Craft artists serve a critical role in building resilient communities. They provide essential services that foster individual and collective well-being by creating opportunities for self-determination, as well as for processing joy and grief. In the wake of Hurricane Helene, craft artists are vital agents of recovery who can help renew our sense of belonging, representation, visibility, and place.
WNC Craft Futures: From Here is an exhibition celebrating the work of 40 regional craft artists impacted by Hurricane Helene in 2024. Selected by a distinguished panel of experts, each artist received a $15,000 WNC Craft Futures Cohort grant or a Virginia A. Groot Craft Futures Residency, and joined a six-month cohort experience that supports rebuilding their artistic practice and extends mutual aid through a peer-to-peer network. This exhibition provides a glimpse of the deep well of craft skill and creativity from here while also offering a glimpse of where our community can go in the aftermath of a devastating storm.
Generous support for this exhibition is provided, in part, by ArtsAVL, Buncombe County Government, the National Endowment for the Arts, the American Craft Council, Arrowmont School of Arts and Crafts, Joel Adams and Associates, Karol B. Wight, and the Society of North American Goldsmiths.
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