![]() ![]() Hatch’s research includes three years of listening, extracting and editing previously untapped oral history recordings from the Guild’s archives, and it serves as the springboard for this curatorial project. They provide a path to de-essentialize our thinking about groups of people by focusing on individual identities within these groups.” Oral histories allow people to speak for themselves. “I feel oral histories are an important component of any multidisciplinary research methodology,” said Michael Hatch, the curator of “Crafted Roots.” “In academic circles, we spend a lot of time talking about people and referencing others who have previously talked about them. This is the first exhibition that allows the urban missionaries and regional craftspeople to speak for themselves through audio extracts from oral history recordings projected into the gallery. ![]() “Crafted Roots” provides a unique perspective through the use of audio recordings, historical documents, images and objects from the archives and permanent collections of the Southern Highlands Craft Guild. ![]() This story has been represented and examined in exhibitions and texts for more than 100 years. Contemporary scholars have critically examined the missionaries’ manipulation of “traditional” craft designs to appeal to urban markets and their role in defining Appalachia and its people to areas outside of the region. These actions proved successful in what we would call the “branding” of Appalachian craft today. The turn of the century marked a major transition for the people living in these rural places, because urban missionaries arrived from other parts of the country with the goal of “uplifting” rural communities through the revival and marketing of traditional craft techniques. In the past, there was a stark contrast between small urban centers like Asheville and the remote rural areas that surrounded them. This exhibition is the first of a series developed by Warren Wilson College for display in the Center’s John Cram Partner Gallery, putting the national craft landscape in the context of the local Asheville community, other creative disciplines and the liberal arts. – A upcoming exhibition at the Center for Craft will examine the foundational moments in the late 1800s and early 1900s that laid the groundwork for the thriving craft scene found in the Asheville region today. Curated by Michael Hatch, Class of 2020, MA in Critical Craft Studies, Warren Wilson CollegeĪSHEVILLE, N.C. ![]()
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