Steel art will be featured at Fire on the Mountain Blacksmithing Festival. Clockwise from left: Table by John Rais, Brass Flatware Set by Rachel Kedinger and Chain Vessel #2 by Eric Velleca.
A bunch of genre-specific events this spring make the material difference. First up is Fire on the Mountain Blacksmithing Festival, a ringing celebration of an ancient art that happens in Spruce Pine on Saturday, April 27. A collaborative event with nearby Penland School of Crafts, it’s a day of steel-art exhibitions and high-energy demos, including the popular “Forge Off.” See the event’s Facebook page or downtownsprucepine.com for details. … Next comes Fiber Weekend, held Saturday, May 11 (10am-4pm) and Sunday, May 12 (1-3pm) at the Folk Art Center on the Blue Ridge Parkway. Given the vast number of textile crafters in the region, it’s no wonder this event has expanded to fill up Mother’s Day weekend. Fiber Weekend features the work of more than two dozen members of the Southern Highland Craft Guild — “felters, quilters, weavers, knitters, tatters, spinners, and many more.” Some demos will be held outside, so visitors are advised to bring a blanket (appropriately enough), since spring weather on the Parkway can be fickle. See southernhighlandguild.org for more information. … On Saturday, June 1, at Old Fort’s Mountain Gateway Museum, the annual North Carolina Gold Festival celebrates the region’s “first in eureka” status (NC was the country’s biggest gold producer in the early 1800s, before the 1848 gold rush in California). Gold-panning contests and gem vendors are part of the fun, and the day segues into another quirky area happening, the nearby Livermush Fest in downtown Marion. For more information, check out the Gold Festival event page on Facebook or see ncgold.org. … Back at the Folk Art Center, Clay Day gets spinning on Saturday, June 8, 10am-4pm. There are almost more potters than wildflowers in WNC these days; see what it takes for them to make their mark (info at southernhighlandguild.org).