Eleanor Koch, from Nashville, TN, came to the Folk School during her gap year after studying permaculture and sustainable agriculture in Israel. She leaves us to start her freshman year at Warren Wilson College. She’s wearing a hand-painted scarf by Jan Mayer (Kriska), a woven wrap by Deborah Bryant. Photo by Darcy Holdorf. Styled by Corryn Reynolds.

Tammy Elwell from Oak Park, Minnesota has been a Work Study student and a Host at the Folk School. During her recent time as a Host she studied glass beads, book arts and broom making. She also participated in our Thursday night woodcarving class. She asked to be photographed with Chester the Squirrel carved by Richard Carter. Tammy’s passion and joy on the dance floor is infectious! Photo by Darcy Holdorf.

The Craft Shop fashion shoot portrait series began as a way to recognize the work study students and hosts who come and go from the Folk School so quickly, yet are a vital part of what we do. We see them rushing in and out of the Craft Shop, bringing us catalogs, planting flowers, leading tours, and we are always so grateful for the work they do. We were curious about their lives, before and after the Folk School. This curiosity, coupled with the Craft Shop starting to post on the Folk School Instagram account, led me to this idea. I invited work study students to visit the Craft Shop and pick out work that speaks to them for a portrait shoot. This way we can honor them while they are here, share a bit of their personal story, and highlight work by the talented artists that we carry in the shop.

Richard Carter started working at the Folk School in 1969. He has been carving for more than 40 years and started selling his carvings in the Craft Shop in the late 70’s. He says he finds carving peaceful and relaxing and enjoys the satisfaction of finding something in a piece of wood. Over the years, Richard has made an effort to preserve the Brasstown Carving tradition. He is currently teaching our staff and work/study students on a weekly basis. Pictured, he is using a Helvie knife to make an owl, one of his favorite animals to carve. You can find Richard carving in the Craft Shop on most Tuesdays and Thursdays. Photo by Darcy Holdorf.

Before I came to the Folk School, I worked as a photojournalist, so this was a natural way for me to bring my experience and skill set into my work at the Craft Shop. When I first moved to Brasstown, I saw craft and journalism as worlds apart. This project helped me to discover a strong commonality between the two: storytelling.

Photography historically has often been used to tell the stories of craftspeople and we turn to those old photographs now as treasured relics of a lost time. I consider it a privilege to attempt to tell similar stories with images of work study students, hosts and other members of our Folk School community. When I didn’t have work study students students to photograph, I started inviting Folk School staff to participate and the scope of the project continued to grow.

An unintended result of the fashion shoots is that they tend to bring us closer to the people I photograph. Everyone who works in the Craft Shop has joined in to help style the models, and in the process, ended up getting to know them better. Friendships have grown and we’ve become closer to our colleagues from other departments.

The portrait of carver Richard Carter elicited a lot of comments from local community members and connected him with a local teen that is interested in learning to carve. For me, those small connections make this project worthwhile. They prove that photography and social media really can promote sharing and understanding among our community and bring people together. [click to continue…]

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