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Professional Members Local Cloth is committed to helping local farmers, artists, small scale textile processors and producers grow, which is why we developed the Professional Add On Membership. These fiber artists and farmers invite you check out their websites, purchase their products and share with your friends. Support the WNC fiber community by choosing one of these entrepreneurs . |
| Carol LeBaron Textile Designs Carol has a BA in photography/printmaking and art history from Smith College, and an MFA from Rhode Island School of Design. Her clamped wool and jacquard work has been exhibited nationally and internationally, and has been published in Surface Design Journal. She has taught at RISD, Appalachian Center for Crafts, and East Tennessee State University, where she received a major research grant for her resist explorations on wool. Currently she is a professional artist and educator, teaching workshops and exhibiting her work. She teach Crafts and Western Tradition at Emory & Henry College, Art History at East Tennessee State University, and Sculpture at Virginia Highlands Community College |
Joni Marie Davis
Joni Marie Davis is a wool crafter in Asheville, North Carolina. Her starting material is wool fabric from various sources: new, machine- or hand-knit, swatches of her own construction, used mass-produced knitted garments extracted from the clearance bins at Goodwill, and the abandoned projects of frustrated knitters. All are composed of wool fiber, amenable to felting and fulling. Her method is an adaptation of the techniques of the ancient industry of fulling woven wool cloth. Simultaneous heat, water, and agitation transform the original knitted fabrics into much denser, thicker, firmer material. She cuts it into pattern pieces and sews them together into wall hangings and covers for three-dimensional objects and forms such as inflatable balls, miniature yurts, large vases, and original wood and wire sculpture forms.
Camille Duanno
Camille has taught Art to High School, Graduate and private students for over 45 years. She worked in NYC in Textile Design and has worked for several designers and fabric companies to include, Schumacher, Waverly, Donna Karan, Carole Little, Randolph Duke and more. She studied Art in Italy and New York and worked in design studio for 10 years in NYC. She studied privately in workshops and design centers throughout her career learning fiber arts, silk painting, Shibori and much more. She started her career as a Fashion Illustrator back in the ‘70’s but when that industry was using photography she went into Textiles.
Sherry Masters | Art Connections
Do you have interest in meeting artists in the fiber community? Take an Art Tour with me! My business, Art Connections, is a custom-tour biz started in 2013 to offer personalized tours to artists studios in WNC. I work with the participants to design an art tour based on what they like, and what they desire to learn more about.
I am a native of WNC and previously had a long career in fine craft retail management in 2 different Asheville galleries, one of which was named top gallery in the nation twice. I’ve been a juror of numerous craft events and have served on national art boards and event planning committees. I believe Western NC is a special place for art/craft enthusiasts, and try to share glimpses of it with everyone I meet.
Needlework is where I started my introduction to handcraft when I was a child, I enjoy appliqué, quilting, embroidery and especially sewing garments.
Martha Owen
Martha Owen is a resident artist at the John C Campbell Folkschool in Brasstown, North Carolina, in spinning, knitting, felt making, dyeing and surface design. Her adventure in spinning and natural dyeing began at this very school in 1978. She has been teaching spinning, natural dyeing and knitting design since 1984. (She taught her first class of thirteen with a one month old nursling in a wind up swing as her assistant. That baby is now 38! ) Since 1980 her extended family has included sheep (currently Corriedalex, Romneyx, and a little Blue Faced Leicester for good measure and Shetland) and angora rabbits (French). Also a banjo player and known to tell a story or two Martha's interest in sheep and wool, music and dance has carried her literally and joyfully around the world. Her children say she is a wool nerd but her sheep say she is out-standing in her field!
Amy has been making cloth since she began her textile education at Rhode Island School of Design in 1991. This pursuit has been mainly in the form of hand weaving on Macomber looms. However she has also designed cloth for jacquard that was woven at the Oriole Mill, designed and woven interiors and garment yardage on AVL dobby looms, and even took a machine knitting class once. Her passion and area of expertise is weaving by hand, particularly multiple layer fabrics and ondulé. Other techniques and ideas have captured her interest since she became a full time educator in 2008, at Haywood Community College in the renowned Professional Crafts Program: a unique college experience in existence for over 40 years in the mountains of western North Carolina. These techniques focus around the Japanese art of shibori, and can be combined with carefully constructed hand woven or well chosen commercial fabrics to produce striking and original textiles. Amy grew up on the rocky shoreline of coastal Maine, her family is deeply rooted there for generations. The stark and raw nature of the coastal environment has influenced both her aesthetic sensibility and her approach to materials.
I'm Stacy, an intuitive artist, creative healer, and spirit doll maker. I like to make beautiful things full of energy & healing. Things for your spirit. Things that change you. I make all kinds of little spirit dolls. Some out of sticks or clay or fund objects. But mostly out of wool, as needle felting soothes my soul. Making spirit dolls is a way for me to process my thoughts, feelings, and what is happening in the world. They come alive often by surprise as intention and creativity meet. They are representations, or the embodiment of, archetypes, ideas, and parts of our being that we either wish to heal or empower. And, with so much change afoot, there's much to feel and heal. In the beginning, these spirit dolls were just for me, my way of slowing down and creating something that reflected a message I needed to hear. But I quickly found that it wasn't just me who needed these dolls. Their healing message resonated with others. I began selling my spirit dolls to people far and wide; they spoke powerfully to people's hearts. Making spirit dolls and healing dolls is now a part of my work. I love to teach people to make them. The making of a healing doll is a way to go within and create insight. It's a beautiful creative meditation and inner conversation. I teach classes both in-person and online. You can learn more about me and my work by visiting my website, www.spiritworkstudio.com. |
Amy Putansu 