Mode of Program Participation
Community Organizing and Educational Programming
Participation Type
Paper
Session Title
Kentucky's Craft Legacy Workshop
Presentation #1 Title
Kentucky's Craft Legacy Workshop
Presentation #1 Abstract or Summary
Throughout the history of Appalachia and especially Kentucky, crafts have been an important part of life. In the settling of mountains and in the early years, crafts represented basic life skills needed to supply necessary objects for home and work and leisure pursuits. While items were always bartered, crafts production began contributing to the cash income of families in the early twentieth century. Today craft production has expanded to include art as well as utilitarian objects. As any student of history knows, stories get told from information that survives. The Kentucky Craft History and Education Association (KCHEA) has put together a workshop to encourage craftmakers to look ahead to what will happen to equipment and information about them. The objects they have made will continue to be in the hands of people and institutions, but it is vital that information about the craftspeople also survive. This workshop details how to place papers in archives, how to record oral histories, and how to distribute studio contents where it will find use. We have concluded a pilot project and refined the Craft Legacy workshop in preparation for taking it on the road to many locations throughout the state. Also, information from the workshop is available on the KCHEA website. KCHEA’s efforts are designed to be a model for other states to collect information about their state’s crafts activities and their craftmakers and promoters.
At-A-Glance Bio- Presenter #1
Philis Alvic is an artist, weaver, and writer. She has exhibited her complex woven wall textiles in over 250 juried and invitational exhibitions. She has written Weavers of the Southern Highlands (University Press of Kentucky, 2003), Crafts of Armenia (USAID/IESC Armenia, 2003) and over 100 magazine articles. As a short-term consultant for crafts development and marketing, she has worked on projects in thirteen different countries. She is a founding member of the Kentucky Craft History and Education Association.
Kentucky's Craft Legacy Workshop
Throughout the history of Appalachia and especially Kentucky, crafts have been an important part of life. In the settling of mountains and in the early years, crafts represented basic life skills needed to supply necessary objects for home and work and leisure pursuits. While items were always bartered, crafts production began contributing to the cash income of families in the early twentieth century. Today craft production has expanded to include art as well as utilitarian objects. As any student of history knows, stories get told from information that survives. The Kentucky Craft History and Education Association (KCHEA) has put together a workshop to encourage craftmakers to look ahead to what will happen to equipment and information about them. The objects they have made will continue to be in the hands of people and institutions, but it is vital that information about the craftspeople also survive. This workshop details how to place papers in archives, how to record oral histories, and how to distribute studio contents where it will find use. We have concluded a pilot project and refined the Craft Legacy workshop in preparation for taking it on the road to many locations throughout the state. Also, information from the workshop is available on the KCHEA website. KCHEA’s efforts are designed to be a model for other states to collect information about their state’s crafts activities and their craftmakers and promoters.
