Crafted in the Mountains Traces the History of Appalachian Craft

A new exhibition at Arrowmont School of Arts and Crafts considers the shifting landscape of craft in the region.

By Robert Alan Grand
February 23, 2026

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Photos courtesy of Arrowmont School of Arts and Crafts

Installation view of Crafted in the Mountains: An Evolution of Appalachian Art at Arrowmont School of Arts and Crafts in Gatlinburg, Tennessee.

“In the early 1900s, some people had this idea that Appalachians were untouched by time because they were so remote,” says Katherine Gemperline, the curator of Crafted in the Mountains: An Evolution of Appalachian Art, a new exhibition at Arrowmont School of Arts and Crafts in Gatlinburg, Tennessee.

In preparation for the exhibition—which is on view through March 6—she read widely in the history of the region. An intriguing story emerged. “Many of the crafts, the fiber patterns, were brought to this area by immigrants and revitalized with industrialization,” she says. “I was really drawn to this concept when reading about the history of Arrowmont and the area, and also wanted to showcase the conversation between traditional craft and the contemporary.”

Gemperline, the school’s 2025–26 Kenneth R. Tapp Craft Assistant/Curatorial Fellow, selected 70 works from Arrowmont’s permanent collection to tell a small sliver of the much larger story of how traditional craft and contemporary art have influenced one another as the boundaries between the two erode.

Photos courtesy of Arrowmont School of Arts and Crafts

A hand-built ceramic teapot by Lana Wilson features in the show.

Ron Kent’s wood platter with sutures (Post Nuclear #23, 1998), Polly Harrison’s basket made from 35mm film strips (Dark Star Basket, 2009), and Lana Wilson’s gestural, anthropomorphic ceramic kettle (Four Legged Teapot, 1993) emphasize form over function, while Lynette Youson’s 2021 sweetgrass Modern Egg Basket bridges the two realms.

The exhibition’s sparse wall text allows viewers to carve out their own interpretations and trace formal connections without being overwhelmed by historical context or commentary. One of the show’s throughlines is how shifting aesthetics and practices have transformed Appalachian craft over the decades—as Gemperline summarizes in the show’s introductory wall text, a “transition from functional craft to market-driven design.” Artists making do with what they have around is another.

Sasha Baskin’s twill weaving Glitch Rose (2019) serves as a perfect example of the latter: The piece incorporates an airbrushed rose painted onto the weft by a downtown Gatlinburg T-shirt vendor, the imagery inspired by Baskin’s countless nights obsessively watching The Bachelor.

Photo courtesy of Arrowmont School of Arts and Crafts

Sasha Baskin's 2019 weaving Glitch Rose was inspired by the TV show The Bachelor.

Robert Alan Grand is a writer and photographer based in Asheville, North Carolina. He received the 2025 Andy Warhol Foundation Arts Writers Grant to cover contemporary art in southern and central Appalachia.

Learn more about Crafted in the Mountains online.

Website

This article was made possible with support from the Windgate Foundation.

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