Each spring, members of the Southern Highland Craft Guild launch their Educational Event Series at the Folk Art Center with Glass, Metal, and Clay Day, a free educational event for the Asheville community.

On Saturday, April 4, from 10am–4pm, more than a dozen Guild members will demonstrate their skills and techniques in glass, metal, and clay inside the Folk Art Center auditorium. Visitors can watch master craftspeople at work and learn about the many processes involved in handmade craft.

Demonstrations will include blacksmithing, glass blowing, metal piercing and annealing, knife making, bezeling, repoussé, stained glass soldering, forging, raku firing, wheel throwing, hand-building clay, and more.

As the nation’s second-oldest craft organization, the Southern Highland Craft Guild is dedicated to preserving and promoting handmade craft in the Southern Appalachian region. The Guild’s educational events give visitors a rare opportunity to see craft processes firsthand and connect with the makers behind the work.

Education Director Janet Wiseman shares: “Members of the Southern Highland Craft Guild share their knowledge and skillset at these events with the hope of inspiring visitors to be more creative in their own lives. We are honored to have such generous members who volunteer their time to encourage appreciation for handmade crafts and the value of learning a new skill. The Folk Art Center is a beautiful oasis of craft on the Blue Ridge Parkway and was designed to be welcoming for families and visitors alike.”

Glass, Metal, and Clay Day is the first of four educational events hosted throughout the year at the Folk Art Center. A full schedule of events can be found at craftguild.org/events.

For more information, visit craftguild.org/events, view upcoming events at facebook.com/shcraftguild/events, or contact the Folk Art Center at info@craftguild.org or 828-298-7928.

The Folk Art Center, located at Milepost 382 on the Blue Ridge Parkway in east Asheville, houses three galleries, a craft shop, a library, and a Blue Ridge Parkway information desk and bookstore. The Center is handicap accessible and open daily from 10am–5pm. Admission is free.

The Southern Highland Craft Guild is a non-profit, educational organization established in 1930 to cultivate the crafts and makers of the Southern Highlands for the purpose of shared resources, education, marketing and conservation. The Southern Highland Craft Guild is an authorized concessioner of the National Park Service, Department of the Interior.