[dynamic music] - Next, on "North Carolina Weekend," join us from Artspace in Raleigh as we highlight handcrafted arts.

We'll visit the Yadkin Valley Fiber Center, a folk art gallery in Brunswick County, and a family of potters in the mountains.

Coming up next.

- [Announcer] Funding for "North Carolina Weekend" is provided in part by Visit NC, dedicated to highlighting our state's natural scenic beauty, unique history, and diverse cultural attractions.

From the Blue Ridge and the Great Smoky Mountains, across the Piedmont, to 300 miles of barrier island beaches.

You're invited to experience all the adventure and charm our state has to offer.

[upbeat music] - Welcome to "North Carolina Weekend," everyone.

I'm Deborah Holt Noel.

And this week we are at Artspace in Raleigh, a gallery exhibition space, and center for art education, all in one.

Since 1986, Artspace has provided a unique environment where artists can collaborate, the public can interact with artists, and people of all ages can learn to express their own creativity in classes and workshops.

We'll see more of Artspace throughout the show, but first, let's head over to Surry County, where the legacy of the textile industry lives on through the handcrafted arts of the Yadkin Valley Fiber Center.

[upbeat music] - [Narrator] In 1877, the small town of Elkin was a force in the textile industry, employing thousands.

The famous Chatham blanket was known and distributed around the world.

In 1988, the plant changed ownership, eventually closing.

Leaving the factory buildings empty and silencing the familiar clacking sounds of the looms.

Today, those familiar sounds can be heard again.

- I love the feel of this place.

It gives a feeling of community and depth.

The idea that it used to be a mill.

How many people earned their livelihood here, how it's a part of the town, the history.

- [Narrator] In 1942, the company built the Gilvin Roth YMCA.

It was the center of community activity for decades.

Now, thanks to the vision of the Foothills Arts Council, it's well on its way to transforming this historic building into a school of craft.

- Everybody's really excited, as we are, to be here in the building, and to be slowly bringing it back to life.

It's kind of sat here neglected for a number of years.

And so, as we're going through the building, and reactivating spaces as galleries and classrooms, and getting students and instructors into the space, it's really just developing a life again.

That's really exciting, both to us and the community.

- Very impressive how large it is and the different functions that it's going to contain.

- [Narrator] Considering the building's history, it made perfect sense that the pilot program was teaching fiber arts.

Something very familiar to this community.

- With Chatham's, a lot of people, their parents and their grandparents, grew up working here in textile manufacturing.

And the weaving was a job to them.

Now their grandchildren, and their kids, they can still learn that craft, and preserve some of that family heritage.

- They're very rooted in the textile history and they have a very positive attitude about the fiber arts.

- I think this is incredible, what they're doing here.

And to be able, you know, you get, should I say vibes from, you know.

There's a feeling here that you can plug into a little bit.

It's like a weaving tool.

If somebody gives you a weaving tool that somebody else has used, there is some life that comes with that.

- [Narrator] On this particular day, the Fiber Center is hosting an entry-level tapestry class.

- You're gonna see them using a very simple school-type loom.

And they're learning all your basic techniques.

So joining, hatching, making curves.

They're also looking at twining, which is another technique of weaving.

- Well, so now I am demonstrating a color blending technique called hatching.

- The classes on the floor loom, the rigid heddle, the inkle loom, the tapestry, those are offered on a regular basis because they are geared towards the beginning weaver.

And one of the things that we do is we offer the use of all equipment and materials.

So someone can come in if they have an interest, but they don't have to make an investment until they've actually learned how to weave, and know that it's what they want to do and pursue.

- I just really enjoy the process of weaving, the calmness it brings.

It brings, it makes me feel rooted to the past and to my heritage.

- It is something that is fading.

I think that the more people know, now that I know this is here, I'm going to definitely let folks that I come in contact with know it's here, to come check out the gallery.

Maybe if you're in the area for a time, come take a class.

- If anybody has an interest in fiber arts, and the threads, and how things are created, you can't really pinpoint exactly what someone's gonna learn, but I know that they're gonna learn something.

And they're gonna walk away with a richer background than they came in here with.

They're gonna grow from their experience here.

- The Yadkin Valley Fiber Center is at 321 East Main Street in Elkin.

And to find out more about classes and exhibitions, give them a call at 919-260-9725, or visit them online at yadkinvalleyfibercenter.org.

Did you know, there are more than 30 artist studios here at Artspace, and they welcome visitors?

Another welcoming creative space is in Brunswick County.

And people love to stop there on their way to the beach.

Let's head to the folk art gallery Mary's Gone Wild.

[jaunty music] - A lot of artists have told me that they could not do what I do because they think inside the box.

How's this?

[laughs] They think too much inside the box.

I used to waitress work at Calabash.

One night the Lord spoke to me.

He said, okay, your time here is up.

He said, I want you to go out.

And I asked him, where was I going?

And he said, you just go out by faith.

Came home, and I started one yard sale table.

I had just a few things that kept getting bigger, and bigger, and bigger, and bigger.

Here comes this vision like in my face.

I will build doll houses, you know?

And then the Lord spoke to me and he said, now go out and build it in the front yard in bigger scale.

I came out and had 'em framed up when my husband got home that evening.

He couldn't believe it.

I'll take about anything.

I can use a lot of things that other people can't use, and make good use of it.

Just letting your imagination run wild.

Everything is a witness for the Lord.

You'll see the words of the Lord wrote on just about every building, somewhere.

See how pretty the light's coming through, the sun shining through there?

And you see I put the windows in cockeyed and yeah.

It's strange, when you're building something like this see, you see it all, and then you know how to put it together.

And it all comes together.

And once it's finished, it's finished.

- Gotta move on, right?

- Yeah.

You go on to something else.

Yeah now, this one here only took me about a week.

There's about 12 fish in there.

- [Man] Gonna grab my fishing pole.

- No, no.

[laughs] And the bird house up there, right over there, one Saturday evening there was about 100 birds flying around that thing.

It was pretty, I think they like it.

I never even thought of art, as I was growing up.

Then that day, the Lord showed it to me, just like looking at you.

Here comes this vision, right before my face.

I came out and I pulled up a window.

Right here.

I had all kinds of things around here.

It's dusty enough.

[laughs] My husband and mother-in-law was sitting on the front porch, and they were laughing, and making fun of me, well they never seen me do that.

So vivid in my mind, I could've painted that picture I think blindfolded.

And sure enough, that picture sold the next morning before 10:00.

And the rest is history.

I mean, people started coming in.

People started bringing me the windows, donating me windows.

My husband said to me, said Mary, you'll never keep up with it if it keeps going this way.

I paint on the floors, I paint on tiles, I paint on wood, I paint on boards, I paint on canvases.

I love color.

I love bright colors.

My favorite color is yellow.

It makes people joyful, they say, happy, funny.

I got a sense of humor.

[laughs] That's what Mary's art is.

It's like, I'll see the vision.

And I know from A to Z, how it's supposed to go.

Just like building a building.

I'll see it from A to Z.

This one took about the longest of all of 'em to do.

This one took about four months.

And that's because I was waiting on the blue vase.

Start off with, I had to go dumpster dive.

Scrounge 'em up.

People started finding out that I wanted the bottles, they started dropping 'em off.

And see, that's just pieces of stained glass that I had, that I made that window there.

Listen, if you wanna come tonight you can.

I'll turn the lights on for you.

Everybody says, well Mary, you don't sleep at night, do you?

I said, yeah, I sleep very well.

Some people say, I die when I go to sleep, I'm so tired by the end.

But I said, no, I never dream about this stuff at night.

I very rarely get any critics.

But then I've learned, if they don't like it, it don't bother me.

You see it?

I learned right fast, you don't listen to your critics.

If I'd listened to his mother-in-law, my mother-in-law, my husband, I wouldn't be doing it.

I wouldn't have none of this.

[laughs] If anybody wants an unexpected adventure, look how the light's coming through that right there, this is the place to be.

- [Deborah] Mary's Gone Wild is at 2431 Holden Beach Road in Supply.

And she's open daily from 9:00 AM to 9:00 PM.

For more information, check her out on Facebook.

At Artspace, creativity and handcrafted arts can be found everywhere.

Annah Lee took me to a typical studio, and told me more.

- Artspace is a visual arts nonprofit located here in downtown Raleigh, North Carolina.

We've been around since 1986.

And we provide educational opportunities for all ages, studio spaces, and a really rigorous exhibition program.

So at Artspace, we really believe that art is an essential part of our lives, and something that creates a better community for all of us.

We offer classes for students from kindergarten, all the way to adult professional workshops.

People can take courses in our building, in the facility, but also out in the community.

We partner with various arts organizations, living facilities, various schools and youth groups throughout our community.

So really for us, it's about engaging as many people as possible in the creative process.

And we do offer classes throughout the year.

- Well, tell me about some of the actual artists and the studios that are here.

- Well, we have over 35 artists working in the building here at Artspace.

There's 30 dedicated studio spaces.

Two of those are dedicated as residency spaces for local emerging artists.

And so we offer those as a free space for artists to come, and work, and be in this amazing community of artists.

The rest of those studios are rented spaces that we rent at a subsidized rate to artists in our local community.

And Deb, I've gotta tell you, the range, the diversity of art and artists that you see in this building just is, is really incredible.

We're standing right now in Danyelle Lakin's studio, a fantastic painter, who works in acrylic.

I'm wearing earrings by one of our studio artists, Hsiang-Tign Yen, who has a space across the hallway here, making jewelry.

We have ceramicists, people working in fabric.

Anything you can imagine you can find here in our studios.

- Well, thanks so much, Annah.

We are totally enjoying in scoring this space.

- We're so delighted to have you here, Deb.

Thank you.

- Artspace is at 201 East Davie Street in Raleigh.

And they're open Wednesday through Sunday.

For more information about classes, studio tours, and exhibitions, go to artspacenc.org.

This is some of the colorful artwork here at the summer arts program at Artspace, where kids can learn techniques from professional artists.

You know, handcrafted arts are generally handed down from generation to generation, like the eight generations of potters in the Bolick family.

Let's head west to Bolick and Traditions Pottery.

[upbeat music] - [Christina] Have you ever wondered where your coffee mug came from?

Was it mass produced, or made by hand?

For more than six generations, the Bolick family has used their hands to produce thousands of unique pieces of pottery.

Pots, plates, pitchers, mugs, and more.

This rich heritage began in Seagrove, the handmade pottery capital of the United States.

Bolick and Traditions Pottery carries on that art form in the Blackberry Valley of Western North Carolina, at two locations in Lenore, and one in Blowing Rock.

Today, the Bolick family still practices the same techniques as their ancestors, the renowned Owens family of Seagrove.

- Actually she's a fifth generation potter and I'm a fifth generation saw miller, so.

We met at Tommy's Drive-In Grill in Asheboro, in 1962.

And we married what, three months later.

- Two months, yeah three months.

- So we both quit our jobs and went to work for her dad in the pottery, after we married, so.

We've been together all these years.

- My great-grandfather started in Seagrove.

So, of course I grew up in it, along with, there's eight in my family.

So we all knew pottery in one way or another.

It's just in my blood, I guess.

- [Christina] I wanted to learn more, so I sat down with Janet Calhoun, Glenn and Lula's daughter.

- In the early 1800s, there was two German brothers that settled in Moore County of North Carolina, mostly for the clay source.

So the Owens family, throughout the generations have, each generation has taken an interest in doing pottery.

So it's changed a lot over the years, but we still throw pots and do things like they did, like our grandparents, and the ones before them did.

- Most potters nowadays just buy it already in a plastic bag, refined and ready to use.

But we fix our own clay.

[upbeat music] - [Janet] Just for years, we've always done it the old way.

Which is, we go dig the clay up, put it in a shed, pulverize it, and then we'll take other clays already pulverized and mix our own recipe for our clay.

And we mill it through an old brick mill that's about 150 years old.

Having our own clay recipe and our own glaze recipe gives us colors that you may not see everywhere because they're not commercial glazes and clay.

You start with a lump of clay, and at the end you sell it to somebody.

And they'll see you later, and they'll say, I think of you every morning when I have my coffee.

And that's just gratifying.

- Inspired by all this beautiful pottery, I had to try my hand at the wheel.

Okay, Janet.

You've got 50 years of pottery making expertise, and I have about half a second.

So tell me what I'm doing.

What are we gonna start with?

- Okay, well the first thing you have to do is get it on the wheel, and get the clay centered to the wheel.

- I was just going to throw it.

- Yeah, just throw it.

- Oh, nice.

- And then mash down on there pretty tight.

And remember it needs water, that's what gives it life.

So you're gonna continually put some water on there.

And we'll go ahead and turn it on.

So you just, you want to take control of that clay.

So just put your hands down there and start pressing.

And if you kind of cup it.

Like come in from the outside.

- It's kind of wanting to move.

- There you go.

- Oh, okay.

- Feel it kind of pulling up?

- Oh yeah.

I'm making a mess.

- Let's get some more water.

- [Christina] Do you ever feel like you're in the movie "Ghost?"

- No, not at all.

It doesn't happen.

- [Christina] I may not possess the pottery gene, but Janet's granddaughter Ellie Stanberry sure does.

- I like that every piece you make is always gonna be different.

It's never gonna be the same.

They're always gonna be unique.

- [Christina] Janet's grandsons are also carrying on the clay legacy.

- Well, this is Teddy Roosevelt.

I made 'im at the fair.

Uh, he took a little longer because the monocle, kept on messing up.

And this is a pirate.

His crew throwed him into the volcano because they didn't like him, or something like that.

I don't know.

- This one's a dog, this one's a pig, it lost a ear.

This one's a turtle.

It's really fun to do 'cause I hope I'm a eighth generation potter.

- Bolick Traditions and Pottery is at two locations.

Their Blowing Rock store is at 1155 Main Street.

And their pottery studio is at 4433 Bolick Road in Lenoir.

But they're only about three miles from each other, so why not check 'em both out.

For more information go to traditionspottery.com.

Let's face it, all of us have been cooped up inside for the past year.

And a lot of us have taken up arts and crafts, right?

Well, if you're ready to take your artistry to the next level, consider a fall workshop at the Penland School of Craft.

After all, it is one of the premier craft instruction schools in the nation.

- [Narrator] The fire of concentration and creativity is exploding all over Penland School of Crafts.

It's about artists developing their crafts, sharing a multitude of resources, and having time in this creative haven.

- So I came in as a functional potter, and making smaller work.

And we have the opportunity to take a class here.

So I took a chainsaw carving class last, two summers ago.

And that let me take some of the clay pieces and transfer them into another material.

So this is a wood piece.

This one is a laminated leather piece.

So it's all leather, but also a ceramic form that I looped into another material.

And then that in turn has led me to making baskets, which are also made out of leather.

So working with different materials, and bringing those into what I'm doing, and sort of being able to transfer all these materials through what I'm making has been really amazing.

- [Narrator] The Penland School of Crafts encompasses a 400 acre property, with 53 buildings, which are nestled all over this hillside.

Each year, over 1,400 adult students attend more than 100 workshops, March through November.

And over 10,000 visitors come to enjoy Penland, its gallery, and the experience of meeting the artists.

The resident artist program is a gift of time, and space, for a carefully selected group of artists.

Here they can develop their craft, freeing them from the demands of commercial pressure.

And you are encouraged to drop by.

- So for me, coming to Penland is very much about the next chapter in my life and my professional career.

I have had some successes in my business I've ran for several years now.

And because of that structure, it hasn't allowed for me to pursue a lot of other artistic things that I'd like to see done in my work.

And so coming here is, gives me a chance to sort of take a minute to slow down a little bit, and really think about where my work can go and how I can evolve.

- [Narrator] This was all inspired by a remarkable woman.

Lucy Morgan.

- Lucy Morgan was this extraordinary woman who was from Western North Carolina.

And she first came to Penland in the early '20s to teach in an Episcopalian settlement school that was once in this building where the gallery is now.

Eventually she had 30 or 40 women in this community who were all weaving.

She was marketing their woven goods through the Episcopalian church.

The first crafts at Penland were weaving, which was closely followed by pottery, and metal work.

- [Narrator] Today, workshops include books and paper-making, drawing and painting, clay, iron, jewelry, small sculpture, photography, print making, textiles, and wood.

- And then sometimes we have workshops that blur the distinctions between those.

And occasionally people work with found objects, and other non-traditional materials.

- The Penland Gallery is also a highlight of the visitor experience.

Your purchases support the artists and the school.

- But if you wanna come here and treat this gallery as a museum, we're also happy about that, because our intention here is to really show people extraordinary work, and to maybe give people a whole different idea of what the word craft means.

- In order to do this, you have to wanna work in the studio 80 hours a week, rather than work 40 hours a week at a regular job, I think, in order to be successful.

You have to love it, so.

- [Narrator] Creativity and beauty come together in Penland School of Crafts.

With time and space for the artists to embrace their imaginations.

- Penland School of Craft is at 67 Doras Trail in Penland.

To find out more about classes and exhibitions at Penland, give them a call at 828-765-6211, or go to penland.org.

Well, that's if for tonight's show.

We'd like to thank the folks at Artspace in Raleigh for hosting us, it's truly a magical place.

And if you've missed anything in today's show, just remember, you can always watch us again online at pbsnc.org.

Have a great North Carolina weekend, everyone.

[upbeat music] - [Announcer] Funding for "North Carolina Weekend" is provided in part by Visit NC, dedicated to highlighting our state's natural scenic beauty, unique history, and diverse cultural attractions.

From the Blue Ridge and the Great Smoky Mountains, across the Piedmont, to 300 miles of barrier island beaches.

You're invited to experience all the adventure and charm our state has to offer.

[dynamic music]