John Dilbeck Musings

DILLSBORO, NC 28725 - The Western North Carolina Pottery Festival hosts its fourth edition in downtown Dillsboro Saturday, November 1, with three dozen master potters demonstrating on the streets of this walkabout mountain village.

Festival hours are 10 am to 4 pm, rain or shine, November 1, 2008.

Admission is $2 per person and includes a ticket for a day-long raffle. Children under 12 are admitted free.

The juried festival spotlights the work of clay artists across the Eastern U.S., including featured potter John Fulwood of New Jersey. Throughout the day, potters share their knowledge through hands-on demonstrations that include raku firing, throwing, wood-firing and horsehair firing. An annual highlight is the opening of the wood-fired coffin kiln at Tree House Pottery.

Organizers are enthused by the appearance of Fulwood, a renowned clay artist from New Jersey’s Kissimmee River Pottery. Fulwood is known for his cone-10 reduction firing technique.

“I depend upon the caress of the flames to influence the color of each piece,” says Fulwood. “These color variations add life to the pots and help make each a one-of-a-kind piece.”

In addition to Fulwood, potters will descend upon Dillsboro from the Carolinas, Georgia, Tennessee, Texas, Ohio and Illinois.

Local potters include Brandt Barnes of Riverwood Pottery, who has been featured on HGTV, and Travis Berning of Tree House Pottery, who has developed a special technique for implanting leaf designs in clay. Joe Frank McKee, also of Tree House Pottery, will demonstrate all day with alcohol reduction raku firing.

The WNC Pottery Festival has become one of the more popular crafts events in the mountains, with large crowds in each of its first three years.

“There’s getting to be quite an interest in the festival,” says McKee. “Everybody’s talking about it, and we have 11 new potters this year to ensure the event stays fresh. We also have more decorative work coming in. People will be impressed by the attention to detail.”

For festival info, call (828) 631-5100 or visit: www.wncpotteryfestival.com.

For lodging info, call the Jackson County Visitors Center at (800) 962-1911.

Healthy Coffee House (Murphy, NC US)

Come visit the Healthy Coffee House, Bed & Breakfast, and Bakery.

Have a drink on us!

Buy one, get one free any drink in the Healthy Coffee House.

Stay one night, second night half price.

Free wireless internet service.

Expires: This coupon expires on January 24, 2009.

Restrictions: One coupon per week per customer

Click the “Get Details” link below. You will go a new page where you can have the required coupon e-mailed to you instantly. Then print out the coupon and redeem at:

Healthy Coffee House
215 Peachtree ST
Murphy, NC 28906, USA

Questions on this offer?

Contact: Healthy Coffee House via Phone: 828-837-1515

Get Details and Money-Saving Coupon

Nancy Williams, a resident of Graham County, North Carolina, announces the publication of her new book, A Matter of Destiny. If you are interested in a fast-paced story that combines UFOs, aliens, government conspiracies, and political intrigue, this book may be right for you.

Her background in the US Air Force and knowledge of ham radios, combined with an actual incident that occurred in Brookhaven, NY in 1992, make the fictional story more realistic and exciting.

The sequel, Agenda 21 Conspiracy, will feature a plot set in Andrews, Murphy, and the Nantahala Gorge in western North Carolina.

A Matter of Destiny is available in Murphy, NC, at the Curiosity Bookstore in Shoppes of Murphy on Valley River Avenue; in Fontana Village at Ditmore Drugs; in Robbinsville at The Graham Star; in Hayesville at Lloyd Bookstore; and in Waynesville at Osundu’s.

You can order the book from her website at www.NLWilliamsWriter.com.

To order offline, mail a check for $15.95 ($12.95 and $3.00 shipping) to: N. L. Williams, P. O. Box 1477, Robbinsville, NC 28771.

Nancy Williams will be making a number of personal appearances over the coming months. Don’t miss the chance to get an autographed copy.

I want to thank my friend, Jerry Chautin, for alerting me to an article in the New York Times, A Basket Case in North Carolina, written by David Rakoff, and published on May 20, 2007.

In this article, the author talks about taking a week-long class at the John C Campbell Folk School, in Brasstown, NC.

Originally, like most men, he wanted to experience the thrill of blacksmithing, of smiting hot steel and shaping it into new forms with fire, hammer, and anvil, but (for reasons he details in the article) he changed to taking a basket weaving class.

As a true lover of the Folk School and all that goes on there, I felt the resonance of reading what I know to be true about the Folk School experience, not just what happens when taking a class and learning a new skill, or improving your ability to create pieces of art in your chosen craft.

Mr. Rakoff talks about the unexpected moments of silence and “getting into the zone” that artists strive for while transforming the vision in our minds into the item in our hands.

This is one of the best articles I’ve read about the Folk School, and I recommend it to you. I don’t know how long the New York Times keeps these articles archived, so maybe you should read A Basket Case in North Carolina, now.

(For more information about the John C. Campbell Folk School, its classes, crafts, and events, call 828-837-2775 or 1-800-FOLK-SCH (800-365-5724) or visit www.folkschool.org.)

(From the Folk School Website:)

The new Blacksmith studio fundraising campaign has begun!

Timber framers from all over will gather at the Folk School for an old fashioned barn raising!

The John C. Campbell Folk School is proud to announce plans for an annex to the historic Blacksmith Shop, originally dedicated to Francis Whittaker in recognition of his two decades of teaching and demonstrating at the school.

Whittaker, known as the “Dean of American Blacksmiths,” devoted his life to keeping the art of blacksmithing alive in this country and the existing studio stands as his symbolic legacy. But, while Blacksmithing has long been the most popular of some 50 programs the Folk School offers, the shop has suffered decades of wear and its space is no longer adequate for the size and diversity of classes such a premier program should offer.

The solution is to renovate the Whittaker Studio and to build an annex with the help of the Timber Framers Guild, which has offered to assemble close to 80 timber framers to do a traditional barn-raising in June 2008.

Fundraising for the project kicked off with a $1000 gift from longtime instructor Lou Mueller. Clay Spencer, nationally known blacksmith and fixture at the school also donated $1000. Not to be outdone, Don Neuenschwander, a long time student and friend of the Folk School from Indiana, donated $5000. Julie Clark, Folk School blacksmith instructor, donated $10,000!

While the full architectural plans have not been finalized, the project cost is estimated at an ambitious $500,000. With the strength and spirit of the Blacksmithing community, we are confident the goal can be met. Ours is a community that is resourceful, creative and, like the Folk School, dedicated to the spread of knowledge and education about blacksmithing.

Please contact Susi Hall, Development Manager, at susi@folkschool.org or at 828-837-2775 ext. 118 to contribute or to discuss making a gift and Paul Garrett, Resident Artist for Blacksmithing, at pdg86@hotmail.com or 828-835-8441 with ideas to assist with the project.

Learn more about the new Blacksmithing annex on the Folk School’s website.

I watched Sing Behind The Plow last evening and enjoyed it greatly.

It is an outstanding production and anyone who loves the Folk School and what people have been doing there for decades should get a copy of this DVD.

Hopefully, it will be rebroadcast on UNC-TV and other public stations in the future.

It was nice to see old friends and familiar places and to learn more about the early history of the school.

The John C. Campbell Folk School is one of my favorite places on the planet and attending classes there has the definite possibility of changing your life for the better.

Instead of competing for ranking and grades, students at the Folk School are welcomed into a friendly, supportive atmosphere of learning, trying new things, and helping each other. This supportive environment continues from Morning Song, through the classes, family style meals in the dining hall, and on into the evenings spent talking, dancing, and enjoying the beautiful mountain scenery.

If you immerse yourself in what is available, you may well be a different person at the end of the week.

I highly recommend the Folk School and the Sing Behind The Plow documentary to you.

Sing Behind The Plow will be available for purchase on DVD from the Folk School’s Craft Shop.

Foundation Hosts Friends Luncheon on September 25, 2006

Please join The Community Foundation of Western North Carolina in celebrating another year of promoting philanthropy and building mountain communities at their annual Friends Luncheon.

This year they are focusing on homegrown philanthropic efforts that are enhancing and preserving our way of life.

In the past year, CFWNC has distributed more than $7 million in charitable grants across our 18-county mountain region and beyond.

Come to the Renaissance Asheville Hotel at noon to hear about some of the most promising projects and innovative ideas that promote and preserve mountain culture, encourage economic development and markets one mountain community as “The Home of the Perfect Christmas Tree.”

They will be serving a special “homegrown” lunch made from food grown by local farmers.

The cost is $25 per person and $45 per patron. Tables of 8 are available.

Reservations will be accepted until September 20, 2006.

To register, contact Beth Semadeni or call (828) 254-4960.

BRMEMC.NET Launches High Speed Internet Technology Initiative Focused on Advanced Data, Communications and Entertainment to Homes and Businesses

YOUNG HARRIS, GA – May 15, 2006 - BRMEMC.NET announced today that it intends to bring High Speed Internet Connectivity to Members of Blue Ridge Mountain Electric Membership Corporation. Service will be delivered by deployment of emerging Technologies such as Fiber-To-The-Home (FTTH), Broadband over Power Line (BPL) and High Speed Wireless (Wi-Fi).

With this service, BRMEMC.NET will be addressing the growing need for widely accessible data and communications to homes and businesses. Currently, access is available only in limited areas due to the constraints of telephone lines and equipment. By deploying a wide-area fiber network in conjunction with BPL and Wi-Fi, limitations such as geography and/or distance can be overcome.

At the end of 2005, BRMEMC.NET purchased fiber that encircles the entire BRMEMC service area. This fiber will serve as the backbone of our new data and communications network. From this backbone, fiber can be run directly to homes and businesses or can be used to feed Wi-Fi Access Points and BPL.

Brian Anderson, Director of Internet Services for BRMEMC.net said, “Our investment in a regional self-healing fiber-optic network will help us provide broadband services to many of our members that have never before had the option of high-speed Internet.”

Members will have access to reliable, high speed Internet connectivity and new options for data, voice and video. Bandwidth can be used to simultaneously provide high speed Internet access, phone service, video, and a host of other exciting features.

Response to this new project has been immediate and larger than expected. Local Real Estate Developers are already requesting that fiber be installed in existing neighborhoods, and many are planning for fiber to be installed simultaneously with electric utilities in new developments.

High speed Internet service will be priced comparably to DSL, but will offer higher speeds. Additional services such as telephone service or Voice Over IP (VoIP), Video, etc., will be offered through strategic alliances and/or partnerships with other service providers. Pricing for additional services will be forthcoming as those projects develop.

An online form has been created to assist in planning the deployment schedule. Customers can submit a response form at www.brmemc.net/response which will be analyzed to determine areas with the greatest initial need. Areas with no high speed Internet access will be given priority, and the goal will be to serve as many members as is possible. Keep an eye out for announcements for a deployment schedule on the web site at www.brmemc.net.

Blue Ridge Mountain Electric Membership Corporation is a member-owned electric cooperative headquartered in Young Harris, Georgia, serving over 45,000 customers in Cherokee and Clay Counties in Western North Carolina, and Towns, Union and Fannin Counties in Northeast Georgia. Organized locally in 1937, BRMEMC has invested nearly $100 million in physical infrastructure in its mission to provide reliable electric services to its members where those services would not otherwise have been available. In 2002, BRMEMC.NET began operation with a similar mission in mind: to provide high-speed Internet connectivity to our underserved region. Now over 3,000 customers strong, BRMEMC.net is forging ahead in its effort to make the Western North Carolina and North Georgia region a leader in the technology age.

(Asheville, North Carolina) Almost one year ago, they began coming together, a group of women who wanted to create positive change for women and girls in western North Carolina.

They formed Women for Women and now have more than $185,000 to grant in the coming months to nonprofit organizations and public agencies that serve women in crisis. Grants from $30,000 to $100,000 are available, and the deadline to apply is Friday, February 3, 2006.

To date, 188 women have become members of Women for Women, a special initiative of the Community Foundation of Western North Carolina that encourages women’s philanthropy. Each member contributes $1,100 per year for three years, then together they learn about pressing needs facing women throughout the region and determine how to direct their funds.

During the first year of grantmaking, the membership decided to award grants to organizations that are helping economically disadvantaged women rebuild their lives and be more self-sufficient.

“We are looking for applicants that can supply safety net programs to prevent setbacks for women such as homelessness, joblessness, and hunger,” said Carol Minton, chair of the grants committee. “We plan to fund groups that work cooperatively with others, address causes rather than symptoms, and make a lasting impact.”

To be eligible for consideration, a nonprofit organization or public agency must meet specific guidelines and serve one or more of the 18 counties in the western North Carolina region.

To apply for a grant or become a member of Women for Women, visit Community Foundation of Western North Carolina or call 828-254-4960.

Mike Arriola, the U. S. Small Business Administration’s Senior Area Manager for Western North Carolina, in cooperation with the Small Business Center at Tri-County Community College and SCORE (Service Corps of Retired Executives), will offer a free workshop on financing techniques for businesses and will provide attendees with an opportunity to ask questions about other SBA programs. SCORE and Small Business Center representatives will be available for expanded business counseling and mentoring.

The workshop will be held at Tri-County Community College on January 14, 2005. If it snows, the alternative date will be January 19, 2005.

You can learn more about the SBA and its programs by calling 1-800-827-5722 or by visiting their website at www.sba.gov.

For more information about the upcoming workshop, call Cecilia Crawford at the Small Business Center at 828-835-4297 or email her at CCrawford@tricountycc.edu

If you have corporate or small business skills, and a desire to help business owners succeed, SCORE would like to speak with you about volunteering at the Murphy branch office. Contact Jerry Chautin at PO Box 254, Murphy, NC 28906 or via email at JKChautin@aol.com .