Tennessee Tech's Free Craft Celebration Features Woodturning, Multi-Studio Demonstrations

The Appalachian Center for Craft opens its studios to the public on April 11 for the 28th annual Celebration of Craft, a free day of demonstrations spanning glass, metals, clay, fibers, and wood at 1560 Craft Center Drive in Smithville, Tennessee. Woodturning holds a dedicated slot among the five disciplines, with Tech faculty, students, and resident artists on the lathe from 10:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.

The demonstrations draw from a program with a defined technical vocabulary. The Center's woodturning curriculum centers on bowl-gouge technique, safe lathe practices, and surface embellishment, with projects that include platters, sushi trays, and napkin holders. Attendees who have already moved through one of the Center's more than 30 annual workshops, which range from bladesmithing and glassblowing to raku pottery and woodturning, may recognize the pedagogical thread running through what they see on the floor.

The Craft Center Gallery will discount all items by 25% during the event, making April 11 one of the more practical single days to acquire work from nationally recognized makers. Woodturned utensils are explicitly among the available works. A Visual Art Society student sale runs simultaneously under a tent on the lawn.

Kim Winkle, director of the School of Art, Craft & Design, traces the event to "a pivotal moment that ultimately strengthened the Craft Center thanks to the incredible support of our community, students, alumni, faculty and staff." Her teaching resume connects the region to the national craft circuit: she has taught at Haystack Mountain School of Crafts, Penland School of Crafts, Arrowmont School of Arts and Crafts, Anderson Ranch Art Center, Peters Valley School of Craft, and Port Townsend School of Woodworking, among others, before becoming director. She holds a BFA in Ceramics from the University of Oklahoma and an MFA in Furniture Design from San Diego State University.

Beyond the studios, the Global Education Center will present music and dance performances on the main stage, art education students from the School of Art, Craft & Design will lead free children's activities, and five food vendors, including Bunz on the Run, Habibi's Mexican Grill, and Get Smoked BBQ, will be on site. A printed schedule will be available at the welcome tent.

The campus sits on the Highland Rim above Center Hill Lake, a rural setting that reinforces the Appalachian heritage framing the Center has built across 28 years of programming. For turners interested in the Center's yearlong artists-in-residence program or its nationally sourced instructor network, the Celebration of Craft offers an informal point of contact. Reach the Center at craftcenter@tntech.edu or 931-372-3051.