The goal of the Heritage Arts Program is to foster a deep connection between The Crossnore Weaving Room and Fine Arts Gallery and the surrounding community. Our mission is to host a series of arts focused workshops to promote connection and awareness through community engagement, while nurturing the strong historical and educational connection of Crossnore to the community.
AVAILABLE CLASSES
NEEDLE FELTED FALL LANDSCAPE
September 20th, 10a-4p
With Jennifer Costa
Class Description
Explore the endless possibilities of needle felting with the incredibly talented Jennifer Costa of the Woolen Palette. This specialized needle felting class focuses on techniques to sculpt and decorate with wool using specialized barbed needles to entangle fibers and create a beautifully framed three-dimensional autumn landscape. In this unique workshop, you’ll learn about different wool types, tools like felting needles and mats, and essential techniques. All supplies included with class registration fee. Jennifer Costa is a homeschooling mom and professional musician. She is a 19-year Charlotte resident originally from the New Orleans area. A lifelong crafter, she began needle felting in 2020. She now offers workshops and sells her needle-felted art both online and in Crossnore Fine Arts gallery. Equally passionate about teaching and crafting, she is excited to share her skills and ideas. Class registration is $130.
TWISTING FIBERS: INTRODUCTION TO SPINNING
October 25th, 10a-1p
With Rhonda Gladden & Nancy Embler
Class Description
In this class, students will get acquainted with wool roving, spinning vocabulary, and various tools used to prepare fiber for spinning. Students will learn, and practice steps to spin their own yarn using a drop spindle.
Students will get hands-on experience doing fiber prep with hand cards and a drum carder, learning to spin their own yarn using and trying several kinds of treadle spinning wheels.
Rhonda’s love of fiber started as a very young child when she tried hand-sewing clothes for her dolls. Sewing progressed to learning to knit at the age of nine. Crocheting was added in collage, and as an adult she added embroidery, weaving, and spinning, plus various other fiber mediums. Her motto is: If I haven’t tried it; I don’t know about it yet! After working in the hi-tech field, it was all low-tech at home with all her fiber interests because expressing herself with fiber is very important to the balance of life.
Nancy became interested in spinning in the 1980’s when she was a member of a Revolutionary War Reenactment group. She taught herself to spin on a wheel with the help of a how-to book, then found a local spinning group to learn more. Nancy is also a weaver, dyer, knitter, quilter, musician and grandmother. Class registration is $100
INTRODUCTION TO BEADWEAVING
November 15th, 10a-2p
With Caroline
Class Description
The history of the peyote stitch spans continents, with its roots in Ancient Egypt, where it was used on artifacts like King Tut’s broad collars. The stitch was also utilized in Native American cultures for centuries, though
the specific technique’s popularization and modern name originate from the Kioa and Comanche Tribes in the 1800s, who decorated gourd rattles for ceremonies associated with the peyote cactus. Europeans introduced glass beads and the stitch, initially calling it the “gourd stitch,” but the Native American name “peyote stitch” became widely recognized globally.
We invite you to learn this ancient beading technique while making a beautiful bracelet. All supplies included. Good eyesight is imperative for this type of weaving; seed beads are very small. Please bring any magnification tools you might require.
Caroline has been weaving seed beads for over 35 years. A meditative and intuitive practice, she looks forward to sharing this ancient weaving technique with you. Class is $125.
INTRODUCTORY NEEDLE TATTING
November 22nd, 10a-2p
With Jane Beard
Class Description
Needle tatting is a delicate and timeless form of lace-making using a needle to create stitches, rings, and chains. In this beginner class you will be introduced to fundamental stitches, including how to make picots,
rings, and chains. This class will also provide key instruction on how to read needle-based tatting patterns. All supplies included with class registration fee.
Jane Beard came to Avery County via Badin, NC, Indiana, and Florida. She, her husband Mark and Springerdoodle, Carolina, are full-time residents at Linville Land Harbor. They love their tiny home in the holler, where the screen porch is the perfect place to relax and create. Jane was raised in the North Carolina Piedmont in an extended family of shuttle tatters, needlework artists and crafters. Whether sewing, knitting, gardening, basketry or painting, there are few crafts she hasn’t dabbled in. She is a self-taught needle tatter and enjoys tatting snowflakes, bookmarks, and other gifts. Class registration fee is $100.
WET FELTED FLOWERS
December 6, 10a-12p
With Jane Campbell
Class Description
Join us for a very special fall workshop learning the art of wet felting with Jane Campbell. Jane, a kind and patient instructor, will lead you on a wet felting adventure to create poinsettias for Christmas!
These absolutely stunning flowers can be used as lapel pins, or you could make a garden of poinsettias to decorate your Christmas tree!! The wet felting techniques you will learn in this workshop can be used to make all kinds of pretty posies for spring, summer, or fall; the possibilities are endless! All Supplies are included with the class registration fee of $100.
Community Engagement Through the Arts
Weaving Room
205 Johnson Lane
Crossnore, NC 28616
Hours
Monday–Friday • 9:00 am–5:00 pm
Saturday • 10:00 am–5:00 pm
A Legacy of Weaving
Crossnore Weavers, located on our Avery campus, was created to preserve the Appalachian art of hand-weaving, to give an economic opportunity to women, and to promote Crossnore Communities for Children through the sale of beautiful hand-woven goods all over the world.
