July Issue 1999
Asheville Woodworker And Macon County Weavers Show In Folk Art Center
The Folk Art Center in Asheville, NC, is presenting works by two members of the Southern Highland Craft Guild which will be on view through July 27, in the Center's Focus Gallery. Woodworker Ray Jones of Asheville, specializes in treasure boxes made from unusual woods. The weavers of Nonah Crafts in Macon County, NC, present an assortment of weaving projects, made by members of Nonah Crafts, a weaving cooperative led by Guild member Sally Kesler.
Ray Jones came into full-time woodworking by way of part-time experiences, beginning as a carpenter's assistant in college. After earning a degree in Aeronautical Engineering in the mid-70s, Jones took an engineering job in southern California. Setting up housekeeping in his first home became a part-time job when he bought woodworking tools instead of furniture. He soon built his furniture with the new tools, and eventually his love of woodworking overtook his interest in his engineering job. A uniquely designed jewelry box he made for his future wife became the foundation of his career in box making. Jones left his job in 1982 to concentrate on his woodwork, and today, lives in Asheville, with his wife and three children.
In 1991, Jones became a member of the Southern Highland Craft Guild. Among the prestigious shows he's participated in are the Smithsonian's Craft Show in Washington, DC, American Craft Council shows in Baltimore, Atlanta, and Charlotte, and Northwest Fine Woodworking's Box Competition
Jones' constant aim is to make each box entirely out of wood, including fasteners, hinges, and drawer slides. Virtually all the boxes in this exhibition are joined, hinged and adorned with wood. The varieties used in these exceptional boxes are chosen not only for their beauty, but for the use of earth-conscious harvesting methods. Each piece may contain woods as rare as South African pink ivorywood or as familiar as a black locust which fell in Jones' back yard; all have been salvaged without harm to the environment.
Nonah Crafts, a small weaving cooperative located in Macon County, holds a unique place in the history of the preservation of the weaving arts in Western North Carolina. It began in 1947 through the efforts of Rufus Morgan, brother of Lucy Morgan, founder of Penland School in Penland, NC. Lucy Morgan established the Penland Weavers in 1923, which has since grown into a renowned craft school. Reverend Rufus Morgan founded Nonah Crafts Center on the same premise, providing looms and traditional weaving skills for local women.
The first weaving director was Frances Barr, niece of Rufus and Lucy, who learned weaving during childhood summers spent at Penland. A small apple shed was converted into a weaving cabin, and given the name "Nonah" from the Cherokee name for the hemlock tree, still growing there in abundance. The cabin was filled with looms, and each week, dedicated weavers have assembled there to practice the weaving process. In 1952, Frances Barr left the area, and Sally Kesler became Nonah's Director, the position she still holds today. Nonah Craft Center became an education center member of the Southern Highland Craft Guild in 1959.
Over the past 50 years, the weaving cabin has become a weekly meeting place for Macon County women to exchange ideas in weaving and share their love of the craft. Under Sally Kesler's guidance, the members of the cooperative revive old weaving patterns and invent new ones, experimenting with yarns and colors. Amidst the wide range of work presented, one special display recognizes each member through a weaving sample she invented herself. Referred to as name drafts, these twenty five patterns are four-shaft designs, devised by assigning letters of the alphabet to each of the four shafts. Each weaver spelled her name in the draft, creating a unique pattern when woven.
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