Craftsman Causes: Craftsman Dinner, Historic Homes in Albemarle, and the Prints of “Look Homeward, Angel” During the National Arts and Crafts Conference

by Kate Nixon

 

The National Arts and Crafts Conference and Shows at the Grove Park Inn is a true group effort. The wide variety of activities to do during this three -day weekend is a result of multiple organizations, dealers, artisans, and dedicated staff, planning for a common cause and the continuation of a 39-year legacy. This year, not only can attendees reunite with friends over an annual reception dinner with an Arts and Crafts organization with a Gustav Stickley legacy of its own, but you can tour one of the first historic Asheville neighborhoods with an impressive accomplishment, enjoy a never-before offered tour of Thomas Wolfe’s historic house and learn about the block prints made for the infamous novel Look Homeward, Angel.

 

The Stickley Museum at Craftsman Farms Kick-Off Reception at the National Arts and Crafts Conference at the Grove Park Inn in Asheville, North Carolina. Photo by Ray Stubblebine

 

Conference Director Kate Nixon addresses the crowd at the 2024 Craftsman Reception alongside Barbara Weiskittel, Vonda Givens, and Jonathan Clancy, the leadership of the Stickley Museum at Craftsman Farms. Photo by Ray Stubblebine.

 

The Craftsman Reception – Thursday, February 20th, 2026

The Skyline room, The Sammons Wing

6:00 PM to 8:00 PM

$145.00 per person

Dinner, drinks and learning about the Stickley Museum at Craftsman Farms amongst friends? What could be a better way to start your Thursday evening? The 2026 Craftsman reception will once more be hosted by the Stickley Museum at Craftsman Farms with new Executive Director Jonathan Clancy at the helm, where he and the board of the Stickley Museum will present a program with important updates on the future of the Stickley Museum. Drinks and food will be catered by The Grove Park Inn.

Last year’s powerful program featuring Conference founder Bruce Johnson, current Conference Director Kate Nixon, artisans Brian Brace and Amy Brandenburg united the crowd in exploring moving forward in the aftermath of a natural disaster. This year’s program will strike an inspirational tone as the organization’s continuing journey forward under Clancy will open new chapters in education.

For an evening with drinks, dinner, dear friends, and important updates, click the link below to purchase tickets:

The Craftsman Reception 2026 tickets

 

 

One of at least four homes in the historic Albemarle neighborhood in Asheville, NC. Photo courtesy of the Preservation Society of Asheville and Buncombe County.

The Preservation Society of Asheville and Buncombe County presents

Annual Historic House Tours of the Albemarle Neighborhood in Asheville

Saturday, February 21st – Sunday, February 22nd

1:00 PM – 5:00 PM

$50.00 per person

(The entrance is by the sliding glass doors, last bus leaves the Sammons wing sliding glass doors at 3:30 PM)

Albemarle Park was one of Asheville’s earliest planned residential developments. William Greene Raoul originally purchased the 34-acre Deaver farm in 1886 as a summer retreat for his family. But a decade later, the farm was transformed into a unique picturesque “cottage” development that both maintained and maximized the site’s natural beauty and rustic character. It is a nationally recognized landmark in planned residential design, a rare surviving example of late nineteenth century “resort park” development. The neighborhood’s site planning and landscape design has been nationally recognized with a Medallion Award from the American Society of Landscape Architects and it is the only neighborhood in the city with both architectural and landscape design standards to manage its historic resources.
 
*PSABC Members, enter code PSABC for a $15 discount!*
Docents will be available in each home to answer questions. Participants should be able to walk a city block and negotiate stairs. This neighborhood is steep in some areas, so Tukit Tour Company will be available for those who need a boost. The tour will happen rain or shine, so please bring a raincoat or umbrella as needed.

Click here to purchase tickets for the 2026 Historic House Tour by the PSABC

 

 

Letterio Calapai, “Untitled (On the brink of the dark he stood)” from the “Look Homeward, Angel” portfolio (detail), 1948, wood engraving and copper etching printed in relief on paper, edition 70/200, 13 × 18 inches. Museum purchase. Courtesy Asheville Art Museum.

Asheville Art Museum Presentation

States of Impression: Letterio Calapai from Atelier 17 to “Look Homeward, Angel”

Saturday, February 21st, 2026

3:00 PM – 4:00 PM

$25.00 per person

The Asheville Art Museum (2 South Pack Square, Asheville, NC 28801 )

While direct transportation is not provided to the Asheville Art Museum, a trolley to and from the GPI is provided in the Thomas Wolfe House museum extension for a $20 cost. Only 33 seats for the trolley. See below.

Join Assistant Curator Robin Klaus, PhD, for a talk exploring Letterio Calapai’s artistic trajectory from his formative years at the experimental printmaking studio Atelier 17 to his illustrations for Look Homeward, Angel, Thomas Wolfe’s novel inspired by early 20th-century Asheville. Presented on the final day of Asheville Art Museum’s exhibition of Calapai’s Look Homeward, Angel portfolio, the talk situates the artist within the cultural history of American print workshops and highlights how he absorbed and adapted the technical innovations of these collaborative environments. Attendees will examine the works on view alongside multiple states of prints made throughout Calapai’s artistic career to gain insight into his working methods, narrative vision, and the processes behind his most compelling work.

 

 

Optional extension: Tour the Thomas Wolfe House Museum before the Art Museum Presentation

Saturday, February 21st, 2026

2:00 PM – 2:45 PM (the bus will pick up from the Sammons wing sliding glass doors at 1:30 PM)

$20.00 for the tour and trolley transportation

Thomas Wolfe Historic House: 52 North Market Street, Asheville, NC 28801

Director Kate is offering fare from the Grove Park Inn to the Thomas Wolfe Historic House, where a curator will take you on a 45-minute tour of the house at 2:00 PM, where the author of Look Homeward, Angel grew up before driving to AAM. The guided tours are a hallmark of the Memorial as guests get to walk through rooms and see the very furnishings and artifacts as Thomas would have seen them during his adolescence growing up inside its walls. Because the boardinghouse, its boarders, and his family served as such prominent characters in his debut novel Look Homeward, Angel, guests often feel like they are walking through the pages of his book as well.

The trolley will pick you up and drop you off at the Asheville Art Museum in time for the lecture at 3:00 PM. The trolley will pick you up after and return you back to the GPI.

Because of the limited seating on the single trip trolley, these seats are only for those who are going to both Thomas Wolfe house at 2:00pm AND the Asheville Art Museum at 3:00pm.

Click here to purchase the Thomas Wolfe House Museum tour and round trip transportation to the Thomas Wolfe House, Asheville Art Museum and back to the Grove Park Inn.

 

 

 

For more on the upcoming National Arts and Crafts Conference and Shows, visit Arts-CraftsConference.com

 

 

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