THE SOUTHERN HIGHLANDS FOLK ART CENTER

BLUE RIDGE MOUNTAIN PARKWAY

The Southern Highlands Center is on mile marker 382 on the Blue Ridge Parkway just minutes from downtown Asheville.  They carry a wonderful variety of arts and crafts from the Southern area of the United States.  The crafts are all handmade by skilled artisans from the area.  Many of the crafts were handed down from generation to generation.  They were originally a part of daily life, pottery for dishes and storage, weaving for clothes and rugs, carving for tools and instruments, painting and printing for decoration.  There is almost aways a artist demonstrating a craft daily at the center and on some occasions as the September festival, there are example of all the crafts of the area with hands on experiences for adults and children. The center also has a wonderful reference library where you can research art of the area, or any art you may be interested in learning.  It is a wonderful resource. If you are not from the United States and want to know more or plan a trip to the Blue Ridge, Smokey Mountain area I highly recommend it.  But if you cannot, I will post as much information as I can to let you take a virtual trip.  While I am in the mountains I will post a variety of information on the area itself, the artist, musicians and writers.  The absolute stunning natural environment influences artists in many ways in their work.