass blowers, potters, woodworkers, jewelry makers, and sculptors — we have it all.” 

Weaverville Art Safari, Saturday, Nov. 2 and Sunday, Nov. 3, 10am-5pm. See weavervilleartsafari.com.

From hand-thrown mugs for sipping to ceramic condiment bowls for dipping, you’ll find everything you could ever need at the North Carolina Ceramic Arts Festival. Held at the Mission Health/A-B Tech Conference Center, the indoor bazaar will feature 30 artists working in clay. Among them will be Madison County potter Joey Sheehan, who likes to “bring a variety of work to speak to all folks.” As he explains, “You will be able to hold a simple mug or feel a large wall platter in my booth.” Regardless of size, each piece culls inspiration from timeworn forms with a contemporary focus on texture. “I use textural porcelain slip to create patterns I have encountered in natural landscapes, rivers, and even art history,” says Sheehan. “I am constantly observing and absorbing my surroundings and letting them creep into my work naturally.” 

North Carolina Ceramic Arts Festival, Saturday, Nov. 9, 10am-5pm, Mission Health/A-B Tech Conference Center (16 Fernihurst Drive, Asheville). See northcarolinaceramicartsfestival.com.

Mark Woodham’s woodworking journey began with a seagull. At seven years old, the Ohio native carved the avian from an orange crate. Woodham’s creative career took flight from there, carrying him all the way to Burnsville, where he now marries the mediums of wood and metal to craft everything from custom handrails to eccentric coffee tables. The maker will open his workspace to visitors during the late-fall Toe River Arts Fall Studio Tour. During the tour, guests can explore the studios of 100-some makers spread across Yancey and Mitchell counties, experiencing the collaborative ethos of this bucolic arts community firsthand. The High Country region, home to Penland School of Craft, has been noted for its exceptional crafts presence for nearly a century. “Artists in this area are not in competition with one another,” says Woodham. “It’s more a sense of supporting each other, lifting each other up, and celebrating each others’ victories.” 

Toe River Arts Fall Studio Tour, Friday, Nov. 8 through Sunday, Nov. 10, 10:30am-5pm. See toeriverarts.org.