Discovering the Art in Arts and Crafts

Just as the categories of furniture, pottery, and metalware had their own interpretation of what the Arts and Crafts style should look like -- pegged joints, matte glazes, and hammered surfaces -- so did the art of the period.

The woodblock print took its name from the small blocks of hand-carved hardwood that served as the canvas for the artist. But the process was painstakingly slow, as each color of ink required its own carved block of wood. The artist would draw...

Just How Many Biltmore's Are There?

My column last week prompted a reader who is coming to the Grove Park Inn Arts and Crafts Conference next month to ask, "Just how many Biltmore's are there in Asheville?"

Provided you don’t count the Biltmore Barber Shop, the Biltmore Baptist Church, the Biltmore Lamp Shade Gallery, the Biltmore Dental Group, Biltmore Iron and Metal, and Biltmore Ob-Gyn, there are three: the Biltmore Estate, Biltmore Village, and Biltmore Industries.

Biltmore...

A Rare Opportunity For Collectors

I have often said that at the annual Grove Park Inn Arts and Crafts Conference you can see more Arts and Crafts in three days than most people can anywhere else in an entire year.

And I enjoy the opportunity to study and compare forms at the February three-day show as much as anyone else.

Case in point:

I have a sentimental attachment to Gustav Stickley's earliest magazine stand (pictured), simply because it was the first piece of his furniture which...

Tiffany Studios Shade