Craft & Community Report

CRAFT & COMMUNITY HEALTH, WELLBEING, & VITALITY

Coverphotocredit: CenterforCraft

Reportassembly: AmeenaBatadaandKerstanNealy

UNC Asheville-UNC Gillings MPH Program mahec.net/mph

Center for Craft centerforcraft.org

01 Introduction

02 Research

03

15

16

INTRODUCTION

How are craft and wellbeing connected?

For anyone who makes, interacts with, uses, or otherwise experiences craft, the answer is clear that craft positively contributes to wellbeing. Many research studies also support the assertion that craft processes and proximity positively influence the emotional, mental, and physical wellbeing of individuals, and increase connections internally, with others, and within communities.

According to the Center for Craft, “Craft is a particular approach to making with a strong connection to materials, skill, and process...It contributes to the economic and social wellbeing of communities, connects us to our cultural histories, and is integral to building a sustainable future.”

This report shares process and findings from an exploratory research partnership between the Center for Craft & Community Vitality grant awardees and the UNC Asheville-UNC Gillings Master of Public Health Program Community Health Transformation course and students. The partnership is part of longer-term relationship between the Center for Craft and UNC Asheville faculty member Dr. Ameena Batada. Together, we are exploring and documenting ways that craft and community health, wellbeing, and vitality are connected.

CRAFT ARTIST AWARDEESMPH STUDENTS

Andi Gelsthorpe

Cowee School - Laura Brooks

Elizabeth Ivey

Jakeli Swimmer

Luis Alvaro Sahagun Nuño

Tyler Deal

Isla Neel

Claire Rice

Juhi Barot

Michael Ratliff

Kerstan Nealy

Caralee Sadler Farr

Anna Helgeson and Marilyn Zapf, Center for Craft

Ameena Batada, UNC Asheville ORGANIZATION CONTACTS

RESEARCH

The current partnership engaged the six 2023 Craft & Community Vitality awardees with six Master of Public Health students. Students were paired with the craft artists to learn about them and connections between their work and community health, wellbeing, and vitality. Students prepared by meeting with Center staff, reading about craft and health, and reviewing frequently-used community health measures. They learned about awardees by reading websites, interviewing artists, and going on visits.

Given that we - students and faculty - had a two-month period within the context of a course with additional content, that this was the first year, and that the creative processes varied across awardees, our priorities were to build relationships and to lift up perceptions and wisdoms of the awardees.

The field of research has historically categorized and objectified communities with limited economic or social power, creating a legacy of harm and distrust. We embodied a more humanistic way of engaging together, centering people and process over “objective” measurement. This approach is consistent with elements of participatory action research (par) and community-based participatory research and action (cbrpr-a), both of which are utilized in public health research.

The goals of this exploratory research pilot were to document narrative portraits of awardees and how they and their craft influence health, and to envision a collective framework of connections between craft and community health.

This document includes the portraits and framework, as well as some reflections at the end. We are grateful to all involved for the opportunity to work together!

Awardees, students, and grant selection panelists sit around a table at the Center for Craft. Anna Helgeson stands to welcome the group.

Photo credit: Cori Anderson.

OUT OF MY HEAD AND INTO THE GROUND

Andi Gelsthorpe

by Isla Neel Photo credit: Cori Anderson

Andi Gelsthorpe is a craft artist, social worker, printmaker, mother, community member, photographer, and expressive arts consultant and educator. She has lived and worked in Boone, NC, for over 20 years. Her craft focuses on bringing communities together to reconnect with their bodies throughhands-on,collectiveexperiences.

Andi’s idea for “Finding Our Way Home: A community-built, ephemeral labyrinth,” came to her one morning on a walk in the woods over a year before the installation went into the ground. In October of 2023, the installation lived across the street from theWataugaCountyHealthDepartmentin downtownBoone.

As someone who studied anthropology, Andi feels strongly that creativity is a human birthright, and there have always been times in history where individuals congregated. Worried that we are losing these connections in the modern world, Andi wants to offer space for people to participate in the simple act of gathering again. For the events that Andi hosted, she intentionally created circular seating aroundpilesoffabricandtotesofscissors.

This reminded her of growing up in the Midwest and sitting in a circle with family cleaning corn and snapping beans. The idea of sitting together while hands are busy doing work was important for Andi to recreate in her craft endeavor. When people see and experience the labyrinth, they can participate and be proud of the beautythattheyhelpedtocreate.

As a social worker and expressive arts practitioner, Andi finds many connections between her craft and community health. An example of this comes in the idea of “getting back into our bodies.” Andi has thought a lot about access to tools that aren’t talk therapy, and she believes that providing an interactive and inviting community space is an example of an alternative tool. Andi feels strongly that people need open access to beautiful spaces, and the labyrinth installation was intentionally built by the community, for thecommunity.

Image of the labyrinth with over 500 feet of ripped and tied fabric. Located at 132 Poplar Grove Connector, Boone, NC 28607 for October 2023.

Photo Credit: Andi Gelsthorpe.

A friend’s hands tying fabric to make up the labyrinth parameters. Photo Credit: Andi Gelsthorpe.

CREATIVITY IS A HUMAN BIRTHRIGHT

Elements that maximize accessibility and engagement are important components of the experience. The labyrinth is located in an open space and has ample parking. The dimensions of the labyrinth path were built tobewheelchairaccessible.

There are many additional elements incorporated into the installation, including signage in both English and Spanish and handmade wind chimes for auditory elements by Andi’s husband. There are also stones to collect at the entry and leave in a bowl of water at the end, plants growing in the center, and small note cards with a sensory exercise for people to take home withthem.

The signage also encourages people to take off their shoes and experience the labyrinth while being physically connected to the earth beneath them. All of these pieces speak to the different ways in which people might connect with the experience. While these connections may be personal, Andi hosted both an opening and closing gathering for the installation, allowing people to engage in community health by congregatingforasharedexperience.

When I experienced the labyrinth myself, I was struck by the symbolism of carrying a stone through the path to leave behind upon completion. I had done something similar a little over a year ago when I walkedtheCaminodeSantiagoinSpain.

There is a point on the trail where people leave behind a stone they brought from home as a symbol of shedding weight and burden. This was a particularly meaningful experience for me at the time, and I loved the mirroring of this practice in the labyrinth. I found myself wondering what others might connect with when taking partinthisexperience.

Andi deeply feels that the tradition of congregating is what has kept societies healthy for many years. It allows us to get backintoourbodiesbybeingfullypresent, feeling grounded to the earth, and being connected to others. Andi hopes that her craft work and community-built labyrinth have created a space for her community to get back to the roots of what connection is allabout.

Andi

incorporated prints on certain strips of fabric throughout the labyrinth. Each one was a different word or phrase. This one says “Walk each other home,” which encourages people to engage in the process of finding their way home, whatever that may mean to them. Photo Credit: Isla Neel.

THE BEAUTIFUL USEFUL CRAFT

Cowee School Arts & Heritage Center

by Claire Rice

The Cowee School is a fixture in the community and has connected people in different ways over the years through education and craft. The building was constructed in the 1940s, entirely from local stone, and operated as an elementary school from 1943 to 2012. The walls are filled with warm feelings, pleasant memories, and nostalgia.

The purpose of Cowee School Arts & Heritage Center is to promote the teaching and preservation of the cultural and artistic heritage of the Southern Appalachians and Cherokee people and to serve as a community resource and gathering place. The current craft artists at Cowee include a felt artist, a weaver, two painters, basket makers,andpotters

Cowee is also home to Alarka Expeditions, an adventure group that offers river trips, cultural and art activities, and literary activities.

The building is also host to a co-working space, wellness and yoga classes, and the meeting place of the Smoky Mountain Quilters’ Guild

There is something unique about crafting and creating. This is even reflected in the name of the craft artist. A person who weaves is a weaver, a person who makes quilts, is a quilter. The same is true for the painter, the potter, the knitter, and so on. The creator, and the creation are so closely tied that the creator takes on a name to reflect their craft. As a functional object, craft may be used for cleaning, eating, drinking, wearing, sharing, serving, there’s so much to it.

“We have beautiful handmade brooms that are little works of art, but you can sweep with them, the crafter wants you to sweep with them,” remarks Laura Brooks, the executive director.

Multiple paintings by artist Carol Canti in a shared classroom work space. Photo credit: Claire Rice.

Bowls and cups at the Cowee Pottery School before the glazing and kiln process. Photo credit: Claire Rice.

Photo credit: Cori Anderson

The creation of these items has a profound impact on health as well. Being able to focus on art is good for you mentally— physically too, it is labor, it’s work, it all ties together. Laura shared how craft has helped her—"when I was working a high stress job and thinking I needed to do something for myself, I did pottery. I turned to something creative because it was a way to disconnect…and find comfort and peace. It was hugely helpful for my health, and it helped release stress.” Craft can be a way to disconnect and destress—or a way to connect and bond, depending on your intention.

“I turned to something creative because it was a way to disconnect… and find comfort and peace. ”

The artists in the studios have taken the leap to do their craft full time. Each affiliate craft artist runs their own small business, Cowee as the host, which allows the artist to have full autonomy to structure their space, set their own prices, and determine what type of classes they want to teach.

Moving forward, Cowee School is working to make crafting more accessible to the community by hosting free community art days for all ages. These community art days will feature small crafts with each artist to share and learn more about each of the craft outlets.

Everyone who participates in a craft or creative activity feels a sense of belonging in the warm halls of Cowee. Even those who are not from Western North Carolina can find some common thread—a memory of doing a similar craft, or a familial memory.

Family traditions of handmade crafts evoke feelings of identity and purpose that are interwoven with Appalachian and Cherokee craft. For the Cowee School weaver, working with textiles has been in the family for generations. She often works with her father and grandmother’s looms— what a warm feeling to carry that on! How much greater still to share that with others.

There is something inherent to craft and creation that gives a sense of belonging, peace, place, nostalgia. Cowee School Arts and Heritage Center offers opportunities and tools to embrace practices that can lead to better wellbeing. All have an invitation to try crafts, with permission to not be good at them, just appreciating and learning.

Hand shaped figurines made at the Cowee Pottery School. Photo credit: Claire Rice.

THE HEALING ARTISTRY OF ELIZABETH IVEY

Elizabeth Ivey

by: Juhi Barot

credit: Cori Anderson

In the heart of Asheville, North Carolina, one woman is making a profound impact on her community through the transformative power of art. Meet Elizabeth Ivey, MSW, a mental health creative expression and collage artist, who is dedicatedtothepursuitofhealingthrough artistic creation. Elizabeth's journey is not just about crafting beautiful pieces; it's about crafting healthier minds, stronger communities,andamorevibrantfuture

Elizabeth's passion for art was ignited by a deeply rooted personal interest in using fabric, painting, and creative expression to convey her culture. Elizabeth Ivey's artwork serves as a medium of expression, conveying powerful messages and narratives through the use of fabric. Her creative process involves selecting and cutting fabric pieces by hand and arranging them in unique compositions.

Those arrangements are meticulously layering to create depth and dimension. The end result is a collection of one-of-akind art pieces that showcase her innovative and evocative style. What sets Elizabeth's artwork apart is her freehand approach to creating each piece. She does not use patterns or die-cutting, allowing her to create truly original and organic compositions.

Whether through exhibitions, galleries, or other platforms, Elizabeth Ivey's artwork offers a compelling exploration of black life, love, and spirituality, leaving a lasting impression on those who experience her creations.

Elizabeth Ivey, MSW. Photo Credit: Cori Anderson.

One of Elizabeth’s pieces, “The Gift.” Made in 2021, It’s about the power of God, gratefulness, and love. Photo credit: Elizabeth Ivey.

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One of Elizabeth's significant contributions to the community is her "Sister Soul Sessions,” held at the Umoja Health Wellness and Justice Collective, a local trauma and resiliency organization in Asheville, NC. Launched in 2018, this initiative serves as a secure haven for BIPOC children and women, fostering a nurturing space where individuals can connectwiththeirinnerselvesandcultural roots.

Participants in these sessions have the opportunity to create whatever artwork they wish to make without any judgment. Elizabeth's leadership and facilitation during these therapeutic creative expression group sessions not only empower participants but also inspire them to explore and unleash their artistic potential.

Her artistry transcends the boundaries of traditional therapy, reducing the stigma around mental health and providing accessible avenues for self-expression and healing. Elizabeth reaches out to individuals of all backgrounds and ages, striving to touch the hearts of those who need creative expression to enhance their mentalhealthandoverallwell-being.

In a world where art can be perceived as eitherleisureornecessity,Elizabethviewsit as both, recognizing that the value of art depends on individual needs and goals. Her craft, she believes, is an essential tool foremotionalself-care,awaytofindpeace, and a method to unlock the potential that resideswithineachofus.

“You can’t mess up in art." This powerful statement reflects her commitment to creating a space free from judgment and fear, where every stroke, every cut, and every piece of fabric is a step toward healing. She maintains that mistakes contribute to the beauty of creations, enhancing their value and infusing an element of authenticity. Art is more than justapastimeforElizabeth;it'shercalling.

“You can’t mess up in art."

She believes that her craft is her God-given talent, and the art she creates is the divine result. "Art heals," she passionately states, emphasizingthatitalsounites.

As we reflect on the detriments of not having art in the community, Elizabeth's voice resonates even louder. Without art, we risk missed opportunities for individuals, particularly those from BIPOC backgrounds, to explore their emotions. This absence could lead to worsening mental health outcomes and limit avenues fornon-verbalexpression,healing,andselfdiscovery. Elizabeth Ivey's work, and the broader concept of art as a healing force, reminds us that our community's wellbeing and vitality depend on the creative spiritthatresideswithinusall.

Elizabeth walking her students through a project in one of the “Sister Soul Sessions.” Photo credit: Elizabeth Ivey.

HIK’TA’HASK?

DON’T YOU KNOW

Jakeli Swimmer

by Michael Ratliff

Photo credit: Museum of the Cherokee Indians

Jakeli Swimmer, a member of the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians, lives in Cherokee, North Carolina and has committed himself to the reclamation and preservation of his community’s identity and their distinctive Kituwah dialect language of the Cherokee language through his academic, professional, and artistic careers – all while incorporating storytelling and humor elements into his craft.

He is also the creator of the satirical and observational cartoon series “Around the Boundary.” Currently serving as a Tribal Resources and Archive Officer for the Kituwah Preservation and Education Center – and understanding that language is an integral component of Native culture and identity – Jakeli endeavors to educate others on Cherokee language and life with his art and its connection to current themes.

Thankful for his time, I was able to speak with Jakeli and hear about lived experiences that have informed his work anditsroleinupliftingNativevoices.

I learned that Jakeli came from a creatively inclined family of artisans, took on a passion for art from an early age, and began drawing out of admiration for his olderbrother’scartoons.

Hisearlyyearssawhimcuratingthestyleof his craft, influenced by the symbolic, bold lines and colors seen in Saturday cartoons as well as the tattoo art forms of both American traditional and Japanese traditional styles. Jakeli eventually expanded to different forms of media as an undergraduate at Western Carolina University and began redrawing cartoons and illustrations to communicate the opinions and concerns held by Cherokee people..

After graduating from Western University with a History degree and a concentration in Cherokee Studies, Jakeli began working as an introductory Cherokee language teacher in public schools and made sure to complement his curriculum materials with his digital cartoons. After a decision to attend graduate school at University of Kansas,Jakeliandhisnowwife,SkyeTafoya who is a craft artist of Eastern Band Cherokee and Santa Clara Pueblo heritage set out to Lawrence, Kansas, where Skye became a vital proponent of Jakeli’s furtheredartisticdevelopment.

During this time, Jakeli primarily used digital programs to apply culturally relevant, Native traditional spins to contemporary cartoons and illustrations in addition to original works inspired by Indigenousthemes.

Jakeli Swimmer teaches a Cherokee language and culture class at Robbinsville Elementary School. Photo credit: Liz Schlemmer/WUNC.

As of September 2023, Jakeli is one of six artists awarded a Craft and Community Vitality grant by the Center for Craft. He will curate his cartoons and caricatures to engage his audience in learning Cherokee language, both as a means of rejuvenating it in his community and preserving it for future generations. For his Center for Craft project, named Hik’ta’hask? (Don’t you know) Jakeli will create visual aids using art posters and zines to help visualize the Cherokeelanguagewiththesesigns.

With a belief that laughter is an aid to communities during hardship, Jakeli aims to promote the vitality and health of his own community – along with conversation and laughter – through the cultural commentaries woven into his adaptations. To Jakeli and his community, the preservation of language means more than connection between current Cherokee generations and their heritage. It means the preservation of their identities and connections to place and communicates theirrelationshipwiththatplace.

Jakeli, excited for the opportunity to partner with the Center for Craft, is hopeful for a ripple effect of “talking and making yourselfhappy.”

Reflecting on his goals for the project, Jakeli shared “That's what I say with representation; I want everybody's heart to feel that way, and sometimes they don't. You can see that disconnect. And I hope that more people advocate for themselves, and more people feel that what they do within their community and families is important. I want to capture that and show thatinagoodway.That’swhereit’sderived from.”

“I can fight for other people's opinions or other people's conversations –when it truly means something, it needs to be heard.”

Jakeli Swimmer

Jakeli working on a sketch at a craft table. Photo credit: Jakeli Swimmer.

RITUAL AND BECOMINGA RENEWAL

Luis Alvaro Sahagun Nuño

by Kerstan Nealy

credit: Cori Anderson

IsitbesideLuisAlvaroSahagunNuñoata smalltableinUNCA’scampuscoffeeshop, unsure ofwheretostart.Iaskyou,reader, wherewouldyoustartifyousatacross fromsomeonewhose arthadthepowerto heal,totransform,torenew?Itturnsout, youstartwithhome.

Luis’ work began as an exercise in returning home, in trying to piece together what it means to “be.” He grew up in Chicago as an undocumented youth, born in Guadalajara, Jalisco, Mexico, and moved to the US at a young age. His youth was influenced by hypervigilance, a feeling that something was different about his experiences.

What does it mean to have your existence be politicized from the moment you arrive, to have to actively fight to root yourself not in the narratives that seek to tear you down, but to establish a new way of definingwhatrootsyouin creation?

Luis answers that perfectly, through his lived experience. Luis is a practitioner of Curanderismo, a traditional healing approach that seeks to balance the mind, body,andspirit.Thepracticeis itselfoneof renewal, healing, and becoming. Supported by this understanding of health asholistic,andhealingasaprocess.

Luis’ craft seeks to disrupt colonial and white supremacist frameworks, cultivating community healing and supporting those whositattheintersectionsofworlds.

In the exhibition, Riding the Three-Headed Serpent, Luis presents “limpias or soul retrievals,”thatmarryCuranderismo practiceswithcraft.

Luis posing during a Center for Craft event. Photo credit: Cori Anderson.

Portrait of Luis holding a photo in black and white . Photo credit: Luis Alvaro Sahagun Nuño.

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These limpias are intended to cultivate spiritual healing that confronts the painful legacies of colonization and the ongoing impactof culturesofwhitesupremacyand oppression.

The pieces were crafted with Luis relying on the spirit world and spirit guides to accurately identify what each individual required. Those limpias are strong representations of how Luis’ work is effectively one of transformation that confronts the richness of identity, trauma, and self, to strengthen communities and individuals.

He also engages in lectures, panels, and discussions of his work, embodying the principle that “knowledge is not ours alone,” instead bringing community members into his process, and how his craft connects with race, state and colonial oppression, community resistance, dichotomiesofidentity,healingandmore.

Luis’ current project, “Crafting Community: Discovering Your Creative Medicine,” involves two four-hour-long workshops. These workshops lean into his background of Curanderismo that culminate in a ceremony for a group of artists who are Black,Indigenous,peopleofcolor(BIPOC).

Theworkshopceremonyisanengagement in Mexican-Indigenous healing rituals realized through the medium of craft. It is intendedtobeaspacefortransformation.

While “Crafting Community: Discovering YourCreative Medicine,”doesnotmeasure thehealthindicatorsofcommunity members who participate, based on my interactions with Luis and the understanding of the impact of his work, I feel that it is likely that participants of the cohort will come away with a greater appreciation for themselves. Healing is work that carries through generations, and with each piece of craft that facilitates that, a generation may be transformed in ways that we may never be able to reflect in data,butthatwefeelwithoursoul.

Luis’ craft started with a journey to find home, a search for belonging. That craft hasbeensustainedthroughritualhealing, transforming, and renewing those whoareblessedto comeincontactwithit.

Limpia no. 4 (Tatiana “La Taty” Gonzalez Nuño.

Photo credit: Luis Alvaro Sahagun Nuño.

Luis speaking during “Pain is our North Star,”a performance. Photo credit: Nathan Keay, © MCA Chicago.

BUSY HANDS, OPEN HEARTS: VISUAL NARRATIVE MEDICINE

Tyler Deal

by Caralee Sadler

Anderson

Research indicates that art can assist in processing trauma both during and after traumatic experiences. Tyler Deal has found that art not only aids in processing medical trauma, but it also allows individuals to re-author their experience. Turning the past into something tangible and malleable, Tyler Deal uses craft to inform community health transformation for individuals who have experienced perinataltraumaandloss.

Born and raised in Boone, North Carolina, Tyler deeply values the Western North Carolina community. This attention to the bondsofcommunityinformedherdecision to return home after seeking out educational opportunities in New York and Montana.

Tyler has earned various degrees and titles, which include: Licensed Clinical Mental Health Clinician (LCMHC), Advanced Grief Specialist,MasterofFineArts(MFA),Master of Arts (MA), and her National Certified Counselor (NCC) credentials. By training and trade, Tyler is a painter, potter and mixed-media artist. By lived experience, Tyler is a birth trauma survivor, a maternal near-misssurvivorandabereavedmother.

Over time, Tyler saw a gap in maternal healthcareforthoseexperiencingperinatal traumaandloss.Withinherpractice,Tyler’s speciality involved working with medical trauma patients, so she naturally found herself creating space for processing difficultmaternaloutcomes.

Respondingtohercommunity’sneed,Tyler developed a program to enhance the healthoftraumatizedandgrievingparents, while simultaneously advocating for systemic change at the local and national level. Upsettingly, the United States is the only high-income country with a rising maternalmortalityrate.Additionally,within the U.S., North Carolina has the 10th highest maternal mortality rate; and NC’s maternal death rates are rising faster than theU.S.asawhole.

Tyler facilitates two arts-based support groups for parents. These groups invite birthing individuals from Watauga, Ashe and Avery counties to come together to process their experiences in community. The groups meet on Tuesdays and Thursdays at the Watauga Arts Council spaceandarefreeofcharge.

Tyler posing during a Center for Craft event. Photo credit: Cori Anderson.

Photo credit: Cori

The Perinatal Trauma group invites those who have experienced a traumatic birth where the individual and child survive. The Perinatal Grief group invites those who have experienced Perinatal Grief and Loss including miscarriages, recurrent loss, termination for medical reasons (TFMR), stillbirth and neonatal death. To prevent a grief hierarchy between participants, Tyler cultivates an attention to what connects individuals versus allowing focus to linger on differences in experience. Deal believes that “Craft bridges the gap of differing experiences.”

“Craft bridges the gap of differing experiences.”

Craft can remove the details of the story, which allows participants to witness the shared impacts of these events, which ultimately drives connection. While the groups exist within a spectrum, all experiences and grief are honored and respected with craft acting as the conduit forconnection.

Both support groups utilize the same format. Tyler engages visual narrative medicine to help individuals process their experiences and work towards reauthoring their stories. Visual narrative medicine involves the combination of storytelling through images, colors, mixed media, song lyrics, keepsakes, stickers and found objects collected within a binding. This serves as a new narrative for the individual while doubling as an external resourcetocarryforward.

At the end of the 3-month program, individuals will participate in a large selfportrait project to process who they were before the program and how they perceive themselves after. Healing through craft may provide health benefits that positively impact future children, personal health outcomes,andself-advocacyefforts.

Ultimately, Tyler breaks the social norms of privatizing and hiding these experiences, which can exacerbate feelings of isolation and loneliness. Knowing that you’re not alone can help someone move forward, even if it’s one day at a time. It has helped me, and it will continue to help others, as long as we continue to support and encouragetheseprogramsandartists.

The Arts Council Space where groups meet on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 11-1. Photo credit: Tyler Deal.

Examples of Visual Journaling and Mixed Media. Photo credit: Tyler Deal.

FRAMEWORK

Based on their learnings from the craft awardees and informal observations, students identified various aspects of awardees’ processes and outcomes related to people and community.

The framework below brings together patterns and salient aspects, outlining connections among the craft artists, processes, and outcomes related to individual and community wellbeing. While presented in a linear fashion, there are many interconnections; most aspects of the framework are related.

“In this framework, community crafting feels like a public health intervention/response to a culture of individualism and consumerism.”

- Student Caralee Sadler Farr

Student Juhi Barot and Craft Awardee Elizabeth Ivey

The Craft & Community Vitality Awards program was an opportunity for the Center for Craft, craft artists, students, and the MPH program, to partner to better understand the ways that craft connects with community vitality in Western North Carolina.

The craft awardees introduced enthusiastic MPH students to their practices, work, and more, and together they rooted meaningful relationships at personal and organizational levels.

Students reflected on the value of understanding the contributions of craft and more broadly the arts to public health efforts and some shared their interest and experience in incorporating arts-based approaches in their work. In class, we engaged in thoughtful and analytic discourse on how this set of activities relate to participatory research approaches in community and public health. Awardees shared with the Center for Craft that they benefitted from considering more deeply the broader health impact of their craft and processes.

In the coming months, students and faculty with the MPH program will support interested craft awardees to design and conduct more specific assessments of the health impact and outcomes related to their craft and activities. These findings will assist the craft artists in understanding and sharing their impact, contributing to community health transformations.

For information about this report, please contact Ameena Batada at abatada@unca.edu

For more information about the Craft & Community Vitality Grant Awardees, contact Anna Helgeson at ahelgeson@centerforcraft.org

For more information about the partnership, please contact Ameena Batada, or Marilyn Zapf with the Center for Craft at mzapf@centerforcraft.org