November 7–30, 2025 @ Johnson County Center for the Arts
The Johnson County Center for the Arts welcomes back the Blue Ridge Fiber Guild as this year’s November Featured Artists. The guild’s show last year was a showcase of their wide range of fiber arts styles and abilities.
The BRFG was formed in Watauga County, North Carolinain 1984to provide a venue for fellowship and inspiration among people with any level of interest and ability in any fiber arts and crafts. Today their members are versed in a full range of fiber-related skills including spinning wool and other fibers, weaving on a variety of looms, knitting, crochetingand quilting. Several members dye their own fiber and cloth, and other guild members engage in surface design techniques, such as painting, screen-printing, photo manipulation, stitchingand embroidery.
This upcoming show gives visitors a wonderful to meet many of the guild members such as Janet Purcell, a quilt-maker from Deep Gap, North Carolina. Her aesthetic centers on clarity and calm traditional patterns with quiet color stories and subtle textures that invite close attention. At its heart, her quilting practice is an act of connection between generations, across time, and among those who pause to look, feeland remember.
“I am so appreciative of the Blue Ridge Fiber Guild and the Johnson County Center for the Arts for this opportunity to share my work,” said Purcell.“My quilt, 'Resilience,'features the Cardinal, Dogwood Blossoms, Friendship Star, Peace and Plenty, Wishing Star, and Tree of Life blocks, and was created as a tribute to the strength of the people of our region in the aftermath of Hurricane Helene.”
Guild member Mary Valante is a historian and teacher. She studies card weaving as a historical art, and along the way has discovered it brings her closer to women and weavers from the ancient past. Valante’s personal motto‘H.E.A.R.T.’which stands for Humanities, Ethiques, Arts, Rhetoriqueand Teaching is the guiding principle in her craft.
Sharing knowledge and skills with each other and the surrounding community is part of the guild’s mission statement. This year guild members demonstrated their crafts at the Boonerang and Buskersfest events and exhibited works at the Jones House and the Watauga Arts Council in Boone, North Carolina. In addition, the guild has conducted a series of introductory fiber classes at the Watauga Arts Council. They hope to continue the series in 2026. These classes have been made possible by a grant from the North Carolina Arts Commission and the Watauga Arts Council. Classes have included wet felting, several weaving techniques, basket makingand natural dyes. For more information about the guild or future classes visit the Fiber Guild’s website at www.blueridgefiberguild.org or the Arts Council Websitewww.watauga-arts.org.
The Blue Ridge Fiber Guild’s Show Opening is Friday, Nov. 7 from 4 -6 p.m. at the Johnson County Center for the Arts’Gallery on Main at 129 W. Main Street, Mountain City, Tennessee.
Category: Exhibits