Liz Ackermann has been weaving since 1982. She spent 5 years as a weaver and spinner at Colonial Williamsburg learning about, and demonstrating, colonial textile techniques. Since moving to the New River Valley in 1992, she has taught workshops and classes in a variety of weaving techniques to groups and individuals in Virginia and West Virginia. She currently weaves and teaches in her back yard studio in Christiansburg, VA. Liz is also a member of The Handweavers Guild of the New River Valley, which is a nonprofit organization that brings together weavers at every level of experience who share a common interest in the art and craft of hand weaving. The Guild holds monthly meetings with informative programs, offers workshops for members to learn new skills, and shares its knowledge of the craft with the community at large through demonstrations and other programs.   http://teashanty.blogspot.com

Jayn Avery is a self-taught potter/sculptor/writer living in Floyd County, Virginia. The direction of her life was changed by one introductory class in pottery taken at Cornell University while she was a student working on her MS in environmental education. She founded Blue Heron Pottery in 1975 and her unique functional lace-impressed slabwork has become a Floyd County exemplar. As an advocate of simple living, she bases her technique on the principles of least cost, least equipment, and maximum use of available resources. Her teaching emphasis is on personal creativity and resourcefulness. www.blueheronpotteryweb.com

Barb Baur has been an artist all her life and a jeweler since 1982. As an artist she is inspired by connecting people and ideas through art jewelry. Starting as an apprentice to a 2nd generation jeweler while still in high school, Barb has had completed training both in college art metal courses and jewelry trade school. This unique combination along with her own autodidactic experiences has created an artist schooled in both traditional goldsmithing and the expansive ideas of a modern metal artist. As an instructor, Barb’s experience in casting, repairs and bench jewelry form a basis for educating others in how to create beautiful jewelry that is durable and practical as well. She works out of a home based jewelry studio in Philadelphia, PA. www.barbbaur.com

Gerald Boggs lives in the village of Afton, Virginia. He opened his own shop, Wayfarer Forge, in 2004, where he does demonstrations and commissions. Working as a classical blacksmith, Gerald is not stuck in the past doing over and over designs from the 18th century. Rather, he tries to work within the framework of classical blacksmithing, while embracing design development of the last century. A member of the Old Dominion Blacksmith Association (OBDSA), Gerald is spearheading a partnership between The Jacksonville Center and OBDSA that is making blacksmithing more accessible to the public and experienced blacksmiths alike. http://wayfarerforge.com

Susan Brittingham has been teaching quilting and sewing in person since 1987 and online since 2000. She is an award winning quilter who has displayed her work in prestigious shows and galleries across the country and been published in numerous books and magazines. She enjoys teaching and provides individual attention and encouragement to all her students so that they can get the most out of her classes.  http://sbrittingham.freeservers.com

Sue Brozovsky started sculpting in 2003 when she took a class in the art of carving stone with Bob Lockhart of the Arrowmont School of Arts & Crafts. She describes her work as abstract and interpretive realism. Sue enjoys sharing her love of sculpture and encouraging others to find their inner sculptore. In 2008, she achieved her dream of a studio on her property in Catawba, VA. Her work has been displayed at Miller Off Main Galleries, the New River Fine Arts Gallery, and The Gallery in Radford and Gallery 108 in Roanoke. www.sculpturebysue.com

Carly Burke has more than ten years experience in metal and jewelry design. A graduate of Savannah College of Art and Design, she produces a variety of unique wearable creations, with a focus on quality design and quality materials. A passion for metal manipulation drives her creativity—bending, chasing, and connecting wire to enhance the beauty of materials is an inspiring process.  She designs most aspects of her jewelry from ear wire to findings. Also a certified Masseuse and Hatha Yoga instructor, she enjoys a simple approach to life. Her educational combination has allowed her to focus on family, creativity, and enjoyment of her home in the Blue Ridge Mountains. http://burkesmountaindesign.com

Pamela Cadmus lives in Pilot, Virginia and has over twenty-five years of gardening and landscape experience. She started Specialty Garden Design in 1997, working with clients throughout southwest Virginia.  Using horticultural and design expertise to create innovative plant combinations, Pamela strives to create sustainable landscapes that are both beautiful and functional. While the majority of her work is residential, she has designed for local restaurants, a public library and the Jacksonville Center for the Arts. Pamela regularly attends horticultural and landscape design conferences and classes in an effort to continually grow her repertoire. http://specialtygardendesign.com

Lee Chichester is by trade a freelance writer and is a VDGIF – Certified Outdoors Education Instructor specializing in birds of prey and falconry, living in Floyd. As a hobby, she undertook to teach herself papermaking in 1999 and started with a backlog of “filed rejection letters” from her writing, wanting to both recycle and do justice to the various editors’ lack of vision electing not to publish her work. Among the first instructors at the center, Lee has been teaching papermaking, paper sculpture and falconry for years.

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McCabe Coolidge and his partner, Karen Day, have opened Wildfire Pots Studio in downtown Floyd at the Wintersun. McCabe throws functional pottery for the kitchen and dining room. He fires with his own wood kiln as well as the kilns at the Jacksonville Center. He has been an episodic potter beginning in 1977 with two years at Meredith College Raleigh, NC ceramics program. His studies continued in ceramics at UNC Asheville. He has taken classes from Ellen Shankin and Rick Hensley of Sixteen Hands and Sarah McCarthy at the Jacksonville Center. McCabe sells his pots in galleries nearby and at the beaches of NC. www.blueridgepotters.com/pix/Collidge/McCabe.html

Josh Copus was raised in Floyd County and currently lives in the Asheville, NC, area. The local Floyd traditions of crafts and agriculture, blended with the new ideas and outlook of the alternative community to form the basis of Josh’s life philosophy and instill an appreciation for art and nature that strongly influences his current work in ceramics. He received a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree from the University of North Carolina in Asheville in 2007. He is the founder of Clayspace Co-op, a ceramics cooperative and gallery, which provides an environment that promotes the artistic growth and success of its members through cooperation and education. Josh is currently in the process of establishing his own studio and has recently built a workshop and three wood-burning kilns on his land in Marshall, North Carolina. www.joshcopus.com

Jeffery Dalton was born Indianapolis, Indiana. He graduated with an MFA from Rhode Island School of Design and a BFA from Herron School of Art. He is currently an Assistant Professor of Art at Ferrum College in Virginia where he teaches Ceramics, Sculpture and Photography. In addition to Teaching he continues working in his own studio. He has been an Artist-in-residence at the Vermont Studio Center and at the Guldagergaard International Ceramic Research Center in Skaelskor, Denmark.

Carolyn Deck holds a BFA from the School of Painting at Virginia Commonwealth University, and an MA from the School of Painting at the Royal College of Art in London. Her work is currently represented by The Jacksonville Center and the James Ratliffe Gallery in Sedona, Arizona. Color represents one of the more profound spiritual and emotional aspects of Carolyn’s work.

Katherine Devine is originally from Providence, RI, and received her undergraduate degree in art from East Carolina University in  Greenville, North Carolina, and her Master’s degree from Hollins University in Roanoke, Virginia. Her work has been included in the Roanoke College Biennial exhibition, the Staunton-Augusta Regional exhibition, the Roanoke City Art Show, the Salem History Museum’s 2000 Calendar, and the Art Museum of Western Virginia’s 50th Anniversary Art Show. She received the People’s Choice-Best in Show Award in the Toys-Art-Us Exhibit in the Jefferson Center Gallery. Katherine has taught with the Roanoke County Public Schools Gifted Art Program, The Jacksonville Center’s FAR Elementary In-school program, and Hollins University”s Women’s Center.  She currently teaches with Young Audiences Virginia and  the Taubman Museum of Art.   She is the visual artist in residence with the Jefferson Center ’s  INSPIRE arts in education program.  www.katherinedevine.com

Kathy Dulaney is a native of Floyd County and has been weaving baskets and teaching classes for 25 years.  Weaving mostly older Appalachian style baskets, she strives to keep the tradition alive by teaching younger folks the art.  If you make a basket in one of her classes you can be sure that it will be something you can use. Each basket was designed for a specific purpose and Kathy stresses the usefulness of each in her classes. 

Nell Fredericksen took time off between a MS in Zoology and beginning a PhD program and took classes in pottery, stained glass and metalsmithing. When her PhD funding fell through, she turned to the arts and as a result has been a professional artist and fine art jeweler for over 20 years. She has never lost the fascination and wonder she feels in connection with nature and has continued work as a wildlife biologist through the years. After spending 6 years in Bolivia, Nell and her husband (and then baby boy) moved to Ferrum, where she has reestablished her studio and art career. www.nellfredericksen.com

Don George is a retired engineer who has been doing woodworking for forty years. Since retirement, he’s worked full time making cabinets and furniture. He has always been drawn to the simplicity and beauty of the Shaker designs and this has led him to learn and practice this art form.

Glenda George has been working for many years with fiber of one sort or another, making clothing, quilts, surface design and dyes on fabric, spinning yarn, knitting and felting. She has found over the years that all skills overlap and build on one another. She has acquired these skills through advanced classes, reading and mostly through lots of experimentation and practice and finding her own best way.

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Becca Obert Imbur is a mixed-media, collage, paper and book artist. Most of her books are refurbished and upcycled through her love of scouring thrift stores, antique stores and flea markets. Many of Becca’s books are one-of-a-kind originals with handmade covers embellished by her love of exotic and delicate papers. Becca enjoys teaching others the fine art of bookbinding and papermaking through workshops that promote the importance of the creative process. Her work has been exhibited at the Jacksonville Arts Center in Floyd, Main Lee Arts in Blacksburg and Bookworks in Asheville, North Carolina.

Don and Donna Johnson are a husband-wife nature photography team concentrating on capturing spectacular images in the Blue Ridge and Appalachian Mountains. Don has been a photographer most of his life, having worked for newspapers and major US corporations. Donna, a retired Radford University instructor, has worked as Don’s photography partner for more than five years. www.bdonjohnson.com www.blueridgeviews.com

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Rob Jones first realized his love of photography as a photojournalist for his high school newspaper. A nearly twenty-year career in information technologies relegated photography to a hobby until 2006, when he discovered digital photography as the perfect blend of his love of creative images and his extensive skills in computing. Rob currently focuses on fine-art photography and photo restoration while working as the lead tech for Floyd Information Technologies, which he co-owns with his wife, Sarah Beth. www.floydit.com

Sarah Beth Jones has been a public relations practitioner, writer and entrepreneur since 2003. She has developed and maintained websites, blogs and an Etsy shop for her various endeavors since that time. Currently, Sarah is the marketing coordinator for The Jacksonville Center and provides web template development services and end-user tutoring through Floyd Information Technologies, which she co-owns with her husband, Rob. www.floydit.com

Steven Kalb has been blacksmithing for over 15 years. He has studied blacksmithing under some of the best American blacksmiths, and taken classes at nationally recognized schools. Sharing the craft is important to Steven. He has completed terms as Program Chairman, Regional Coordinator, and Trustee for the Florida Artist Blacksmith Association. He also does demonstrations at his coal forge periodically at Koreshan State Park in Estero, Florida. Steven’s interest in blacksmithing began with traditional forging. Period cooking gear and traditional joinery were his passion for several years. Then his art took a more organic direction, where he continues to explore it to this day. www.kalbironworks.com

Lisa Lipsy currently wears three professional hats.  As an Extension Specialist in the Dept of Horticulture at Virginia Tech, her focus is on facilitating a new, emerging state-wide plant introduction program, Beautiful Gardens®. She is also co-owner, along with her husband, of Mill Brook Landscaping, Inc., a small, design-build landscape contracting firm that actually focuses more on gardening than “landscaping”.  Garden ponds and naturalistic perennial gardens are their specialties.  And thirdly, but not least, is the wholesale grass, perennials and dwarf conifer business with her friend, Pamela Cadmus—LiPa Nurseries.  Lisa loves potting and caring for the LiPa Nursery plants because it is the most relaxing part of any of her duties.  Being a grower lets her connect most directly to her passion for plants. http://beautifulgardens.org/.

Chris Lively finished his MFA with a concentration in Ceramics at Radford University in 2008. He has taught 3D foundation classes and beginning through advanced wheel-throwing and alterations classes. Chris sees his work as the exploration of the human gesture and nature. He wants his work to look born and not made. His work has been featured in Larks’ Books 500 Plates and Chargers and Clay Times, and been on display in exhibits such as the Strictly Functional Pottery National exhibit in Lancaster, PA, and Feats of Clay at the Lincoln Arts Center in Lincoln, CA. http://chrislivelypottery.com/

Barbara Mann of Tallahassee, Florida has been carving from native hardwoods since 1971. Her original teachers were Cherokee woodcarvers and she continues to learn from nationally known contemporary carvers. She carves in several styles including traditional, stylized, realistic, caricature, low relief, and chip carving. Her favorites are carving traditional animals and birds, human caricatures, all kinds of Christmas ornaments, wood spirits, and faces and full figures in cypress knees. She has been teaching woodcarving since 1975 in many places including John C. Campbell Folk School, Southeastern Woodcarving School, The Florida, Michigan and Northeast Woodcarving Roundups. Since retiring as a university administrator and faculty member, she displays and sells her carving at craft shows and festivals, and is an active member of the Light N Up Artist Cooperative in Havana, Florida. www.woodcarvingsbymann.com

Sarah McCarthy is a full time studio potter who lives in Floyd, Virginia. She is a self taught artist who has studied at Arrowmont School of Arts and Crafts. Sarah creates functional wheel thrown and hand built pots with attention to surface decoration and subtle Asian influenced glazes. She hopes her pots add to the beauty of the intimate spaces in our daily lives. www.sarahmccarthypottery.com

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Elizabeth Ryland Mears resides in northern Virginia, and, even though she is a few short miles from the nation’s capital, her home is surrounded by a luxuriant forest of deciduous trees.  She is reminded of nature in all seasons of the year as her woodland gardens rise up from the forest floor in the spring while the trees overhead hint at a brilliant chartreuse green.  The canopy formed by the leafy boughs in summer creates a cathedral like space around her home and those same gardens abound with all manner of plants and flowers.  Fall brings its myriad of colors followed by the quiet grays of the winter tableau in which the structures of the trees, their skeletons, manifest themselves and allow sight lines deep into the heart of the woods.   The creatures, which live in these woods, are part of her life, too, as they meander through the property and assert their natural ownership.

Mears utilizes the forms of nature to create works of glass, which reflect her relationship to both her inner and her outer worlds.  The glass is first worked in the mesmerizing flame of a bench torch then often is combined with other materials to become the exquisitely crafted and nationally exhibited objects for which she is known.  Her award winning works are prized by collectors and held in museum and corporate collections.   She has authored two books, which describe the techniques she uses for making glass objects, and her creations have been included in numerous books and other publications whose subject is contemporary art glass.  In 2009 she was declared a Master Artist in the state of Virginia.

Lynda Metcalfe began blacksmithing and designing ironwork during her undergraduate studies in Surrey, England. After graduating in 1992 Lynda apprenticed with an architectural blacksmith in England and worked on a variety of large scale projects including work for the Tower of London. She was an artist in residence in blacksmithing at the Appalachian Center for Crafts in Tennessee and has also taught blacksmithing at the John C. Campbell Folk School and the Appalachian Center for Crafts. She now has a blacksmithing business with her husband making architectural ironwork and a wholesale furniture collection sold through galleries. www.metcalferoush.com

Steve Mitchell produces large raku and wood fired vessels at his mountainside studio located in the Back Creek area of Roanoke County. Steve developed most of his glazes highlighted by use of silver and gold to accent the mostly classic Greek and Asian forms. Steve has won numerous awards for his work including Best Raku Form at the Mid-Atlantic Clay Conference. Steve has developed a new throwing technique for his raku work making the vessels very light weight at the same time massive in scale. Steve is a Board Member of the Blue Ridge Potter’s Guild and a member of the National Council on Education for the Ceramic Arts. His work has been seen in area galleries as well as the Jacksonville Center for the Arts. His studio is open by appointment. www.stevemitchellpottery.com

Dale Morse, proprietor at Clay Hill Forge, began blacksmithing in 1976 at the age of nine. He has worked at a number of studios around the US and studied at Penland and John C. Campbell schools. In addition, he has studied under Manfred Bredhol of the Vulkanschiede in Aachen, Germany, Joe Stokes of Shropshire, England, and Gabrielle Curtolo of Venice, Italy. www.clayhillforge.com

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Betsy Orlando has been creating things almost all her life. Primarily a dollmaker woking in fabric, she has been intrigued with paper and mixed media both in dollmaking and altered booked for over ten years. She has taught book classes locally and at the John C. Campbell Folk School. She is a member of the Allegany Artisans and some of her work can be seen on their website. http://www.orlandoforge.com/Betsy_Orlando.htm
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Charles Orlando has been blacksmithing since 1978 and teaching and demonstrating efficient forging skills in all parts of the country for more than twenty years to blacksmiths and farriers.  In addition to small sale items, his custom work has been the mainstay of his business and his work can be seen in many private and public facilities in the east and mid-west.  Examples of his work can be seen in the gallery on his website:  www.orlandoforge.com

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Linda Osborne is a multi media artist who currently specializes in lampwork beads. She has worked extensively with leather and glass and enjoys combining a variety of materials in her many art forms. Her interest in leather is re-emerging from the 70’s when she made custom fitted shoes.

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Dandee Pattee is originally from Lander, Wyoming.  She has been making pots for over ten years with a specific interest in functional vessels.  Dandee is interested in all aspects of pottery making from form making to glaze chemistry!  She has recently completed a two year apprenticeship with Floyd studio potter Silvie Granatelli, and has now entered graduate school at the University of Florida, pursuing a Masters of Fine Art degree in ceramics.

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Charlie Patricolo has been making dolls for nearly 40 years. The love of fabric and the creative process began to develop during the 1960’s when she started making dolls as a casual hobby. In the early 1990’s, she left her career in the computer industry and while trying to decide what she was going to do “next’.” she began making figures again and realized that she wanted to make dolls. She began to spend all of her time developing dolls of her own design. She came to the realization that she appreciated the freedom of being self-employed. She ended up in North Carolina about 10 years ago at a class at John C. Campbell Folk School in Brasstown, NC. At the end of that first week here in the mountains of western North Carolina, she felt that she had found a home for my heart and hands. She became involved in the work/study program and later the host program at the folk school. At the end of the two programs she made the decision to move to the mountains and begin the next chapter of her life. In the fall of 2008 she moved back to Michigan for the arrival of her granddaughter. She is delighted to be near her family, but misses those mountains and creative energies and return whenever she can to teach and do shows. Now she spends her days creating figures, teaching and demonstrating doll making. www.charlieclothdolls.blogspot.com

Tammy Parks majored in Art and Spanish at Emory and Henry College and the University of Southern Mississippi. She has been teaching in both areas for thirteen years. Currently, she is the owner and designer of All Glass with Class, selling custom stained glass, glass jewelry and ceramic masks when she is not catering to the whims of her six adoptive cats, one dog and one husband. www.allglasswithclass.com

Ronan Kyle Peterson grew up in Poplar, NC, a small community deep in the mountains of western North Carolina. He attended the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and in 1996 received a Bachelor of the Arts degree in Anthropology, with a minor in Folklore. His interest in Folklore led him to John C. Campbell Folk School in Brasstown, NC, where he began taking classes in ceramics and other media. After working for two years with two potters in the area of Asheville, NC, he attended Penland of School of Crafts. Initially, he intended to stay for a two month Concentration in Wood and Soda Fired Pottery with MacKenzie Smith, but two months turned into four years. After Concentration, Ronan applied for and was accepted into the Core Student program. During the two year intensive work exchange program, Ronan had the opportunity to study with a number of internationally known artists and craftspeople. Currently, he has a ceramics studio in Chapel Hill, NC, and teaches ceramics classes at Claymakers in Durham, NC, and Pullen Arts Center in Raleigh, NC. Ronan’s ceramic objects have shown in local and national exhibitions. http://ninetoespottery.com

Sue Pollins is a graduate of the University of Michigan, College of Architecture and Design with a BS in design, a painting major. She is a roster artist of the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts-Education program as an artist in residence, a signature member of the Pennsylvania Watercolor Society, and member and past president of the Pittsburgh Watercolor Society. She has exhibited in innumerable regional and national exhibits. She is a frequent lecturer and juror, has taught in the continuing education programs at Seton Hill University, Penn State, Fayette University and Westmoreland County Community College and has taught for many years at Touchstone Center for Crafts. Her work is part of the permanent collection of Southern Alleghenies Museum of Art and the Westmoreland Museum of American Art and many private and corporate collections.  http://greensburgartclub.org

Dennis Ross

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Gayle Rolfe approaches the arts from a highly technical perspective and is experienced in a broad range of mediums. She is self taught and has been highly successful within these areas; casting and plastic embedment, graphic design, sign making and for the past dozen years has been involved with decorating glass using cold work techniques. Engraving and sandblasting is her area of expertise. She has produced a number of globes for a local lighting manufacturer and also is known for highly detailed reproductions of antique gas lit globes from the Victorian era. Gayle, along with Linda Osborne, facilitates the Floyd Glass Club. www.rolfedesigns.com

Elmer Roush has been blacksmithing since 1970 and has been fully professional since 1987. He is mostly self-taught but has studied with William Fiorini, James Horebin (England), Varlav Jaros (Czechoslovakia) and Peter Ross. Elmer has taught at Touchstone, Peters Valley, John C. Campbell and Cearte Inona (Ireland). He has attended and demonstrated at a number of annual blacksmiths gatherings in Australia and at a number of conferences throughout the United States. www.metcalferoush.com

Karen Sewell was born and raised in Floyd County with a pencil in hand. She has been creating art ever since. Two years of art in high school gave her a basis to grow upon and she taught herself whatever she wanted to expand into. Basically she works in oils and pastels, but loves to work in and incorporate other mediums to achieve the desired effect. Karen has work in collections in Europe and across the US and she has won numerous awards over the years. After living all along the east coast as a naval wife, she became involved in different art groups that fueled her creativity. She is glad to be back home in Floyd County. www.ksewell.com

Jan Stansell has been weaving baskets and chair seats for over 25 years. She has studied with Cherokee basket weavers, South Carolina seagrass basket makers, and others while finding her own unique style. Jan maintains an active teaching schedule in the Southeast, including the John C. Campbell Folk School in Brasstown, NC. Her work is on display at the Georgia Heritage Center for the Arts in Tallulah Falls, GA. She resides in Suches, GA where she has a working studio. www.blackmountaincrafts.com

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Gretchen St. Lawrence has been painting most of her life. However, after a long absence raising a family and pursuing a career she took several classes at The Jacksonville Center and was re-inspired. Living in Floyd has been a great creative inspiration to her, surrounded by many talented people and beautiful scenery. Gretchen has shown her work at the Jacksonville Center and occasionally does commissions. She also spends time working on her drawing skills as a way to advance and challenge her techniques in Pastels.

Alice Walker was born in the heart of the Shenandoah Valley. She received her fine arts degree from Virginia Commonwealth University in 1974. Her student work was chosen for the Virginia Craftmen Show at the Virginia Museum in Richmond in 1974. Her work as an emerging artist was recognized by the Surface Design Association in 1996 when it selected one of her early batik paintings to grace its first journal cover. Since 1989 Alice has worked as a studio artist and has shown her wearable art at juried fine arts and crafts festivals throughout the Eastern United States. She is an exhibiting member of the Southern Highland Craft Guild and Piedmont Craftsman. Alice has four children and makes her home in an old apple orchard on a mountaintop in Floyd County, VA. www.alicewalkerbatik.com

Teri Walters moved to Floyd in 2000 with her family and an array of pets. She was introduced to polymer clay in 1999 and quickly became a “polyholic.” Since then, her artwork has taken her to many different places. She has been featured on local television, has won 1st and 3rd places in Polymer Cafe magazine for her work in canning and mixed media work, featured in newspapers, participated in various exhibits, has her creations in retail stores, and can be found at local craft shows selling and teaching in her booth. Teri has a great desire and thoroughly enjoys passing on her knowledge and experiences in polymer clay to all those desiring to learn. In April, 2009 Teri started the New River Valley Polymer Clay Guild, which today is an active, growing, community oriented group that is promoting the enjoyment of polymer clay as recreation, hobby, or art medium. www.terisclaysmiles.com

Jessie Ward is a third generation farrier. Her love of art and admiration for tradition led her to embrace the methods handed down by her grandfather. Jessie works in a variety of media including stained glass, paper, sculptural iron work, and traditional smithing. She participates in international blacksmithing competitions and has received numerous awards in painting, stained glass and photography. Her work, mostly commissioned, can be found in museums, galleries, businesses and individual homes. She teaches regionally in Southwest Virginia.