Writing Classes

Craft poetry, fiction, nonfiction, memoirs, essays, or children’s stories in a conducive, retreat-like setting. Overcome the blank page, shape your thoughts, and execute your story in written form.

Explore The Studio

Harvest Room in Orchard House

Located in Orchard House, this building was originally constructed in the 1950s as a residence for a board member. The studio and house overlook an orchard in the front yard and a rolling pasture leading to the creek in the back. The Photography & Writing Studio offers students a quiet classroom space equipped with high-speed internet along with Mac and PC computers. The studio’s large central table is ideal for coming together to review images or discuss your latest draft. In addition to the Harvest Room, Orchard House includes student housing.

News & Stories: What's Happening in Writing

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Interview with Anna Fariello, Author of “Craft & Community: JCCFS 1925–1945”

If you love the Folk School and are interested in our history, I highly recommend curling up with Anna Fariello’s wonderful new book, Craft & Community, which explores the first 20 years of the Folk School, with a focus on Olive Dame Campbell. Earlier this summer, Fariello was given a Lifetime Achievement Award during the annual meeting of the Southern Highland Craft Guild. In addition to Craft & Community, Fariello has written numerous books about craft, curated many shows, and she developed the online Craft Revival archive. Let’s get to know more about an impressive WNC craft powerhouse!

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Welcome to Our New Website

Our new website is here!...

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Writing Memories into Family Histories with Robin Edgar

When you take a Folk School class, you never know who you will meet. Last fall, I had the pleasure of sitting next to Robin Edgar in the herbalism class during Shaker Week. I learned that she and her husband, David Edgar, have been teaching classes at the Folk School since 1996! Robin teaches writing and David teaches the unique craft of turning recycled plastic into fantastic creations. This year, they are both teaching during Earth Week, April 19–24, 2020. In her upcoming class, Turning Fond Memories into Family Histories, students will discover how to use sights, sounds, and even smells to recall and record meaningful memories.

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Expectations by Lova Lantz

It is Thursday afternoon. Outside the writing studio window, the day is bathed in sunlight, the limb patterns on the grass motionless. Inside the studio, writers are at work with pen or laptop, or staring out the window, or sitting chin in hand. Chairs squeak, the printer clacks, the clock ticks. Small sounds that only accentuate the silence. The writing group is focused, which is different from a focus group . . . or maybe it isn’t.

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The Fantastical Writings of Donna Glee Williams

Donna Glee Williams, is a writer of fantasies for the teenager in all of us, as well as being a seminar leader, dream worker, and creative coach. She has recently published two novels and her work has been featured in anthologies, literary magazines, academic journals, spoken-word podcasts, and more. Without further ado, let’s get to know Donna Glee!

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Folk School in the Beginning of June

It’s raining again, and if this were boy-scout camp, there’d be a lot of soggy tents, unroasted marshmallows, and unhappy campers.  But here at the John C. Campbell Folk School, each shower puts another bud on the lilies and another apple on the bough over at Orchard House, which will make for fine cider come the Fall Festival.  Over one hundred people have gathered to weave backpacks from straw, piece fabric into quilted jackets, build their own mountain dulcimer or learn to play one–just a few of the projects this week.

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Kitty Taylor headshot

Resident Artist in Writing

Kitty Taylor

Kitty has always found her closest friends and truest self in the written word. She studied literature and professional writing at Western Carolina University and received a Master of Theological Studies from Vanderbilt Divinity School. In a yearlong residency as a hospital chaplain, Kitty found her niche in creative nonfiction. She has written for Ministry Matters and She Is Kindred, and was a contributing essayist in Eat Pray Love Made Me Do It: Life Journeys Inspired by the Bestselling Memoir. Kitty is currently working on her first book – an essay collection that blends spirituality with public transportation.

Rachel Watson headshot

Book & Paper Arts, Printmaking, Marbling, Calligraphy, Painting, Drawing, Mixed Media, Photography, Writing Coordinator

Rachel Watson

Rachel is an interdisciplinary artist working in alternative and traditional photography, printmaking, jewelry, woodworking, book arts, textiles, and installation. After completing her MFA at the University of Georgia in 2020, she digitized the 7,000-piece collection at Newcomb Art Museum in New Orleans.  Originally from Northeast Georgia, Rachel has traveled the world learning alternative photography processes and participating in photography and printmaking conferences. She is currently renovating Elf School, a historic school in Hayesville, NC, where she plans to build studios and continue her art practice while sharing her passion, skills, and experience with others at the Folk School.

Images from the Studio

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