Visitors on TRAC’s biannual Toe River Studio Tour are often surprised by finding crafts on the tour produced in different media by the same artist, or, even more exciting, finding works which embody two or more media in one piece. The discovery is further evidence of the great richness of talent flourishing in the mountains of Yancey and Mitchell Counties.

Rolf Holmquist is an accomplished sculptor and draftsman. His whimsical birdhouses and birdfeeders are made from recycled architectural bits and pieces, door frames, windowsills, tin roofing, as well as furniture parts such as chair legs. Auto parts like camshafts, gears, and brake drums go into his pieces. "I don’t throw much out," says Rolf, adding that he often finds boxes of odds and ends that people have dropped off on his porch steps. From this jumble of salvage he creates his full-size bird buildings and a series of tiny ornamental houses mounted on posts. Rolf is also known for his exquisite line drawings in graphite, his portraits of mountain folk, especially those associated with arts and crafts. He documents "old buildings, gone by the wayside," as he puts it, as well as structures featuring the quilt block design so popular in recent years. Many of Rolf’s two-dimensional graphic works appear handsomely mounted in frames he’s made of old planking.

Jann Welch is another TRAC artist who seems to have more hands than a Hindu statue. Besides running her Arts Centered school in Bakersville and a bed and breakfast there, she also produces beautiful watercolor studies of flowers. Her ceramic works include raku, horse hair/feather fired pottery, functional ware and sculpture. "The clay medium provides another surface for [my] passion, the exploration of design elements and surface." Noting that she tries to respect the rules in art, Jann admits that as an intuitional artist she "takes creative pleasure in pushing the rules around a bit." Bully for Jann!

In the case of Lisa Bruns we have an artist who works in figurative clay and jewelry. Lately, however, her aluminum Christmas tree ornaments have become extremely popular and Lisa has increased the number of her designs to 30. Her work in clay is commonly of human and animal forms, almost caricatures, and very elongated. Most of her jewelry she describes as "very simple yet subtle, with lines and forms that are hammered and textured." She makes mainly earrings in semi-precious stones and silver. What motivates this multi-talented artist? "To have the best time I can have in the studio. I visit all my media this time of year, pursuing whatever my curiosity leads me to on that day."

Kathy Steinsberger, who works in decorated pottery and handmade books, experienced the attraction of book arts after incorporating text into her ceramics. In an intriguing evolution, she would decorate the pieces of a dinner ware set with flamingos, for example, and then write an ongoing series of stories on the base of the pieces. Most of the stories were autobiographical, drawn from her and her mother’s lives. With her growing fascinated with books, Kathy began creating pottery book covers. And in time she found an additional calling in book arts. To her the book is a "beautiful object that mirrors the soul, an everyday object that acts as a conduit for the future." Tunnel books, in particular, intrigue her. These feature a series of paper panels with apertures in the center allowing one to see through one page to the next. Viewed from above, the book has an accordion shape. Tunnel books, pop-up books, old Coptic binding methods, these continue to stimulate Kathy Steinsberger’s own inventiveness.

Two remarkable sisters, Cynthia and Edwina Bringle, are both artists in several media but are also deeply involved with the history of the Penland School and have acted as mentors for many artists new to the area. Cynthia Bringle began her artistic career as a painter, basically creating landscapes in a variety of media: oils, pastels, watercolor, monoprints and so on. Her interest in pottery developed later, and today she produces functional and decorative pieces which include "coffee mugs, soup bowls, colanders, big vessels, everything, including kitchen sinks." She is equally versatile in her clay work, producing salt, gas, and wood-fired pieces as well as raku. Her sister Edwina is passionate about color, a love that unites her two chosen media, weaving and jewelry. Having early on studied with 14 different weavers during two summers and still taking courses to this day, Edwina produces hangings and rugs and skirts and blankets from her loom. "I like bright colors," she says, then adds, "and neutrals...in fact, colors all over the place." Her mixed media weaving she describes as "painting with textiles." Flamework beads allow her to translate her love of color into the medium of glass, as she creates necklaces, earrings, and bracelets. Refusing to let herself stay stuck on one avenue in a medium, she loves to branch out. Currently she makes felt hats from the wool of Australian merino sheep, a far cry from the woof and warp of the frame loom and yet another challenge to her active and creative mind.

Studio Tour visitors may add to the pleasures of their journey through the Blue Ridge by reflecting on the talent behind the fabrics that glisten with gems, the books covered in textiles, paintings framed in ceramic designs, pots that tell stories, or sculptures that carry paintings. Some people paint within the lines, others are only content when stretching, crossing, or blending the lines. Many TRAC artists wear many hats (or berets); this December we invite you to meet as many of these versatile and multi-talented folks as you can.