Canvas Concoctions will engage your imagination through the joy of abstract painting. This experience will offer the freedom to create a painted canvas that is uniquely yours! Prompt cards will get the process started, while Renee encourages and gently guides you in creating a special, one-of-a-kind abstract masterpiece. No experience necessary. Grab your besties and enjoy some tasty mimosas as you enjoy this relaxing creative experience.

Advance registration is required.

Who is ready to dance, move, sing, make art? We are!

In this program for preschoolers, we’ll use the original construction of Reynolda House and the current roof restoration project to promote reading readiness and visual literacy through activities that encourage dramatic play, music, movement, and more!

Individual materials will be provided per family group and participants might walk and collect their own natural items.

Advance registration is required.

Who is ready to dance, move, sing, make art? We are!

In this program for preschoolers, we’ll use the original construction of Reynolda House and the current roof restoration project to promote reading readiness and visual literacy through activities that encourage dramatic play, music, movement, and more!

Individual materials will be provided per family group and participants might walk and collect their own natural items.

This Dance Professional Workshop is designed for educators of all sectors and led by Gerri Houlihan. Replenish creative and pedagogical capacities through community-building with fellow educators, focused sessions that develop skills, and opportunities for engaging in the wide range of classes that ADF offers. 

• Daily movement classes include reflection time to delve into pedagogical strategies and content details.
• Professional development discussion sessions are tailored to consider different educational environments.
• The schedule of activities is tailored to address your specific interests and issues.
• Classes will have live musical accompaniment to inspire joy as we dance together!

We hope you’ll join our community of dance educators and form connections and new practices that last far into the future!

Who Can Participate in this Workshop?

Dance Professional Workshops (DPWs) are for dancers who have either five years of professional experience, an undergraduate degree in dance plus three years of professional experience, or who are currently enrolled in or have completed a graduate degree in dance. No audition is required to enroll. 

As our capacity for this workshop is limited, we’d like everyone who attends to be fully present at each class to create a community and reap the benefits of the five-day experience.  

The Squire Summer Writing Workshops offer an intensive course in a chosen genre (fiction, creative nonfiction, poetry), with ten hour-and-a-half sessions over the four days of the program. Registrants work in-depth on their own manuscript samples, as well as their colleagues’, while also studying the principles of the genre with their instructor. Other features include faculty readings, panel discussions, and open mic sessions for residents.

Kathryn Kirkpatrick will lead the poetry workshop. Zackary Vernon will lead the fiction workshop. Mark Powell will lead the fiction workshop (full).

IDEAL FOR: Ages 14 and up

PRICE: $90/BRAHM members; $105/non members

ABOUT THE WORKSHOP:

Participants in this session will learn how to make a turkey wing broom. Cull processed hurl, separate the hurl into nine sections, tie sequentially into the shape of a wing, and fasten the handle using broom corn stalks. Included in this session also will be information about the history of broom making, the plant (sorghum vulgare), sources of both broom corn and twine, and other possible types or styles of brooms.

PLEASE NOTE: Limited seating available. An 80% refund will be issued if the participant cancels three weeks prior to the event. For cancellations made less than three weeks prior to the event, BRAHM will issue a refund IF the museum is able to fill the vacated spot. 

ABOUT THE INSTRUCTOR:

Peter Werner has been a member of the Southern Highlands Craft Guild since 2008. He learned his craft 26 years ago, and often demonstrates at the Folk Art Center in Asheville. He has taught broom making throughout the Southeast as well as in California and Wisconsin. His brooms are featured in the Baker Center at the NC Arboretum, and the Folk Art Center and Guild craft Stores of the SHCG.

COVID-19 PRECAUTIONS:

This workshop has limited tickets to ensure social distancing. Everyone will have their own table to work at, with plenty of space in between. People who share the same house may work at the same table. Masks are required.

IDEAL FOR: Teens and Adults

PRICE: $105/BRAHM members; $120/non members

ABOUT THE WORKSHOP

Attendees will learn to needle felt a beautiful landscape using dyed wool roving. Using only barbed needles, students learn to turn a pile of fluff into a memorable scene of our amazing mountains. No experience needed and all are welcome. Kits will be provided. Participants are encouraged to bring photos of their favorite mountain scene to use as inspiration. A complete instruction booklet and resource list is also included.

PLEASE NOTE: Limited seating available. An 80% refund will be issued if the participant cancels three weeks prior to the event. For cancellations made less than three weeks prior to the event, BRAHM will issue a refund IF the museum is able to fill the vacated spot. 

ABOUT THE INSTRUCTOR:

Lorraine Cathey moved to Hendersonville, NC in 2013 from Pensacola, FL. A pleasant change for sure. “My husband and I had visited the area for many years and had decided this was to be our retirement location as soon as our children were grown and settled. My husband passed away before our dream could materialize, but I forged ahead and find inspiration and comfort in these beautiful mountains.

I was juried into the Southern Highland Craft Guild in 2014 and am enjoying sharing my craft with others through demonstrations and teaching. The Guild has provided me a family of makers who share my love for this area. My current body of work includes needle and wet felted landscapes ranging in size from 8x10 to 24x36. I use a variety of wool roving in different colors

and textures. The scene is needle felted onto a white pre-felt backing which serves as a canvas. When I’m satisfied with the needle felted work the piece is wet felted to securely lock the fibers in place, followed by steam ironing and occasionally free motion stitching on certain areas that may need additional texture. Work is then mounted and framed.”

COVID-19 PRECAUTIONS:

This workshop has limited tickets to ensure social distancing. Everyone will have their own table to work at, with plenty of space in between. People who share the same house may work at the same table. Masks are required.

About the Book: In 2016, headlines declared Appalachia ground zero for America's "forgotten tribe" of white working class voters. Journalists flocked to the region to extract sympathetic profiles of families devastated by poverty, abandoned by establishment politics, and eager to consume cheap campaign promises. What You Are Getting Wrong About Appalachia is a frank assessment of America's recent fascination with the people and problems of the region. The book analyzes trends in contemporary writing on Appalachia, presents a brief history of Appalachia with an eye toward unpacking Appalachian stereotypes, and provides examples of writing, art, and policy created by Appalachians as opposed to for Appalachians. The book offers a must-needed insider's perspective on the region.

(148 pages) 

Buy from Foggy Pine Books - https://www.foggypinebooks.com/store/p1714/9780998904146.html#/

About the Author: Elizabeth Catte is a writer and historian from East Tennessee. She holds a PhD in public history from Middle Tennessee State University and is the co-owner of Passel, a historical consulting and development company. She lives in Staunton, VA.

Zoom Link: https://zoom.us/j/95104405189

Each year, the Blowing Rock Art & History Museum presents a Summer Lecture & Luncheon, focused on a topic of interest for our members and friends.  The 2021 Summer Lecture and Luncheon features well-known speaker, magazine editor, and flower arrangement specialist, Margot Shaw.

Luncheon: 11:00 am • $80 per ticket

Flower Arranging Workshop: 1:30 pm • $35 per ticket

Location: Blowing Rock Country Club

The Blowing Rock Art & History Museum will present a talk and lunch with Margot Shaw, Founder and Editor-in-Chief of Flower Magazine. Now in its 12th year, the magazine has grown to include features on homes, gardens, entertaining, and lifestyle. Margot is a sought-after speaker at antique & garden shows, museums, botanical gardens, interior design centers, and more. She is the author of the newly released book, Living Floral: Entertaining and Decorating with Flowers. 

The event will include a lecture and presentation in the Country Club Ballroom, followed by lunch. 

Lecture and luncheon tickets cost $80 and are non-refundable ($40 of this ticket price is tax-deductible).

Reservations must be purchased in advance directly through BRAHM. You may register online by scrolling down on this page, or over the phone by calling 828-295-9099; ext. 3011.

Books are available for pre-order through this webpage and will be available for purchase at the event. If you plan to purchase a book, reserve your copy now! Shaw will be signing books just before the lecture and immediately following lunch.

Flower Arranging Demonstration with Meg Laughon

Following the luncheon, Floral Designer Meg Laughon will offer a flower arranging demonstration for up to 60 participants.

Pre-registration is required (in addition to the luncheon cost) and is on a first-come, first-served basis. The workshop cost is $35 and non-refundable ($15 of the workshop cost is tax-deductible).  

ABOUT THE WORKSHOP:

Meg Laughon has been a floral designer practically her entire life and professionally since 1982 for weddings, parties and events extraordinaire. She has demonstrated and taught many seasonal workshops throughout Virginia at Garden Club of Virginia member clubs and church flower guilds. Her fresh, unique designs reflect a passion for each season’s shapes, colors and textures, highlighting nature’s palette from roadsides, fields, gardens and forests. Meg’s enthusiasm and luxurious display of flowers, whether extravagant, sophisticated or simplistic will delight and inspire you to create your own design

The Blowing Rock Plein Air Festival is a four-day plein air painting event. It takes place in the beautiful mountainous area surrounding the town of Blowing Rock in western North Carolina.  Its aim is to bring painters together from around the world to paint outside in the fresh air while getting to know each other and sharing their work. The event prompts applicants to explore the unique Blowing Rock architecture, spectacular Blue Ridge Mountain views, and overall Appalachian feel of one of the most scenic areas in the country. 

After four days of painting "en plein air," painters are invited to display their completed works at the "Wet Paint" Art Show & Sale on Saturday afternoon, August 21st. Collectors and the public are invited to attend this impressive display of Plein Air paintings to both view and purchase the unique works that highlight the incredible beauty of the High Country. 

All submitted art to the art show will be entered into a judged plein air painting competition. Awards will be given in two categories, Registered and Emerging Artists.

Visit BlowingRock.com for more information. This is a busy tourism season, so book lodging early.