Arts & Crafts

World Class Handmade Creations

Working artists have been setting up shop in Asheville and calling it home for more than a century. As a result, the area has come to be recognized as a national center for arts and crafts.

To see a lot of local crafts in a short time try these hot spots:

• Kress Emporium and Woolworth Walk are each packed with booths presenting the works of different artists.

• The River Arts District is home to more than 200 artists with working studios in 23 former industrial buildings.

• The Refinery Creator Space comprises 10 resident artists and exhibitions in three galleries.

• The Folk Art Center houses a historical archive of regional craft and maintains a rotating set of exhibits and demonstrations.

• The Center for Craft contains two galleries and a new National Craft Innovation Hub.

• North Carolina Glass Center, The Village Potters and the Odyssey Clayworks offer classes, demos and open galleries.

• Or, if you catch the right weekend and want to go for a drive through the country, various nearby locales host self-guided craft studio tours (Weaverville Art Safari, Leicester Studio Tour and Henderson County Open Studio Tour among them). Or take a daytrip to Penland School of Crafts or John C. Campbell Folk School; both are nationally renowned institutions located within a couple of hours’ drive of Asheville.

Photos courtesy of the Southern Highland Craft Guild