A NOTE FROM THE DIRECTOR

Michael Dowell

Dear Friend of Virginia Craft,

The Artisans Center of Virginia’s Alleghany Craft Network project (ACN), supported by the Virginia Department of Housing and Community Development, is simple in its initial goal: to catalogue all artisans and venues (or as many as we can find) that sell locally produced fine craft in the nine county area of Virginia identified as the Alleghany region. To achieve this goal and to promote this region rich in talent we identified three main strategies. First, we hired a coordinator to oversee the project and to “beat the bushes” in locating the artisans and sales venues. To date we have over two hundred.

Next we arranged to host a craft conference and business institute in the region. While the conference is open to artisans from across the state, we felt it was important that it be held in the Alleghany region in order to make it most accessible to those artisans we are seeking to identify. The conference is designed to provide much-needed networking opportunities. The Alleghany region is mountainous and sparsely populated. As a result, oftentimes there may be a weaver working on one side of a mountain and a spinner on the other, which can be an entirely different county, and the two have never met.

Also, the conference is structured to provide artisans the business skills required to better market their craft. All too often one’s passion and creativity comes from the heart as a labor of love, and it is only after those craft skills gain popularity that an unplanned “business” emerges. Suddenly one has to start to think about pricing, packaging, marketing, collecting and paying sales tax, and maybe even hiring employees. The Artisans Center is here to help.

And finally, the Artisans Center has incorporated a major exhibition of work by Alleghany region artisans into its 2008 exhibition series. Scheduled for one of the busiest tourist seasons, this exhibition will showcase the rich and abundant talent that exists in the nine western border counties running from Roanoke to Rockingham. Virginia’s craft talent is as impressive as any found in the United States with many artisans enjoying national reputations. Most of them, however, have gained their notoriety thanks in part to living in major metropolitan areas where fine craft is more sought after than rural climes such as Alleghany. Our exhibition will show all who view it that quality craft is not a matter of reputation or name recognition, but rather of skills honed over hours and years of work to make the best product possible.

A true artisan is one who takes great pride in their finished work and there are many of those artisans in the Alleghany Craft Network. Once this exploratory project is complete, our next step will be to discover ways in which we can bring the craft enthusiast to the region to discover the majestic countryside that gives these artisans their inspiration.

I hope every artisan will enlist in the ACN Directory and encourage their fellow artisans to do the same. I hope each artisan is working on a stellar work of craft to include in the exhibition. And I encourage all artisans to plan on attending our craft conference so you can meet your peers, learn from them and from the expert presenters we have lined up.

At the Artisans Center our motto is Create Craft – Create Community. We believe that quality, handmade fine craft strengthens the cultural, educational and economic vitality of local communities. Making all that happen is you, the Virginia artisan. Please, be a part of the artisan community; your voice and ideas are crucial.

Michael Dowell
Executive Director
Artisans Center of Virginia
877-508-6069

Please direct questions pertaining to this new project to:

Stephen A. Clerico, Coordinator
Alleghany Craft Network
P.O. Box 192
Free Union, VA 22940
434-978-4109
E-mail