The Folk Art Center: A Cultural Pillar
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The Folk Art Center + Southern Highland Craft Guild
The Folk Art Center, located off exit 55 on I-40, is positioned along America’s Favorite Scenic Drive, the Blue Ridge Parkway at Milepost 382. The Folk Art Center is home to the Southern Highland Craft Guild, which has been around for nearly 100 years. The organization, which includes juried members from 9 different states, supports working Appalachian artists—over 800 makers. The Folk Art Center showcases both rotating and permanent exhibitions of local crafts that include pottery, quilts, drinkware, and sculpture, along with a retail storefront of various handmade goods. East Asheville is also located just 10 minutes from Black Mountain, home to the storied Black Mountain College, another foundational player in Asheville’s treasured art culture. Just 5 minutes from the Folk Art Center, visitors can experience native wildlife at the WNC Nature Center and grab a bite to eat at one of the many great East Asheville restaurants. For a complete overview of East Asheville, be sure to check out our Ultimate Guide to Living in East Asheville.
History of the Folk Art Center & The Guild
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The origins of the Folk Art Center began with Frances Louisa Goodrich, a Presbyterian missionary. Goodrich moved to Madison County’s Allanstand community to help bolster the livelihoods of mountain families through crafts. She founded Allanstand Cottage Industries and eventually moved the business to Asheville, where she began networking with members of the Arts and Crafts movement occurring in Appalachia in the early 1900s. By the 1930s, Olive Dame Campbell, the founder of the John C. Campbell Folk School, had championed the idea of forming an official crafts organization, which eventually became the Southern Highlands Craft Guild and took the Allanstand shop under the organization’s wing. By the 1980s, the Guild moved its headquarters to the Folk Art Center after collaborative efforts between the Guild, the National Park Service, and the Appalachian Regional Commission moved construction into fruition. Today, the Center is home to Allanstand in addition to the Southern Highland Craft Guild’s more permanent collection, which includes around 250 creations ranging from dolls to pottery to furniture to woodcarving and more. Many of the crafts are from the mid to late 1800s, with a variety of items specifically sourced by Frances Goodrich.
The SHCG is one of the oldest craft guilds in the country (second to the Boston Society of Arts and Crafts), featuring three galleries, a craft shop, a bookstore, and a library. Its goal has been to keep the art and craft creations of Appalachia alive and well and to support the livelihood of crafters in the region.
Notable Artists & Makers
While Frances Goodrich is most credited as the founder of the Craft Guild, she was also recognized for her weaving. She utilized fabric from the Allanstand shop to upholster furniture in the Mountain Room of the White House. Cynthia Bringle, another Guild member, has had ceramic work exhibited in galleries, craft shows, and museums across the United States. She was noted as a Fellow of the American Craft Council and a North Carolina Living Treasure. Her work is on display at the Mint Museum of Craft and Design, Asheville Art Museum, and the High Museum of Art in Atlanta. The apple doesn’t fall far from the tree in arts and crafts – Edwina Bringle, Cynthia’s twin sister, has had a steady influence on the Penland School of Crafts and is a talented fiber artist in her own right. A carver from the Eastern Band of Cherokee, Amanda Crowe, is renowned for her carvings of bears. Her carvings are displayed at The Smithsonian, the Art Institute of Chicago, the Mint Museum in Charlotte, the Atlanta Art Museum, the Denver Museum of Art, and locations across England and Germany. In 2000, just 4 years before she passed away, she received a North Carolina Folk Heritage Award. Goingback Chiltoskey is also a celebrated Cherokee carver and has work displayed at the Chicago Art Institute.
Craft Fairs & Events
From March through December, the region’s busier time, the Folk Art Center at the Blue Ridge Parkway hosts free craft demonstrations in its lobby so visitors can see firsthand the craftsmanship that goes into the art and chat with resident artists. In addition, a wide range of craft educational events take place on a rotating basis, like “Glass, Metal, and Clay Day” and “Fiber Day.” The Guild also hosts the Craft Fair of the Southern Highlands in July and October, holiday markets in December, and their annual Craft Conference in September.
Membership in the Guild is a distinguished honor—only about 10% of applicants are accepted, making it a true rite of passage in the craft world. As a part of its support for the livelihoods of crafters and artists, the Guild hosts retail locations in its headquarters at the Folk Art Center which is located on the Blue Ridge Parkway, at 930 Tunnel Road (an East Asheville neighborhood craft shop for 70 years), the Grove Arcade (located at 1 Page Ave in the heart of downtown Asheville), and at Moses Cone Manor in Blowing Rock, North Carolina. The Guild is not only an inspirational champion of the Appalachian creative community but also a vital force in the region’s economy—preserving time-honored traditions, fostering new generations of artists, and reinforcing Asheville’s legacy as a vibrant hub where art, culture, and craftsmanship converge.