Metalwork across campus, such as a weather vane atop the Blacksmith Shop, highlights the traditional skills in practice
Doll-making instructor Lillian Alberti demonstrates her method of working with paper clay to create armature. The dolls are completed with painted features and handmade clothes.
Music and dance are central to the experience, from the Morningsong gathering that begins each day to the spirited evenings of contra and square dancing in the Keith House Community Room.
The Festival Barn is the site of many concerts, dances, and celebrations.
In the woodworking studio, a half-complete dulcimer sits on a workbench. The instrument will be finished by the end of the week.
During the summer, each week is dedicated to a theme. Ralph Lee Smith gives an evening talk as part of Dulcimer Week.
In the weaving studio, advanced students practice twill patterns on the looms.
Like her mother, wood-carving teacher Helen Gibson is a member of the Brasstown Carvers, a collective formed in the early decades of the school. A number of carvers still sell their creations at the school’s gallery. Here, Gibson works on her specialty: Moses.
Instructor Ralph Lee Smith, an expert in the history of the mountain dulcimer, holds a circa-1890s instrument from the school's collection.
Instructor Jeff Mohr (center) got his start in blacksmithing as a student at the school 30 years ago. In his Home and Hearth course, he shares forging techniques for making fireplace accessories, gates, furniture, and more.
Students bunk in cabins, dorms, and cottages, including the Farm House. They can also camp on the grounds.
Working the wheel in the pottery studio
Meals are served family-style, and switching tables is encouraged; you might sit with blacksmiths at breakfast, dulcimer makers at dinner.
Harvests from the vegetable gardens, tended by work-study students, contribute to the meals.
The campus is spread across 300 acres of fields and woods. A country road leads to the Blacksmith Shop and Orchard House.
Of the hundreds of weekend and weeklong classes offered, broom making is a perennial favorite.
A textile piece housed in the History Center captures the spirit the school was founded on nearly 90 years ago: joyful communal labor and the dignity of working with your hands.
Metalwork at the front gate depicts the oft-cited campus motto, "I Sing Behind the Plow."
Folk School staff member Reed Caldwell with the resonator guitar he made in a class at the Brasstown campus.
Blacksmithing instructor Jeff Mohr
Broom making instructor Glen McLean
Kaleidoscopes instructor Scheryl Koch
The new Blacksmith Shop
Inside the Blacksmith Shop
Juried works are sold in the school's Craft Shop.
Calligraphy class
The campus Craft Shop
Handcrafted antique dulcimers on display in the History Center, including one made in 1890.
A music workshop during Dulcimer Celebration week.
Art is spread across the campus, including this outdoor pottery installation.
