Artist, Kate Clayton (Granny) Donaldson
The focus is on female artists in an exhibition opening February 6 and running through late June at the Asheville Art Museum, 2 S. Pack Square. Titled Appalachian Innovators: Women Makers in the Southern Highland Craft Guild, 1930-2000, it features works by women who have been among the most important members in the long history of the Guild. The Guild’s founding members were almost all women, and many of them were involved in organizations that worked to improve the economic standing of mountain families.
Some of the most important pieces created by these women can be seen in Appalachian Innovators, from early Appalachian work to the work of mid-century artists who illustrated what the future would hold artistically.
Artist, Hope Brown
The Guild served as a microcosm of the larger world of art. With influences from the major craft schools to Black Mountain College, the Guild was a major economic force for its varied members. Chartered in 1930, the Guild has grown to become one of the strongest craft organizations in the country. Second in age only to the Boston Society of Arts and Crafts, the Guild (southernhighlandcraftguild.org) now represents over 900 craftspeople in 293 counties across nine southeastern states.
