(Image Courtesy of Center for Craft)
With an eye to the future of craft and a commitment to respecting its past, the Center for Craft is opening a first-of-its-kind National Craft Innovation Hub in Asheville, North Carolina.
Serving as a creative destination and resource for artists, researchers, curators, and the community, this innovative hub includes expanded galleries, event and meeting spaces, and coworking space serving the creative sector.
Free exhibitions will be available seven days a week, and opening exhibitions include Craft Futures 2099, a take on the ambitious question of how craft might look eighty years from now, and Making Meaning, bringing together UNC Asheville alumni whose work shifts perceptions of material, method, and meaning.
“The Center presents crafts in an interdisciplinary context by demonstrating the dialogue around craft from a national context,” says Executive Director Stephanie Moore. “We strive to honor and document past traditions and notions of craft while pushing visitors to see craft in new ways and contexts.”
Beyond gallery exhibitions, a Craft Research Fund Study Collection will make available the collection of research that the Center has funded for over a decade and will be complemented by an area for hands-on activities to introduce visitors to craft. And the historic building will be a destination in itself, featuring hand-crafted furniture and signage created by renowned artists.
The Center for Craft National Craft Innovation Hub opens on November 16 with a free public event. Learn more about the hub and how the Center supports craft makers, curators, and researchers at centerforcraft.org.
