Woodcarving: cat carrying kitten

Woodcarving: cat carrying kitten

Brasstown Carvers

Handicraft

John C. Campbell Folk School

Wood-carving -- Appalachian Region, Southern

Woodwork -- Appalachian Region, Southern

This carved cat and kitten is a unique piece carved by Hope Caler Brown, the exact date of the piece is unknown. Hope Brown and her husband Glenn carved with John C. Campbell Folk School instructor Murrial Martin in the 1940s. In 1942 Hope Brown made more than $250 from carving, more than any other woman carver. Her sales were topped by only a handful of male carvers. Having raised eight children, Hope Brown has said that carving kept the family off welfare. Unlike many carvers who worked from patterns or drawings provided by Martin, Brown designed her own patterns and shared them with other carvers. She lost many original patterns in a fire that destroyed school woodshop in 1944. This cat and kitten are characteristic of her work in that they display an eye for graceful annimation and fine detail. 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.

Brown, Hope Caler

Artifact Collection

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

unknown

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

jpg;

crafts (art genres)

StillImage

15463

https://southernappalachiandigitalcollections.org/object/15463

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

5" x 3.25" x 8"(dimension)

Craft Revival