CREATORS
Nancy Gottovi, executive director of STARworks
rising STAR A unique workshop for the “fire arts” in the middle of North Carolina by WILEY CASH photography by MALLORY CASH
T
he town of Star is the artistic center of North Carolina. I mean that — literally — in that Star is the geographic center of the state. And I also mean it figuratively, as the town is home to STARworks, where artists from around the world have been working in fire arts like glass blowing and ceramics since 2005. “ We love to set stuff on fire around
here,” says STARworks executive director Nancy Gottovi, who, in a single decade, led the transformation of an abandoned hosiery mill into a destination for artists from around the globe. In 1993, a nonprofit called Central Park NC formed when leaders from six Central Carolina rural counties came together with a common vision of creating a sustainable economy. The group formed an initiative to focus on art as
a way to capitalize on the natural and cultural assets of the rural spaces located between the urban centers of Charlotte and the Research Triangle. That was when Gottovi began asking herself questions about what a working artist truly requires. “They need to have a really good space to work with good equipment,” Gottovi says. “They also need a community of other artists to feed off of. And they The Art & Soul of Raleigh | 41
