“Folk art isn’t ‘folk’ art... it’s art,” claimed Jeff Biggers, paraphrasing the historic Allen Eaton, at the Historic Craft Revival Showcase held May 22-23 at the Folk Art Center in Asheville.

Biggers, author of The United States of Appalachia, was a speaker at the showcase, an event sponsored by Hunter Library of Western Carolina University, HandMade in America and the Southern Highland Craft Guild. The event, directed by Anna Fariello of Hunter Library, was a fully interactive showcase of not only the Appalachian Craft Revival movement but of the work undertaken by the library’s Craft Revival team.

As Biggers said in his talk Friday evening, the project “revives the revival” of Appalachian folk arts and that the Web site “makes it relevant today that crafts matter.” Leading the audience in a brief discussion of how and why historic craft ways are germane to our modern lives, Biggers touched on the heart and soul of Hunter Library’s Craft Revival Project.

“There is dignity and value in what people are doing,” and it is this dignity and value that makes Appalachian art and culture a thriving, intrinsic part of our mountain heritage. Through the Craft Revival Project, Hunter Library is not only archiving and cataloging the vast expanse of Appalachian craft works, but promoting and providing continuing education for the next era of Appalachian folk crafts people.

In order to do this, the Historic Craft Showcase sponsors invited teachers and educators to have an interactive tour of the site, demonstrating the effectiveness of using the Web site in the classroom and offering CEU credits for participating. At several stations, attendees could learn how to navigate the site in the classroom setting, incorporate the Craft Revival Project into assignments and lesson plans, participate in an online scavenger hunt and scan documents and artifacts for archiving purposes. Each station, staffed with Hunter Library volunteers, led teachers through hands-on training they could in turn use the coming school year.

“This is really a blessing for us,” said a teacher attending the showcase, going on to say how easy and engaging the Craft Revival Project Web site will be to use and promote in her classroom. The ability to archive WNC crafts and use that archive to inspire new talents through traditional folk ways in the next generation is a tremendous boon to the Appalachian community and one that Saturday’s attendees will surely put to good use.

To visit the Web site, go to www.wcu.edu/craftrevival/index.htm.