Category: Events
The Folk School hosts many special events throughout the year. Here, we have posts featuring our events such as Fall Festival, our Blacksmith & Fine Craft Auction, Fireside Sale, Friends & Family Day, holiday events, dances, concerts, Empty Bowls, special themed weeks, youth & family weeks, and any special moments at the Folk School. Our current listing of all event at the Folk School is available on our website.
Outdoor Concert and Dance Series Continues This Summer
We’re delighted to announce a new series of Music and Dance events! These programs are an integral part of the Folk School experience, and we couldn’t be more thrilled to welcome springtime with their return. We hope that you and your family will join us for concerts, variety shows, and short dances in a safe, outdoor environment.
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Enjoy Folk School Fall Festival Memories: A Photographic Look
The first weekend in October usually marks our annual Fall Festival. However, this year things are...
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Celebrating May Day with Puppets, a Parade, and the Maypole Dance
On Saturday, May 1, we gathered on the Folk School campus to celebrate May Day. The weather was...
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Embracing Appalachian Home Life with Jason Lonon, Blacksmith & Woodworker
Jason Lonon is a professional woodworker and blacksmith. Since 1997, he has studied, practiced, and taught traditional woodworking, carving, and blacksmithing and is a regular instructor at the Folk School. In his blacksmith shop, Jason specializes in making traditional woodworking tools, and for fun he carves wooden bowls and spoons. Enjoy our interview!
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Colors from the Garden: An Interview with Catharine Ellis
Catharine Ellis is an internationally acclaimed textile artist who is well-known for developing the technique of woven shibori. Specializing in both weaving and dyeing, she has also done extensive research and experimentation with natural dyes. Enjoy our interview!
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I Made a Classic Appalachian-style Ladderback Chair with Lyle Wheeler
Lyle Wheeler, a longtime Folk School instructor in both Woodworking and Blacksmithing, is a treasure of the Folk School. The week I spent years ago, building a ladderback chair with Lyle, changed the way I think about craft and my own capabilities as a maker. I am excited that later this month Lyle will be giving a Zoom presentation on June 15 as part of the Folk School’s Appalachian Traditions Discussion series. I encourage you to tune into his talk, and learn from this wonderful self-proclaimed “all-around “good ol’ boy” from Millers Creek, North Carolina.”
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Watch Leah Dolgoy Play Morningsong from Montreal
On Friday, May 29, the sweet-stringed sounds of Leah Dolgoy’s autoharp filled Folk School ears with joy and magic for our Facebook Live Morningsong. If you missed the live show, be sure to watch the recording via the link posted here in our blog post. Also, enjoy an interview with Leah, originally published in 2016.
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If You Want to Sing Out, Sing Out with Aubrey Atwater
Using clogging, music, and storytelling to charm Folk School audiences since 1996, Aubrey Atwater exudes a talent, grace, and humor unique to the most talented of performers. She teaches traditional music and dance regularly at the Folk School and while classes are on hiatus, Aubrey joined us for a virtual discussion on Monday, May 18 as part of our Appalachian Traditions discussion series. View the recording of the talk and also enjoy an interview with Aubrey.
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A Look Back at Folk School May Day Celebrations
Wishing you a happy May Day! We’re looking forward to dancing around the May Pole together again, but until then, we put together this post filled with photos of years past, a video from 2011, and an excerpt by Nanette Davidson about May Day from The Folk School Cookbook. Enjoy!
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A Look at Southern Scrap Quilts with Pepper Cory
One of Pepper’s specialties is Southern scrap quilts, both making and collecting. Pepper explains that Southern scrap quilts, particularly from North Carolina, are a fascinating study in frugality, family life, and beauty.
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Cannon County Basket Tradition with Sue Williams
Sue Williams is recognized for the preservation of the Cannon County white oak basket making tradition, one of the most renowned basket making traditions in the United States. Sue’s commitment to education, advocacy, and teaching the tradition has secured a future for the this style beyond the original basket making families of Cannon County, Tennessee. We are delighted to have Sue teach the Cannon County white oak basket style regularly at the Folk School.
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The Joy of Cooking & Quilting: An Interview with Penny Prichard
A chef by trade, Penny has been teaching Cooking at the Folk School since 2000. In 2008, she also started teaching Quilting, Sewing, and Needlework. Let’s get to know Penny a little more. Enjoy our interview!
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Festive Jam Thumbprint Cookies: A Recipe for the Holidays
These cookies were made for many years by various children of the Folk School staff for the Kids’ Christmas Party, an annual event going back to the beginning of the Folk School time. Held for local kids in the Community Room, it features music, dance, storytelling, crafts, and the arrival of Santa in the Brasstown Volunteer Fire Truck.
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Thank You for a Wonderful Friends & Family Day
We had a wonderful time at our first-ever Friends & Family Day on May 11! Community members of all ages toured our open studios, participated in hands-on making, watched demonstrations, enjoyed music & dance performances, savored local food, and learned all about the Folk School.
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A Spring Tradition at the Folk School: Dancing around the Maypole
When winter fades and the trees and shrubs burst into glorious bloom, the Folk School tractor lumbers out of the shed and is given a circular turn to mow around the Maypole field. For the last dozen years or more it’s been Jan or John Clarke who climbs to the top of the twenty-foot pole and wedges there a wooden ring holding many pairs of colorful ribbons. As he lets each ribbon drop to the ground, the inevitable wind tangles them up faster than we can put them in the hands of eager children and “grown-ups,” ready to weave them around the pole to the sound of the fiddle, accordion, and banjo.
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