Jim Little Wolf

Jim's Comanche name is Jim Littlewolf - his father was Comanche and his mother of Scotch-Irish descent. He grew up in both New Mexico and Texas. Following in his father's footsteps, Jim got into rodeo at an early age and became a full-time cowboy, working on various ranches.

As he got older, Jim has become more interested in Native American spiritualism and medicine. Now that he lives in the Eastern woodlands near Asheville, he has adopted some of the Cherokee ways of gardening and such.

When he was 15, his father took him to meet a friend who was a Navajo silvermsmith and Jim knew instantly that this art was something he needed to learn. He was already doing leatherwork and soon became a saddle maker and silversmith artist. His metal always has the look of a patina as if it were a found artifact. His jewelry production is much less than in his earlier years so you can be sure you have a rare piece - made entirely by Jim Littlewolf.

The Gallery carries his silver jewelry as well as his detailed leather wallets.

Amy Moore

Amy's jewelry studio is located on a small island in the French Broad River, just north of Asheville. She took her first metalsmithing class at age 14 and after dabbling in various mediums over the years, honed her metal skills during three courses at the Penland School of Crafts, one of our nation's most prestigious craft teaching schools.

Growing up near tide pools and marshes on the Connecticut coast inspired her current collection of jewelry. Her shore jewelry collection comprises the sea urchin, oyster, and sterling shell bits with small gemstones evocative of the moon reflected on the water.

Now residing in the Appalachian Mountains, the forest has given Amy a woodsy touch to her jewelry with fern, wood grain, bamboo and maple seed jewelry. Walking and hiking always provides her with the simple yet profoundly exquisite designs that find their way to her work bench.

Amy uses traditional metalsmithing tools and techniques as well as precious metal clay and fine silver. All her gemstones are genuine and she tries to use recycled sterling and other practices to keep her studio environmentally friendly.

The Gallery carries her "Mountains to the Sea" collection, consisting or rings, bracelets, necklaces and earrings.

Max Howard

Sculptor Max Howard, a native North Carolinian, was inspired by Mother Nature while growing up in the rural areas of the state. He built boats, tree houses, dog houses and everything he could imagine using found items, wood scraps, old nails and twine.

He took up industrial welding in 1965 working with his father. He became the youngest certified welder in North Carolina. His wife saw the potential for him to create more artistic yet functional items and encouraged him to enter juried craft shows. He became a full time metal artist in 1968 and has not turned back.

Copper is his metal of choice, followed by brass, bronze, steel, stainless steel and titanium. He utilizes many techniques to create his works - cutting, burning, twisting, hammering, oxidizing, rolling, baking, etc. The variety of colors and patinas is obtained by the heat of different torches and by oxidation.

"The quality of motion is very important - I like for the viewer to feel that the wind is blowing through the sculpture, making it seem all the more integrated into an outdoor or indoor setting." explains Max. "Transforming a cold, hard piece of metal into a realistic piece of Mother Nature is what it's all about for me."

Commissioned pieces of Max's work have been made for Bob Hope, NBC, Duke Power, RJR Reynolds and Marriott to name a few. The Gallery is proud to have so many of his exquisite sculptures - his leaves, dogwood branches and pine cones delight customers year round.

Bobbie Carnell

Her personal response to taking a block of wood and shaping it into an angel, horse or Christmas figurine is awe inspiring to local woodcarver Bobbie Carnell.  "When I'm carving a piece and you can see the life emerging from it, you experience a sense of the force of life and the beauty that surrounds us.  I pour those feelings into each figurine, so when each is completed, I feel a great sense of accomplishment." explains Bobbie.

Bobbie, a self-taught woodcarver, learned by doing - by using the age old method of trial and error.  "The wood will tell you which way to carve" she says.  Bobbie's work has been featured in a variety of publications and she has won numerous awards.  She has taught woodcarving techniques, judged art shows and published articles.

Bobbie's lovely, detailed animal figurines, angels and wonderful Santa's are available at the Gallery.

New from Cynthia Link

Just in...great new cat face jugs from Cynthia Link. This one is exquisite with a feather sticking out of its mouth.  She also sent us some sweetly carved black cats stading full size about 14 inches high. 

Wayne Wichern

Milliner Wayne Wichern grew up on a farm in Wyoming learning to be resourceful and inventive with materials. His career as a dancer and florist prepared him for the trimming and decoration skills that dress his more frothy romantic hats. His dance background and interest in costuming generates an obvious theatrical expression in his work.

Largely self-taught, Wayne learned the art of hat making from John Eaton, a Seattle milliner who made and sold hats to the city's social set from the 1940's to the 60's. Wayne now teaches classes in hat making himself.

Wayne's style is showcased in the meticulous hand detailing that goes into each of his chapeaus. Using steam, he stretches the felt, straw or other material over a wood hat form to create each unique shape, then lets it dry and finally adds touches such as trims and embellishments.

Wayne could single handedly bring back the era when women rarely left the house without a hat. His hats are elegant and reminiscent of the glamour of a bygone era.

The Gallery features his felt hats for the cooler months in deep burgundy, black, rust, green and ruby.

Great Holiday Shopping

Visit us in person or online for great locally crafted gift items for friends and family!  We ship within the USA and take orders over the phone, fax, email...or even in person!

We have lovely hats, jewelry, scarves, purses and complete outfits for gifts or for yourself in wearables. Our home collection offers many choices for hostess gifts, kitchen color or holiday decor. 

Virgil Jones

In the late 1980's while living in Phoenix, Virgil was challenged by a friend to make a glass bead.  Not one to turn down a challenge even though he had not done glass work before, Virgil took a piece of stained glass and a small propane torch and went for it.

The beads quickly grew in size and complexity with the addition of hand built murrinis, lattichino and cane drawing.  Virgil delved into the hot glass world in all its forms. 

In winter of 1995 Virgil moved to the thriving hot glass community of Asheville in the mountains of western North Carolina.

Virgil's art glass is a contemporary combination of unique old style skills with modern hand-blown furnace work.  Each design is sketched before any glass is melted. The idea becomes either an immediate free form glass piece or a metal mold for recreating a limited number of similar pieces.

Every piece is completed with strict adherence to the whims of the glass gods that day.  Sometimes they are very kind.

The Gallery carries his exquisite Fairy Balls with clear sides and thin strings of glass flowing from the top of the ball to the base.

Christopher Smith

Chris Smith began working in a large glass factory at age 18.  While "production" took up most of his time, he developed his own techniques on his breaktimes.

In 1988 he opened his own shop in West Virginia. He now works out of his studio at home making a variety of glass ornaments and adornments.  Each piece is signed with his initials, CAS.

We carry his hand blown glass balls, his triple bubble glass ornaments and his flat glass ornaments - all in deep blue, ruby, gold and multi colored frosted. Customers love to give them as holiday gifts!