Jacque Allen enjoys the process of making functional furniture, allowing the aesthetic characteristics of the wood to guide the design process. She studied painting, sculpture and photography at Columbia College and Eastern Kentucky University. She studied furniture design and studio furniture construction at Penland School of Crafts, Arrowmont School of Art and Crafts, John C Campbell Folk School, and is a graduate of Haywood Community College in the Professional Crafts Program for Wood. She also had a three-month fellowship at The Center For Furniture Craftsmanship in Rockport, Maine where she studied woodturning.

Kurt makes his home in the mountains of Western North Carolina and holds a degree in Education from the University of Wyoming and an MFA from Louisiana State University. He has participated in Residencies at Watershed Center for Ceramic Arts in Maine, Penland School of Crafts, and The Archie Bray Foundation in Montana. In 2009-2010 Kurt was the Fergus Post-MFA Fellow at The Ohio State University.

Born and raised in Western North Carolina, I grew up learning woodworking, traditional Southern handcrafts, and painting from my grandparents. After years working for a local craftsman, I entered the Professional Crafts Program at Haywood Community College and committed fully to woodworking. Layering wood, paint, color, texture, and geometric forms, I create pieces that explore depth, history, and joy, blending backgrounds in mixed‑media printmaking, woodworking, and handcrafts into a colorful, whimsical aesthetic that feels uniquely my own.

Since 1993, beginning with mosaics, I have been breaking and making ceramics as a full time studio artist. Discovering clay as a medium to sculpt the forms on which to apply the mosaic, I became enamored with the material and its processes.

Lucinda Brogden’s gold and silver jewelry references nature in both pattern and organic form. Her work is primarily fabricated, with etched or roller printed texture and semi-precious stones. Lucinda has been a practicing jeweler and metal smith for over 40 years, and has an M.F.A. in Art Metals from the University of Wisconsin at Madison. Her work has been widely shown throughout the US and has received several national awards, including a Mid Atlantic Arts Fellowship. Lucinda currently lives in North Carolina, where she splits her time between Winston Salem and Celo-Burnsville in Western North Carolina.

Walking on this earth in the midst of impossible odds, there is still the capacity to see good and do good. I am in awe of human beings and they continue to inspire me.

The ease and grace of nature is what runs through my mind when clay is moving through my fingers. Today more than ever, the resulting peacefulness is treasured and hopefully shared through my work.

Living in Spruce Pine, NC. Colleen has enjoyed immersing herself in the myriad forms of fiber art, including eco printing, basketry, paper, and cloth, as a way to bring the outdoors in and perfect her craft.

Jim is a metalsmith’s metalsmith. With over 50 years of experience, “Coop” has worked as a jeweler, silversmith, foundryman, conservator, sculptor, and blacksmith.

I am inspired by patterns and compositions found in nature and landscape, particularly of my home, Western North Carolina.

In this latest body of work, I have been using watercolor and water-soluble materials, combined with graphite, ink and acrylic paints and mediums.

Hurricane Helene has added another layer to my visual language – opening spaces previously protected, leaving newly exposes spaces, creating a strange openness to the landscape.

Daniel Essig creates wood-covered art books and book-based sculptures. Using a fourth-century binding known as Ethiopian-style Coptic, he creates mixed-media book structures that incorporate unusual woods, handmade paper, found objects, fossils, and mica.

We make turned and carved vessels, bowls and sculpture using local and exotic wood with semi precious gemstone and copper inlay.

Susan earned a BFA in ceramics from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro and started taking clay classes at the Penland School of Craft in 1994 and was a Core Fellow there from 1998-2000. Susan finished an MFA in ceramics from the University of Florida and has been a clay studio coordinator at Penland School since 2007 and maintains a small home clay studio in Spruce Pine, North Carolina.

Nita Ford is a former Penland Core Fellow and current full time textile artist with a great sense of pattern and design.

Bridget Fox creates decorative and functional ceramics called Mudventions. Inspired by exotic organisms and the textures and patterns found in nature she invents a rare undersea garden of unique cerebral concoctions. Exploring the endless creative possibilities of the ceramic process is seductive therapy for her soul.

JJ Brown and Simona Rosasco own and operate Fyreglas Studio, just 3 miles from downtown Bakersville. Working together they create both decorative and functional kiln formed glass art.

Henry Gardner is a green wood worker who makes kitchen utensils and other domestic pieces from locally sourced wood. His work is inspired by the Scandinavian slojd tradition of making beautiful and functional objects to be used in everyday life. In keeping with the slojd tradition he uses an axe, an assortment of knives, and other hand tools to make his spoons. He often uses colorful milk paints to accentuate the natural beauty of native hardwoods to Western North Carolina where he was born and raised. 

“With my work, I try to have each form serve as a canvas to display the inherent beauty and simple elegance of the glass.”

Playful, bold, colorful and one-of-a-kind.

I’m a contemporary glass artist based near Penland School, located about 60 miles northeast of Asheville, North Carolina. I make studio glass artwork and sculptures. Some of my work is inspired by the tranquility and enduring beauty of the North Toe River where my studio and home are located. Other work evolves from musings which reflect my background in philosophy and aesthetics.

Graeme Priddle and Melissa Engler of Half-Feral Studio are both acclaimed woodworkers and sculptors currently based out of Asheville, NC.

Georgia Harden works in collage using 1970s National Geographic magazines to create casually whimsical juxtapositions of animals living daily human lives. She has a BFA from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and lives in the Asheville area.

Cathy Henson creates functional handmade brooms grounded in researched traditional forms and techniques. Drawn to the simplicity of transforming basic materials into purposeful objects, she incorporates basket‑weaving patterns into the way each broom is bound to its handle, giving her work both strength and visual distinction. Her practice draws from Appalachian broom‑making traditions, including Sailor’s Whisks, Turkey Wing, Hawk’s Tail, Rooster Tail, twig brooms, cobweb brooms, and children’s brooms—each historically shaped by specific household and occupational needs. Using broom corn (African grass) and tampico fibers sourced from Mexico, she carefully labels each piece with its style and materials. Through this work, Henson honors everyday tools that were once essential to daily life, preserving traditional knowledge while celebrating the enduring beauty of handmade utility.

"Nature's own shapes and patterns, inspire me to explore my vision and creativity with wood." Gary Jobe.

Occasionally I describe myself as a hand-builder at heart, trapped in a wheel thrower’s body. Everything I make comes from the wheel, and I love the liveliness that throwing can put into the clay. But where I’m having the most fun is at the table, altering a thrown form or putting wheel thrown parts together: cutting, coaxing and stretching the clay.

I bring color to metal using a technique more often seen on paper. I create colorful jewelry by drawing on metal with Prismacolor pencils. My work is deeply influenced by a fascination with color and texture, and it often blends geometric and botanical themes, with occasional forays into more whimsical imagery. While my subject matter may evolve, my unique technique remains a constant. It's my bold use of color and my application style that attracts students from around the world who seek me out as a teacher.

Evely’s jewelry is inspired by the silliness of everyday life and she hopes this will bring joy, comfort, and nostalgia to the wearer.

In many German-American homes starting in the late 1800s, a pickle ornament would be hidden on the Christmas tree and the person finding it on Christmas morning would receive an extra gift from Santa-or good fortune for the following year. Origin stories differ, but you can visit Berrien Springs, Michigan, the Christmas pickle capital of the world, for its annual Pickle Festival and parade.

I create functional forms for everyday use as well as pieces for special occasions. Inspired by eighteenth- and nineteenth-century decorative arts and the intricacy of plant forms, my work unites historical and natural influences within a cohesive artistic vision.

For me, every step in making is engaging: throwing soft clay on my treadle wheel, altering and hand building forms to assemble, playing with proportion and relationships, then responding to the form with marks that enhance volume and gesture.  Each step is considered and careful, yet I want to experiment and play with form and function.

While abstract in nature, my paintings reflect an underlying visual order and harmony. My process often includes setting an intention for the painting with journaling, listening to music, activating the canvas with marks and scribbles, and playing with various brushes and mark-making tools.

My mission is to create for you significant pieces of jewelry that you love. Talismans that remind you of your heart's desires. Amulets that symbolize connection and joy. Pieces that awaken your inherent memory to slow down, honor the past and cherish the moment. I want to support sparking the passions that are deep within you. My intention is to create pieces for you that are beautiful and lasting. It would be my honor to make you something meaningful that you cherish.

My interest in making charcuterie boards lies primarily in creating an overall contemporary design that is minimalistic and geometric, highlighting the natural beauty of the wood while adding a modern, abstract element. By using resin as an additional medium, I feel I am able to achieve this by adding polka dots, stripes, and inlaid components.

Kimberly is a talented printmaker and book maker. The work she creates comes from her sketchbook and her passion for plein air drawing. She draws her inspiration from nature and her love of botanicals.

Kit received her MFA from Southern Illinois University and her BFA from Alfred University. She is currently a studio artist in Penland, North Carolina.

I do pottery and gardens—both being a quiet collaboration between the hands and the earth, both creating a world that's more vibrant to the senses.

Connie Karleta Sales is a contemporary artist and poet; currently working in mixed media. Her line quality is created out of experience, and composition emerges as the woven words of a heart’s beat. Drawing her words within observation, she finds truth and in truth…Connie finds transcendent stories of building beauty in her world.

Liz creates pottery to enhance and activate the energy of interior spaces by communicating ideas of life, cycles, and patterns.

Tom uses an iPad and drawing applications to create works from travels, family reflections, the flowers in his surroundings and his imagination. The images are printed onto aluminum to give them a physical form and in keeping with the contemporary digital environment.

Joy Tanner's work reflects an awareness of the present moment, resulting in uniquely designed pottery that is just as inviting to ponder and touch as it is to use and share. Firing her stoneware forms in a soda kiln yields an ever-changing palette of natural variations of color.

"The hand carved patterns and textures in my work are direct reflections of the nature and inspirations I find surrounding me. I strive to bring this awareness of the beauty of nature full circle, directly into the hands of people holding and using my pots." - Joy

Amanda Taylor, a glass artist originally from Calgary, Alberta, draws inspiration from the natural beauty of the scenery around her to create a unique selection of kilnformed glass art. Her work, which includes landscapes, sculptural pieces, and functional items, uses the fluidity, light, and color of glass to evoke emotion and a sense of place.e

Bridget VanRemortel has been weaving for over twelve years. She loves to use color in her baskets to make something fun and functional. She enjoys being able to create art with her hands. Bridget has taught locally and in West Virginia, Tennessee and Georgia.

Julie Wiggins received a BFA in Ceramics from East Carolina University in 2001. In 2005, she received an honorary degree from the Jingdezhen Ceramic Institute in China, where she focused her studies on traditional Eastern techniques. After graduating college, she began her ceramic career in Charlotte, before moving to live near Penland School of Craft.