Woodcarving: girl and boy

Woodcarving: girl and boy

Brasstown Carvers

Handicraft

John C. Campbell Folk School

Wood-carving -- Appalachian Region, Southern

Woodwork -- Appalachian Region, Southern

This finely detailed pair of figures, exact dates unknown, is the work of Nolan Beaver (1916-1998). Beaver learned to carve as a child growing up in the Martin's Creek community of Cherokee County, North Carolina. He recalled, "I wanted toys, so I made them." He studied at the John C. Campbell Folk School in the 1930s with carving teacher Murrial Martin. Later, an industrial pattern maker and cabinetmaker, Beaver continued to carve throughout his life, developing a personal style of graceful figures with fine detail. In 1942 he earned over $300 from carving, a substantial sum in those days. The pair is carved in fir, a wood rarely used by Folk School carvers. The Brasstown Carvers can trace their beginnings to 1929 when a local craft guild was organized in cooperation with the John C. Campbell Folk School. By the mid 1930s, craft production at the school focused on carving and, by the 1950s, the group became known as the Brasstown Carvers. Today's Brasstown Carvers, some of them second and third generation makers from the same families as the original carvers, continue to produce work for the school's sales shop.

Beaver, Nolan, 1916-1998

Artifact Collection

Hunter Library Digital Collections, Western Carolina University, Cullowhee, NC 28723

http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/CNE/1.0/

jpg;

crafts (art genres)

StillImage

15460

https://southernappalachiandigitalcollections.org/object/15460

2008-10-23

All rights reserved. For permissions and use, contact John C. Campbell Folk School, Brasstown, NC 28902;

Clay County (N.C.)

Appalachian Region, Southern

4.75" x 1.5" x 1"(dimension)

Craft Revival