About the Craft Center
The Craft Center is a unique state-of-the-art educational facility and cultural center combining teaching, research, cultural outreach and crafts marketing all operating in partnership. The Center operates academic programs, workshops, outreach programs and exhibitions and sales galleries as well as facilities for meetings and conferences.
The Craft Center exists at a crossroads between urban and rural, academic and folk,
high art and domestic life. The center was born of the vision and initiative of the
people of Tennessee and a group of remarkable advocates for fine craft, backed by
the largest federal grants ever awarded for crafts. Opened in December of 1979, the
$5 million complex was originally developed by the Tennessee Arts Commission and funded
by the Appalachian Regional Commission, and is now a division of Tennessee Tech University.
Spectacularly located in Middle Tennessee on the Highland Rim of the Cumberland Plateau, on the wilderness tract overlooking Center Hill Lake, the Craft Center’s facilities are spacious and well equipped. The location was chosen with both regional and national service in mind, centrally placed in the United States, in the middle of a rich Appalachian craft tradition. The wilderness setting is ideal for total immersion in the educational programs, and yet the location offers easy access from the Midwestern and eastern U.S.
The total physical space exceeds 87,000 square feet, including studio space of approximately
50,000 square feet, a library, a conference room, two audiovisual lecture rooms, more
than 4,000 square feet of exhibition and sales gallery space, a lounge, laundry room,
housing, administrative offices and a café. Housing consists of apartment-style configurations
of two and four bedroom units. Each unit has a common living area and kitchen space,
exterior front and back decks, walk-in closets, and overhead storage space. All units
are equipped with central heating and air conditioning and one full bathroom per bedroom.
The Center’s spacious studios feature natural light, air conditioning and appropriate ventilation systems. Clay studios include several areas for hand building and pottery on the wheel, glaze and clay mixing rooms, and fourteen gas, electric and wood-fired kilns. Fiber studios include extensive facilities for weaving, surface design, and papermaking. Glass studios support fully equipped hot and cold working shops, emphasizing glassblowing and lampworking. The metals studio has separate studios for raising, jewelry and casting, and blacksmithing and fabricating. The wood studio offers ample space for twenty woodworker’s benches and hand tools, and a large fully equipped machine and woodturning rooms.
The nationally recognized, full-time faculty members are dedicated professionals deeply
involved and committed as both teachers and craft artists. Current faculty are: Rena
Wood, fibers; Damon MacNaught, glass; Stephan Micheletto-Blouin, wood; Daniel Randall,
metals; Jessica Wilson, clay.
The artist-in-residence program also brings six fully trained, early-career artists to the Craft Center (one in each media, as well as exhibitions) as producing artists and resident studio assistants for a period of one to two years. The residents are a major enhancement to the academic programs and provide a significant asset to the broader craft community.
Academic Programs
The Craft Center is unique as a state-of-the-art educational facility and cultural
center combining teaching, research, cultural outreach and craft’s marketing all operating
in partnership. The Center’s primary academic focus are the Bachelor of Fine Arts
(BFA) degree, with concentrations in clay, fibers, glass, metals and wood, and the
Bachelor of Science (BS) in studio arts degree. All academic programs are accredited
by NASAD (National Association of Schools of Art & Design). The Craft Center also
provides required studio courses for art education, painting and design majors at
Tennessee Tech University as well as studio electives for a variety of students. The
excellence of our studio training is widely recognized and a majority of the Craft
Center’s alumni have continued to develop professional studio careers.
Workshop and Outreach Programs
The Craft Center provides a rich cultural resource to the public through workshops
and educational outreach programs. Our workshop program offers weekend and evening
workshops during the academic year, and a full schedule of weeklong summer workshops.
These workshops attract hundreds of individuals annually, including professional
craft artists, advanced students and hobbyists from across the United States. Workshop
instructors include the country’s finest professional craft artists and educators.
Outreach programs serve thousands of school children (K-12) annually through field trip experiences and artist’s visits to regional schools. The hands-on art/craft experience for elementary students and the high school art/vocational craft experience both bring students to the Craft Center for lecture/demonstration and hands on projects. The positive public response to the K-12 programs demonstrates the impact of our local and regional outreach, and the reputation of our programs across the state.
Galleries and Cultural Events
The Craft Center’s three exhibition spaces bring more that 25 diverse exhibitions a year to a region of the state that would otherwise have few. Students have exhibition opportunities in the Craft Center’s galleries, as well as in the University’s Bryan Fine Arts Building.
The Appalachian Center for Craft’s retail gallery is committed to the exhibitions and sales of the finest tradition and contemporary craft produced in Tennessee and the Appalachian region and represents more than 100 craft artists, most of them from Tennessee. Craft Center staff estimates a minimum of 30,000 tourists visit the center each year. Arts, educational, business, civic and private groups bring 3000 guests to the conference facilities annually. The Craft Center also hosts visiting artist lectures and symposia to the public. The Center has hosted visits by Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Italian, Australian, Israeli, British and Canadian craft artists, as well as craft artists from across the United States.
A Partnership of Education and Cultural Development
The Craft Center provides a unique educational model combining studio crafts with
cultural and economic development. The interaction of the academic program with the
gallery’s marketing activity, visiting artists, and the wide variety of professional
craftspeople teaching workshops has created a unique climate for the preparation of
working craftspeople. Our faculty and staff have nurtured a growing liaison with
regional arts organizations and other professional groups and individuals to expose
students to the entrepreneurial elements of a career as a craft artist. We promote
awareness of marketing and promotion in our curriculum and have hosted marketing and
craft business workshops in conjunction with arts organizations. At the same time,
the academic program attracts a broad range of artists who enrich our public cultural
programs.
This fusion of traditional crafts and creative education reaches from the grass roots to the international craft world. The Appalachian Center for Craft is a vital expression of the rich contribution of the unique character of Tennessee.